(ALLIANCE, OH)--Heidelberg claimed the outright Ohio Athletic
Conference regular season baseball championship with 9-4 and 11-4
wins against Mount Union Friday at 23rd Street Field in
Alliance.
The Berg, ranked No. 4 in the nation, is now 34-6 overall and
at 15-3 in the OAC has won its fourth straight OAC title and will
host next week's four-team OAC Tournament in Tiffin.
Mount Union has dropped six games in a row and falls to 15-18
overall, 5-11 in the OAC and the Raiders finish the regular season
Sunday at 1 pm against Capital at 23rd Street Field.
Elvin Williams and Andy Lowe combined to hold Mount Union to just
five hits in a 9-4 game one victory.
Heidelberg got two runs in the first inning then busted the game
open in the second inning as they batted around and plated four
more runs to take a commanding 6-0 lead.
The Raiders got on the board in the third inning when Greg Ferrell
(Uniontown/Green) blasted a two-run home run, his eighth of the
season, to make it 6-2.
The Berg then got single runs in the fourth, sixth and seventh
innings, while Mount Union managed just single runs of its own in
the fourth and seventh for the 9-4 final.
Game two had a similar beginning as Heidelberg scored two runs
in the first and a run in the third to take a 3-0 lead and Ferrell
once again jump started the Raiders with a two-run homer in the
third to bring the score to 3-2.
Heidelberg then started the fifth inning with three straight
hits and ended up scoring three runs to extend the lead and Mount
Union got one back in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single by
Connor Nell (Powell/Olentangy) as the score stood at 6-3.
Both teams added single runs in the seventh and eighth and with
Heidelberg leading 7-3, the Berg batted around in the ninth and
scored four times to put the game away and win 11-4.
Gar Keen had four hits and Nathan James allowed three runs and
eight hits over the first six innings to get the win for
Heidelberg.
Kyle VonDukye (Medina/Medina) went 5-for-5 at the plate while
Beau Smith (Fredrick, MD/Fredrick) took the loss on the mound for
the Raiders
