Behind a big night from Andy Heller, the UW-Parkside baseball team earned its first victory of the season with a 10-6 win over Nyack in Fort Pierce, FL. The contest was the first of a six-game swing in southeast Florida.
Heller homered in each of his first two at-bats while driving in five runs to get the Rangers' offense started. He later added a few sparkling plays in the field to help secure the win.
“Andy was aggressive at the plate tonight,” said head coach Jarvis Brown. “He got some good pitches to hit early and obviously didn't miss them.”
Heller finished 2-for-3 at the plate while walking twice, stealing a base, and scoring four runs. He recorded a key outfield assist in the sixth to cut down the tying run and stole a hit in the ninth with a spectacular diving catch.
“He has definitely improved his defense this year,” added Brown. “He's doing a better job of balancing both aspects of the game.
His booming home run in the first staked the Rangers a 3-0 lead before Nyack answered with three of their own in the third. Heller's second of the game in the bottom of the third, this one a towering two-run shot to right-center, made it 5-3.
Nyack chased UW-Parkside starting pitcher Jack Olson in the fifth in taking their only lead of the night at 6-5. The Rangers answered scoring in each of the final four innings to earn the win.
John Hasser tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with a sacrifice fly. Mike Fuchs and Matt Abraham each added two-out run scoring singles in the sixth and seventh respectively to key the win.
“Tonight we put ourself in position where we could do some things offensively,” said Brown. “We were able to move some runners around and then came up with the big hits we needed. Our guys did a good job of manufacturing some runs tonight.”
Nic Larson came on in relief of Olson to earn the win with 2 1/3 scoreless innings of work. He stranded three runners in scoring position to hold Nyack at bay. Steven Fox worked the final two innings for the save.
“He's been consistent every outing,” Brown said of Larson. “He's worked hard this year and is continuing to improve.”
Offensively Fuchs went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Hasser went 2-for-4 with a run batted in.
With the victory, Parkside improves to 1-7. “The monkey's off our back a little bit,” Brown said. “We played some pretty strong programs to start the year. Now it's a matter of stringing together a couple more. It's about keeping ourselves in the game and putting ourselves in a position to win no matter who we're playing against.”
