Less than three weeks from leading the Patriots in scoring in their final basketball game of the year, Noah Redmon stood on the mound and mowed down 11 batters in six innings as the Patriots finally got their season underway against the New Haven Bulldogs.
Redmon allowed just three hits and one earned run in a great start to his senior season, picking up the win for coach Dean Lehrman.
Both teams got off to an understandably slow start due to the cold weather, but the home team struck first when Mason Abbott picked up the first hit of the contest with a single to center in the bottom of the third.
Heritage got on the scoreboard with a three-run fourth inning, with Redmon starting the rally himself with a double to right.
A walk and a couple of defensive blunders by the Bulldogs led to three runs, giving Redmon more than enough run support for the rest of the night.
New Haven started the top of the fifth with a double and a well-executed bunt that ended up a single. Redmon’s only run allowed on the night came on a groundout and he was fantastic the rest of the way.
Heritage scored three more runs in the fifth as the New Haven hurlers struggled with control and the Patriots pushed the score to 10-1 with four more in the sixth, highlighted by back-to-back RBI doubles by Redmon and Brady Richman.
Richman was then called on to finish the contest in relief of Redmon in the top of the seventh. The senior faced the minimum to close out the game, record a strikeout looking for the second out as a highlight.
The defending regional champions are set to host South Side Thursday at home at 5:30 p.m. The team’s first game on WZBD radio will be Thursday, April 4th against Van Wert.
