By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
April 26, 2002
One way to avoid having to play the third game of a best-of-three series is to break out the bats.
Heidelberg Academy banged out 13 runs on 12 hits to run-rule visiting Tri-County Academy 13-3 on Thursday afternoon. The win completes the sweep for the Rebels in the first round MPSA Class 1A playoff series.
Mason Key led Heidelberg as he went 3-for-3 with a big home run and four RBIs.
Ryan Aultman pitched all five innings for Heidelberg and allowed only three hits while striking out five to pick up the victory.
Tri-County jumped ahead in the first inning. Jeremy Nivens walked to start the game and later scored on a two-out infield hit by Nick Fowler. Aultman worked out of a bases loaded jam to keep the score 1-0 after the top of the first inning.
Heidelberg responded with two runs in the bottom of the first. Brent Welch led off the inning with a single. Heath Ainsworth came through with a single to give the Rebels runners at first and third. Heidelberg then pulled off a double steal to bring Welch in to tie the score. Matthew Andrews came through with a clutch two-out hit to bring in another run to make the score 2-1 after one inning.
Tri-County scored a run in the second to tie up the game but Heidelberg responded with four runs in its half of the second inning. J.R. Stephenson reached on an error to start the inning. Key followed with his home run to left field. The two-run shot gave Heidelberg a 4-2 lead.
Joe McLeod continued the inning with a walk. Blake Bass got a hit to left and the ball bounced away from the left fielder to give the Rebels runners at second and third. Ainsworth came through with a double to knock in one run and make the score 5-2. Bass later scored on a wild pitch to score the fourth run of the inning and make the score 6-2.
Heidelberg scored another two runs in the third inning when Bass doubled in Key and Welch to make the score 8-2. Tri-County was able to get one run back when a throwing error allowed a runner to score in the top of the fourth.
With the score 8-3, the Rebels put the game away in the fourth inning. Three straight walks loaded the bases for Heidelberg. Key came through with a single to knock in two runs and make the score 10-3.
The visitors brought in a new pitcher but that didn't help any. McLeod ripped the first pitch from the reliever out to left to make the score 13-3. The Rebels didn't score any more in the inning but held on in the fifth to win by the ten-run rule.
With the win Heidelberg advances to the next round of the MPSA Class 1A playoffs and improves to 15-5. The Rebels will face the winner of the Newton County Academy and University Christian School series on Tuesday and finish the series on Thursday. UCS leads the series 1-0. If the Flames win the series the teams will flip a coin to see where the first game will be played. If Newton wins the series, the teams will face each other in Decatur on Tuesday.