Dylan Heine pitches a shutout, leads Haddonfield past Audubon, 2-0

Runners on second and third.

Full count.

Bottom of the seventh inning.

Haddonfield pitcher Dylan Heine was on the mound, protecting a precarious 2-0 lead in Monday’s Colonial Conference Liberty Division clash of Top 10 teams.

Heine peered in for the sign from catcher Chris Mariani.

The call, relayed from assistant coach Mike Scannell, was as surprising as the pitch to follow: Knuckle curve.

“I saw it and I was like, ‘Oh, here we go,’” Heine said. “Luckily, the knuckle curve has been working all year and it worked again.”

Heine’s last pitch was like so many others on a cool, overcast afternoon: an off-speed beauty that cut the plate.

This one ended the game, serving as Heine’s seventh strikeout and third of the inning.

“That’s the confidence we have in him and that’s the confidence he has in himself,” Haddonfield coach Bob Bickel said.

Heine, a 6-foot-5 senior right-hander and Rider recruit, allowed just four hits, all singles. He walked one, the first batter he faced.

“He wasn’t really behind [in the count] much,” Mariani said. “He was on today.”

Heine also contributed at the plate as his hard-hit grounder in the top of the fourth chased home both runs on an infield error. Chris Brown and Alex Kadar, both of whom singled to start the Bulldogs’ only serious rally of the game, raced home on the play.

The victory served as a bounce-back from Saturday’s loss to Triton for No. 9 Haddonfield (9-1), which has locked up an automatic berth to the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic and tightened its grip on first place in the Colonial Liberty.

Heine said it probably was his best pitching performance of the season. He needed to be that good because Audubon junior right-hander Sean Colbert matched him pitch-for-pitch over seven sharp innings.

Colbert threw just 82 pitches. He allowed two unearned runs on four hits, all singles, one a bunt. He didn’t walk a batter.

“Sean Colbert showed up today,” Audubon coach Rich Horan said. “He came to battle and that’s all you can ask.”

Designated hitter Pat Driscoll hit a pair of singles and leadoff man Garrity Bantle reached base four times for No. 7 Audubon (8-3), which lost its third in a row.

“We have to get back to the things we were doing before,” Horan said. “Luckily, it’s late April and not late May.”

Heine started nearly every batter with a curveball. Almost every one was a strike.

“It was command,” Heine said of using his off-speed pitch to set up his fastball. “It seemed like I was 0-1 after that first pitch.”

Heine’s last breaking ball came in the game’s most pressure-packed moment.

With runners in scoring position, Audubon likely was a base hit away from tying the game.

“When he called the pitch I was like, ‘Uh-oh,’ Heine said. “It was only the second time throwing a 3-2 curve this year.

“I knew I could get it done.”

Haddonfield 000 200 0 – 2 4 3

Audubon 000 000 0 – 0 4 2

WP: Dylan Heine. LP: Sean Colbert.