PITTSBURGH, Penn. – Heading late into the game on Wednesday, things were not looking good for the Heidelberg University baseball team, which had been the way the season had started for the Student Princes. This time, however, a late rally that used two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth propelled the Berg to a big 7-6 win at La Roche.
With the win, the Student Princes improved to 6-9 on the season while La Roche fell to 12-6.
Heidelberg was able to get on the board first when Derek Hug tripled to left field in the top of the first to scoreEvan Long, giving HU a 1-0 lead.
That did not last long, however, as La Roche took advantage of free bases and plated three runs to retake the lead.
After three scoreless innings, the Berg was able to get their offense going a little when an RBI double to center by Adam Hershberger cut the La Roche lead down to just one, 3-2.
The Redhawks had an answer yet again though, as they tacked on a pair in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 5-2 ballgame. They tacked on one more run in the 7th off of the Heidelberg bullpen to make it a 6-2 deficit for the Berg entering the eighth.
After a pair of hits to leadoff the inning for HU, Kyle Slovick singled to score one run, while later in the inning, Darrin Shirk hit a sacrifice fly to cut the La Roche lead down to two.
Going into the 9th inning still trailing by a pair, Heidelberg drew a pair of walks to open the inning before a pair of outs, including an RBI fielder's choice, put the Berg in a tough spot, down one run with two outs.
In stepped freshman Matt Psychas.
The pinch hitter delivered in a big way, driving a double to score a pair of runs, giving Heidelberg the 7-6 lead.
From there, Cory Jacobs shut the door on the victory, as he picked up his second save of the year, as he has yet to allow an earned run through 7.2 innings of relief.
Anthony Hajdu (2-0) picked up his second win on the mound in relief after he threw a 1-2-3 8th inning for the Student Princes.
UP NEXT
Heidelberg will open up Ohio Athletic Conference play on Friday when they travel to Capital for a doubleheader to begin their defense of last year's regular-season conference championship. Game one in Bexley is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.