MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2000
College baseball
'Berg ties school win mark
Heidelberg lost the first game against Olivet, 4-3, but bounced back to take the second game, 3-1, to improve to 19-9-1 overall.
The win total ties the Heidelberg school record, which was also reached in 1977 and 1997. The 'Berg has 15 games remaining to break the record with, the first four of which will at Peaceful Valley this week. Heidelberg hosts Ohio Northern Wednesday and Walsh Friday.
"We got great pitching today from Steve (Ritley) and Brock (Gankosky), and everybody got a chance to play with every position player getting to start one of the games, which is always good.
"We came into the season with our first goal to break the school record, and I think we're going to make it. Our second goal coming into the season was to make the OAC Tournament. The nice thing about goals is that they can be adjusted, and I think that now we are looking for more than just making the OAC Tournament."
Ritley (3-3) took the loss in game one, striking out seven and walking two. Olivet (10-17) broke stopped Ben Stocum's 17-game hitting streak in the opener.
Nick Eaton had two hits and a run for Heidelberg, and one hit apiece came from Chris McKinney, Frank Balogh, Aaron Fisher (run, RBI), Jayce Coleman (run, RBI), D.J. Lavoy (RBI) and Bill Mayer.
Gankosky's complete game win in the nightcap improved his record to 2-0. Devin Pollick had two hits, a run, an RBI and a stolen base. Mayer had a hit and a run, and Josh Merrill contributed an RBI single. Vincent Palovich had an RBI.
Tiffin U. takes two
Tiffin University's baseball team had the benefit of solid pitching in the first game and scored 11 runs in the second game of a doubleheader sweep over Siena Heights, defeating the Saints 5-3 and 11-5.
Brian Smith improved to 2-2 with the pitching win in game one, and Aaron Ward picked up a save. Phil Thistlethwaite (1-1) got the win in the second game.
Tyson Pinion had four singles, a run and an RBI in the opener for the Dragons. Kipp Huntsberger tripled, drove in a run and scored a run, Justin Wagner had two singles and two runs scored and Bryce Mattson hit a double, a single, had an RBI and scored a run. Brian McGee had an RBI single, Ross Tripplet singled and stole a base and Ward added a hit.
In the second game for TU, Jay Neundorfer doubled twice on his way to three hits, three runs and two RBIs. Drew Cowburn hit a three-run homer and also doubled in a run, and Sergio Cintron had three hits, two RBIs and two runs.
Francisco Ortiz (triple), Nick McCalla and McGee (two runs) had two hits each, Phil Sabatka scored two runs and Josh Curry crossed the plate once.
"It was a really long weekend after also playing a doubleheader in Pennsylvania last night, so I'm happy with what we've done," Tiffin University coach Lonny Allen said. "We played a lot of guys, and we did pretty well all-in-all."
Tiffin hosts Cedarville at 1 p.m. Tuesday for an AMC doubleheader.