PUNTA GORDA, Florida -- Two big innings lifted the Heidelberg University baseball team to its third-straight win. The Student Princes scored three in the second and five in the seventh in an 8-4 win over La Roche University on a breezy Monday in Southwest Florida.
Heidelberg (5-4) scored eight runs on just seven hits, taking advantage of seven walks and four hit batsmen.
Tyler Smith had the lone multi-hit performance of the afternoon, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Zach Doran, exactly 8,037 days (22 years, 1 day) old, was 1-for-1 with two walks, two HBP and three RBI.
La Roche (1-3) took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
The Student Princes responded in short order.
Elliot Kurtz reached on an error, then advanced around the bases on walks drawn by
Jake Davis and Smith. With two outs, Doran ripped a single through the left side to plate a pair.
Kyle Jenkins followed with a nearly identical base hit, scoring Smith -- giving HU a 3-2 lead.
The Redhawks scratched a game-tying run across in the fourth.
Still tied at 3 in the seventh, Heidelberg broke the game open with a zero-hit inning. Doran was hit by a pitch to lead off, but the next two batters were retired. Wearing his hand-delivered #33 jersey,
Eric DeVore walked.
Marc Ochoa -- who earlier in the game laid down a beautiful bunt single -- also walked, loading the bases. Kurtz was plunked in the shoulder, forcing in the go-ahead run. Davis was grazed in the helmet, forcing in another. Smith walked, driving in a run.
Robert Hunt reached on an error, which drove in another. After a pitching change, Doran wore another pitch -- his second HBP of the frame.
In all, HU scored five runs on no hits. Instead, four HBP, three walks and the error did the damage.
The Redhawks managed to score one run in the bottom of the seventh, but could do no more.
Starter
Alec Zoeller went four innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He fanned three.
Ryan Hackworth (1-0) got his first collegiate win, throwing three full innings, allowing one run on two hits while striking out three.
Brady Knizner looked sharp over the final two innings.
After an off day on Tuesday, Heidelberg returns to action on Wednesday. The Berg faces Susquehanna at noon.
Schedule note: Heidelberg has added a game on Saturday, March 14. HU will face Pitt-Bradford at 11 a.m. in Ft. Myers before flying back to Ohio later that evening.
