'Berg Falls in Game One of Mideast Regional

After a 22 hour rain delay, the Heidelberg University baseball team began its trek through the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships Mideast Regional hosted by Adrian College in Adrian, Mich. The no. 1 seeded Student Princes’ wait to play no. 6 Rose-Hulman Institute of Techonolgy did not pay off, as RHIT posted a 12-2 victory.
 
The setback drops Heidelberg to 36-8 on the year, while the Engineers improve to 32-12. Heidelberg continues in the double elimination regional tomorrow, May 15, at 11:00 a.m. against no. 5 Concordia University Chicago.
 
Rose-Hulman got on the scoreboard in its first at bat. Andrew Blise led off with a single through the left side. He was sacrificed over and was knocked in with an RBI single up the middle by Chris Stemple.
 
In the fourth, RHIT’s Chandler Kent started the inning with a single to the right side and rounded the bases and eventually scored on an RBI single up the middle by Kennan Long. With two outs, the Engineers plated five more runs to extend its lead to 7-0. The lead was pushed to nine with two runs in the sixth.
 
Heidelberg doubled its hit total in the eighth and erased Rose-Hulman’s shutout. With two outs, Matt Grassley (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Point North) reached the bases with a single through the left side and was followed by a single up the middle by Willie Brechun (Canton, Ohio / Canton Central Catholic). Biagio Boytim (Brunswick, Ohio / Brunswick) knocked in Grassley with a single to the third baseman to pull within 9-1.
 
The ninth inning saw the leaders add three more runs to its total. Heidelberg closed out the game with a run in the ninth. Jeremy Wentworth (Johnstown, Ohio / St. Charles) had a two-out RBI single up the middle to score Steve Decker (Maumee, Ohio / Springfield). Decker reached on a single to left field.
 
David Paddock (Westerville, Ohio / North) suffered the loss on the mound to fall to 9-3 on the year. He went 3.2 innings and gave up five hits and four earned runs.
 
At the plate, Rose-Hulman held a 14-8 advantage in hits. Gar Keen (Sparta, Ohio / Highland) went 2-for-3 with a walk to lead the way for the Berg.