By Jon Sargalis
Box Score Photos Photos Brady
University of Alabama pitcher Matthew Heiberger has arrived in Amsterdam, and he put on a show for the Mohawks faithful as they defeated the Oneonta Outlaws 8-1 on Saturday night at Shuttleworth Park.
Heiberger got leadoff batter Tanner Hardin (Wofford) to ground out to second and then proceeded to strikeout the next 8 batters in a row. Having not pitched for 2 weeks, Heiberger reached his 3-inning limit with a perfect game intact; 3 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts.
“It just goes back to all my mechanics, just throwing strikes, it helps me best to get into that groove” said Heiberger after the game. He threw 38 total pitches, landing 26 of them for strikes. His breaking ball was electric to generate all the strikeouts saying “During the regular season I was not able to throw that pitch at all and today thankfully I was. I just try to get a swing and miss pitch, to get it down really low and hopefully they swing and miss.”
The Mohawks have a strong connection to Alabama and plenty of their star players have spent previous summers in Amsterdam, when asked what they told Heiberger about playing in Amsterdam: “Great fans, great community. That’s what they told me, and it’s worked out pretty well.”
As for the rest of the game, it also worked out pretty well for the Mohawks. Amsterdam had a 1-0 lead 2 batters into the game as Javar Williams (Wake Forest) hit the second pitch of the game for a triple to the right center gap and scored on an Evan Haeger (Alabama) infield single to the third baseman.
In the third Jimmy Dionne (Howard College) hit a double over the left fielder’s head which allowed Javar Williams to score. With 2 outs in the inning, Zach Eldred (Brockport) hit a popup in foul territory which was dropped by the third basemen and the Mohawks made the Outlaws pay for that mistake as Eldred worked a walk to load the bases and Drake Digiorno (Utah) followed with a 3-run triple to make it 5-0 Mohawks.
Konner Keplinger (Auburn) took over on the mound in the fourth and kept the strikeout streak alive for one more batter as he got Jack Bateman (Holy Cross) looking to make it 9 straight Mohawks strikeouts before leadoff batter Tanner Hardin accidently made contact and reached base on an error by Keplinger.
In the fourth Javar Williams recorded his third hit of the game and drove in Steven Spalitta (Mississippi State) with a single up the middle making it 6-0 and Jake Sparks (Marshall) hit a solo home run in the sixth making it 7-0.
Keplinger went 3 scoreless allowing 1 hit and 1 walk with 4 strikeouts. In the seventh James Redick (Fordam) made his Mohawks debut and gave up the lone run Oneonta scored as a walk to Colton Harrison (New Orleans) set the table for Brody Raleigh (Western Carolina) to hit an RBI triple to deep center making it 7-1.
In the eighth the Mohawks added one more run as Jake Sparks hit another deep fly ball, but this time it was caught for a sac-fly as Liam Willson tagged up and scored to make it 8-1.
Zach Hernandez (Belmont) and Mason Veronezi (Springfield) put the finishing touches on the game to preserve the 2-hitter as Mohawks pitching recorded 15 strikeouts to only 3 walks.
Matthew Heiberger got the win improving to 1-0 as the Mohawks won their sixth straight game and tenth overall, improving to 10-2. Daniel Mateffy (Holy Cross) took the loss falling to 1-1 as the Outlaws lost their third straight game, falling to 6-5 on the season.
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