(At) Louisville 5, Kentucky 2:
The top pitcher for No. 1 Oregon State, who as a 15-year-old pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old female family member, released a statement Friday saying he has asked to be excused from playing in the NCAA super regionals.
Luke Heimlich said he didn’t want to be a distraction to the team, which began a best-of-three series Friday night against Vanderbilt. Heimlich’s attorney, Stephen Ensor, released the state- ment hours before the game.
“I’m so proud of our team’s accomplishment and don’t want to be a distraction; therefore I’ve respectfully requested to be excused from playing at this time,” Heim- lich said.
He also said, “I have taken responsibility for my conduct when I was a teenager.”
Heimlich’s criminal history was first reported by The Oregonian on Thursday. In an editorial accompanying the article, the newspaper said it learned about Heimlich’s 2012 conviction while doing a routine background check before running a profile on him.
Heimlich, a junior lefthander from Puyallup, Wash., is 11-1 with an 0.76 ERA. He is projected to be an early round pick in next week’s major league draft.
“I’m grateful for the counseling I received and since then I realized the only way forward was to work each day on becoming the best person, community member and student I can possibly be,” Heimlich said in Friday’s statement. “I understand many people now see me differently, but I hope I can eventually be judged by the person I am today.”
Drew Ellis had four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the fifth inning, as the Cardinals (51-10) won Game 1. The Wildcats (43-22) made things interesting in the ninth as Evan White homered to lead off before Taylor Marshall singled in another run with two outs. Lincoln Henzman then struck out T.J. Collett to end the game.
(At) Texas A&M 7, Davidson 6 (15):
George Janca singled in the winning run with two outs in the 15th inning as the Aggies won the longest super-regional Game 1 in NCAA baseball history.
Texas A&M (40-21) blew a 6-0 lead as the Wildcats (3525) scored three runs in the sixth inning, two in the seventh and one in the ninth on Cam Johnson’s RBI single. Johnson and Max Bazin finished with four hits each.
Hunter Coleman had a two-run homer among three hits for the Aggies, and Nick Choruby hit a two-run double.