In the pitching-rich tradition of the Mount Vernon Nazarene College baseball program, no one had ever thrown a perfect game. Not Tim Belcher, the top pick in the 1983 amatuer draft. Not Jeff Kuder, who tossed two no-hitters during the 1988 season. Not Mike Patch, the Cougars' career victories leader with 37. Not Marty McLeary, the school's career ERA leader and a Boston Red Sox prospect.
However, all of that changed on Tuesday afternoon when junior right-hander Andy Heimbach took the mound at Malone College in the first game of an American Mideast Conference doubleheader. With eight professional scouts on hand to watch, Heimbach, a native of Wheelersburg, Ohio, needed just 76 pitches to reach perfection.
Heimbach struck out 11 Pioneer batters, recorded seven ground ball outs, and allowed just three fly ball outs. He was in such good command of the strike zone that he only went to a three-ball count on one batter.
Meanwhile, the Cougars generated two runs in the top of the fourth inning to provide enough offense for Heimbach to improve his record to 9-1. His gem was the 13th perfect game in NAIA history, and ironically, his only loss this year came when Luke Martin of Embry-Riddle University (FL) tossed a perfect game against him on March 29.
"Andy was awesome!" said MVNC head coach Keith Veale. "He is throwing the ball with a lot of confidence. He has such command of the strike zone and only went to three balls to one hitter."
The shutout was also the 16th of Heimbach's career as he upped his NAIA record in that category. He also set the new all-divisions collegiate record in that category as he broke the previous mark held by Ken Kravec of NCAA II Ashland University, who recorded 15 shutouts from 1970-1973. The shutout was also Heimbach's sixth of the season as he eclipsed his own mark that he had set in each of the previous two years.
"It's amazing to set the record for most career shutouts in the history of college baseball and throw a perfect game in the process," Veale added. "Even more impressive, he did it against a team that was hitting .321."
For the year, Heimbach has struck out 92 batters in 57 1/3 innings while allowing just five walks. He has surrendered just four earned runs in 10 appearances with a microscopic 0.63 earned run average.
After dropping the second game of the twinbill 4-3, the Cougars are now 24-11 overall and 12-4 in the AMC. MVNC will return to action on Thursday when the team will host the College of Wooster in a non-conference nine-inning game at 4:00 p.m.
Mount Vernon Nazarene College Baseball
Mt. Vernon Nazarene at Malone (Game 1)
Apr 27, 1999 at Canton, OH
Mt. Vernon Nazarene 2 (24-10, 12-3) Malone 0 (17-22, 8-11)
AB R H RBI AB R H RBI
Stanifer cf 4 0 1 0 Wagner rf 3 0 0 0
Crawford ss 4 0 1 0 Adams 2b 3 0 0 0
Iceman 1b 3 1 1 0 Bishop lf 3 0 0 0
Coulter dh 3 1 1 0 Dever 3b 2 0 0 0
Lavin c 3 0 2 0 Yoak cf 2 0 0 0
Colley pr 0 0 0 0 D'Angelo 1b 2 0 0 0
Laslo 3b 2 0 0 1 Vlacovsky dh 2 0 0 0
Alison lf 3 0 1 1 Josett c 2 0 0 0
Wine rf 3 0 1 0 Knapp ss 2 0 0 0
Hall 2b 2 0 0 0 Volz p 0 0 0 0
Heimbach p 0 0 0 0
Totals...... 27 2 8 2 Totals...... 21 0 0 0
Score by innings: R H E
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Mt. Vernon Nazarene 000 200 0 - 2 8 0
Malone 000 000 0 - 0 0 2
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E - D'Angelo 2. DP - Malone 1. LOB - MVNC 6. 2B - Stanifer; Lavin. SH -
Hall. SF - Laslo. CS - Crawford.
IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF Fly Gnd NP
Heimbach W 9-1 7.0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 21 21 3 7
Volz L 7.0 8 2 2 0 5 1 0 0 0 27 29 7 7
WP - Volz.
Strikeouts - Stanifer 2; Crawford; Lavin; Hall; Adams 2; Bishop 2; Dever 2;
Yoak; D'Angelo; Vlacovsky; Josett; Knapp.
Start: 1:00 p.m. Time: 1:20 Attendance: 96
Play-By-Play: Mt. Vernon Nazarene inning 1 Stanifer doubled down the lf line. Crawford struck out swinging. Iceman flied out to lf. Coulter grounded out to p. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Malone inning 1 Wagner grounded out to ss. Adams struck out looking. Bishop struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Mt. Vernon Nazarene inning 2 Lavin struck out looking. Laslo grounded out to 3b. Alison reached on a fielding error by 1b. Alison advanced to second on a wild pitch. Wine flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB. Malone inning 2 Dever struck out looking. Yoak struck out swinging. D'Angelo grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Mt. Vernon Nazarene inning 3 Hall grounded out to p. Stanifer struck out looking. Crawford singled to left field. Crawford out at second c to ss, caught stealing. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Malone inning 3 Vlacovsky struck out swinging. Josett struck out looking. Knapp grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Mt. Vernon Nazarene inning 4 Iceman singled to right field. Coulter singled to right field; Iceman advanced to second. Lavin singled to center field; Coulter advanced to second; Iceman advanced to third. Laslo flied out to cf, SF, RBI; Coulter advanced to third; Iceman scored. Colley pinch ran for Lavin. Alison reached on a fielder's choice, RBI; Colley out at second ss to 2b; Coulter scored. Wine grounded out to p. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Malone inning 4 Lavin to c for Colley. Wagner grounded out to 3b. Adams flied out to cf. Bishop grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Mt. Vernon Nazarene inning 5 Hall struck out swinging. Stanifer grounded out to ss. Crawford grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Malone inning 5 Dever struck out looking. Yoak grounded out to ss. D'Angelo struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Mt. Vernon Nazarene inning 6 Iceman flied out to cf. Coulter flied out to rf. Lavin doubled to right field. Colley pinch ran for Lavin. Laslo flied out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. Malone inning 6 Lavin to c for Colley. Vlacovsky flied out to cf. Josett flied out to rf. Knapp struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. Mt. Vernon Nazarene inning 7 Alison singled to right field. Wine singled, bunt; Alison advanced to second. Hall reached on an error by 1b, bunt, SAC; Wine advanced to second; Alison advanced to third. Stanifer struck out looking. Crawford popped into double play p to 3b, bunt; Alison out on the play. 0 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB. Malone inning 7 Wagner out at first 1b to p. Adams struck out swinging. Bishop struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
