Andy Heimbach, a junior pitcher for Mount Vernon Nazarene College, has been selected as the American Mideast Conference, NAIA Great Lakes Region, and National Christian College Athletic Association Pitcher of the Week for his peformance during the week of April 19-25. This is Heimbach’s third time to receive the conference honor this season, second time to claim the region award, and fourth time to be selected for recognition by the NCCAA.
Heimbach, a 6-foot-2 right-hander from Wheelersburg, Ohio, tossed a four-hit shutout in a 6-0 victory over Urbana University during the Cougars’ 3-1 week. In that contest, the former All-Ohioan from Wheelersburg High School struck out nine batters without issuing a walk.
The shutout was the fifth of the season for Heimbach in seven starts as he tied his own single-season school record that he had set in each of the previous two years. It was also the 15th shutout of his career as he set a new NAIA career shutout record. The previous mark of 14 was set by Ron Norman of Pembroke State (NC) University from 1971-1974. It also tied Heimbach for the All-Divisions career shutout record with Ken Kravec of NCAA Division II Ashland University, who posted 15 shutouts during his career (1970-1973).
Heimbach is now 8-1 this season with a microscopic 0.72 earned run average. He moved into second place on MVNC’s all-time wins list as the victory over Urbana upped his career record to 27-4.
The Cougars are currently 23-10 overall and 11-3 in the AMC. MVNC will return to action on Tuesday when the team travels to Malone College for a conference doubleheader that is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.
