PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.—Senior shortstop Ricardo Lizcano (Toledo/Start) hit his 27th career home run today in the Heidelberg University baseball team's 8-6 win over Montclair State (N.J.) University at the Snowbird Baseball Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. The Student Princes lost their second game of the day, 7-0, to Ohio Wesleyan University.
Against Montclair State, the Student Princes put up single tallies in the top of the first and third innings, including Lizcano's solo shot, his first of the season.
The Berg plated two more tallies in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead with back-to-back RBI singles by freshman Trevor Oldham (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) in a pinch-hitting role and senior left fielder/pitcher Ross Pruitt (Elletsville, Ind./Edgewood) and added another run in the sixth for a 5-1 advantage.
Doubles by freshman third baseman Steve Kisan (Lakewood/St. Edward) and Pruitt and RBI singles by sophomore right fielder Arneal Squibb (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka) and sophomore second baseman Joe Chiarappa (Clinton/St. Vincent-St. Mary's) led to a three-run seventh as the Tri-Color moved to an 8-1 lead.
Montclair State answered in the bottom half of the seventh, scoring three runs on just three hits off of senior righty Daniel Brannum (Jamestown/Greenview) and added two more in the eighth to close to within 8-6 after a two-out single and a hit batsmen opened the gates before Pruitt was moved from the left field to the mound.
Pruitt retired four of the six batters he faced to earn his first save of the season.
Pruitt was also 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and one run scored and four more Student Princes had multi-hit games, including Chiarappa, senior center fielder Elvin Williams (Euclid), Kisan and sophomore catcher Jordan Martin (Powell/Olentangy). Kisan also scored two runs.
Sophomore southpaw Karl Boedecker (Commerce Township, Mich./Walled Lake) started the game, working three innings and allowing one run on one hit while striking out three batters and issuing three walks. Junior righty Teddy Lowe (Fort Wayne, Ind./Carroll) came on for an inning of relief. In 3.2 innings, Brannum surrendered five runs on seven hits and fanned three while walking two. Pruitt finished 1.1 innings with three strikeouts.
Against Ohio Wesleyan, the Battling Bishops scored runs in each of the bottom of the second and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead. A pair of singles, a triple and a wild pitch in the OWU seventh led to three more runs and the Battling Bishops added two more insurance runs in the eighth.
Sophomore right hander Chris Thomas (Canton/Perry) started and went 7.1 innings, giving up seven runs on 13 hits and three walks while striking out three batters. Junior righty Dan Kilger (Novi, Mich./Novi) finished the eighth innings and registered a strikeout.
After rapping out 16 hits against Montclair State, the Berg mustered just four against OWU.
Lizcano is now four homers shy of tying Aaron Fischer's (1996-2000) school career mark of 31.
Heidelberg wraps up its stint at the Snowbird Baseball Classic tomorrow when it faces Rhodes (Tenn.) College at 12 p.m.