LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 25th-ranked Heidelberg University baseball team battled all the way back from a 5-0 deficit on Friday to take a late lead, but it was host Spalding who came out on top in a 7-6, 12-inning marathon. The Student Princes took a 6-5 lead in the 10th, but Spading tied it up and was able to stretch out the game before taking it on a two-out, walk off hit in the 12th.

Heidelberg was kept scoreless until the seventh inning when they finally broke through. After Spalding retired the first two batters of the inning for the Berg, the Student Princes got a rally going. Evan Long doubled to right center, followed by walks drawn by Derek Hug and Adam Hershberger. With the bases loaded, freshmanParker Fronk cleared them with a 3RBI double to right center. That would be it for the scoring in that frame, however, as HU still trailed 5-3.

The Student Princes kept that offense going in the eighth inning when Hug came to the plate with the bases loaded and promptly tied up the game at five with a 2RBI single to left center. HU would strand the bases loaded at the end of the frame with the game still knotted at five.

After Cory Jacobs was able to keep Spalding off of the board in the eighth and ninth, keeping the score tied at five, Heidelberg finally took the lead in the 10th. After Hug led off the inning with a single and stole second, Fronk delivered his fourth RBI of the game with a single to center, plating Hug to give HU a 6-5 lead.

In the bottom of the 10th, Spalding scored one unearned run off of Jacobs to tie the game at six, sending it to the 11th.

Neither team scored in the 11th, and after the Berg stranded a pair of runners in the 12th, Spalding got a walk off hit off of HU reliever Alex Sir Louis, who took the loss after throwing two innings and striking out three while allowing just two hits and one run.

Adam Manner was the starting pitcher in the game for the Berg, finishing with no decision while throwing seven innings and allowing five runs with just three earned while striking out four. Jacobs was strong in relief, throwing 2.2 innings while allowing just one hit and the one unearned run while recording six strikeouts.

Hug finished the game with a team-high three hits while Fronk had a game-high four runs driven in.

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The Student Princes will have a rematch with Spalding on Saturday, with the game scheduled for 5:00 p.m. in Louisville.