Wentworth Knocks in Game-Winning Run in Ninth

In the ninth inning, with runners on the corners, senior center fielder Jeremy Wentworth (Johnstown, Ohio / St. Charles) stepped to the plate and hit into a fielder’s choice to score Biagio Boytim (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick) and give the Heidelberg College baseball team a 4-3 win over host Adrian College in a non-conference game at Nicolay Field in Adrian, Mich.

The win improved Heidelberg, ranked 20th in the nation by D3baseball.com and 24th by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), to 31-7 on the year, while Adrian fell to 25-9. The Berg is just one win shy of the single season record for wins, which has been accomplished on three occasions (2000, 2003, and 2004), and all of which have been under the guidance of head coach Matt Palm.

Heidelberg held Adrian scoreless though the first 5.1 innings due in large part to the arm of starting right-handed pitcher Brian Koehl (Sylvania, Ohio / Sylvania). Koehl pitched the first 5.1 innings and gave up just four hits, while striking out three.

Backing Koehl was a strong Heidelberg offense that jumped out to a 3-0 lead after six innings of action. A bases loaded sacrifice fly from Gar Keen (Fredericktown, Ohio / Highland) in the third inning put Heidelberg on the scoreboard first. The Berg plated two more runs in the top half of the sixth on back-to-back RBI singles from Jason Lash (Strongsville, Ohio / Strongsville) and Matt Grassley (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Point North).

Adrian battled back to score a run off of middle reliever Andy Lowe (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Carroll) in the seventh and went on to tie the game in the eighth off of Heidelberg’s closer Steve Calevro (Perrysburg, Ohio / Perrysburg). Adrian picked up three-straight hits with one out in the eighth, but Calevro settled down and forced a fly out and picked up a strike out to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth Heidelberg made its move to plate the go-ahead run off of Wentworth’s bat. Calevro returned in the bottom of the ninth and faced just three batters to pick up the win.

Calevro improved to 4-0 on the year after giving up three hits and two earned runs in 2.0 innings of work.

Offensively Heidelberg finished with seven hits in the game. Willie Brechun (Clinton, Ohio / Canton Central Catholic) led the way going 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Heidelberg concludes its 2008 regular season slate with an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader with John Carroll University Saturday, May 3. The doubleheader is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. at Peaceful Valley, on the campus of Heidelberg. The Berg currently holds a one-game lead in the OAC standings heading into the final weekend. It is in search of its second-consecutive, third overall, league championship.