Wabash opened the 2020 baseball season by crushing eighth-ranked Heidelberg 15-1 in a cold and breezy Saturday afternoon game played at the Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield, Indiana.
 
The Little Giants (1-0) tied the school record for triples in a game with three while three pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts to tie for the second-most in a game by a Wabash team.
 
The two teams played five innings of scoreless baseball while combining for only four hits. The Little Giants pushed three runs across in the top of the sixth inning after Jackson Blevins led off the frame with a walk and came home to score on a ground ball to first by Sean Smith three batters later. Austin Simmers added two more runs for Wabash in the sixth with his triple to right center field to bring home Smith and Drew Prather.
 
The Little Giants blew the game open in the seventh inning, scoring six runs on six hits. Cameron Martin started the rally with a one-out bunt single. Blevins singled to put runners on first and second for Andrew Jumonville, who drilled a triple to the right field wall to bring both runners to the plate. Matthew Annee followed with an RBI single up the middle, then scored one batter later on Smith's triple to center field. Smith added a fifth run in the inning when he raced home on a wild pitch on ball four to Prather. Simmers moved Prather to second with a single, then both runners moved up a base on a fielder's choice by Henry Wannemuehler to load the bases. Prather scored the final run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Josh Weidenbenner to push the lead to 9-0.
 
Heidelberg (1-2) scored its only run in the bottom of the eighth inning before Wabash poured it on in the ninth with six more runs. Martin, Jumonville, Simmers, and Blake Juerling each drove in a run for the Little Giants while Blevins picked up two RBI with his double to right field.
 
Tyler Dearing dominated the first five innings on the mound for Wabash. The Little Giant starter limited the Student Princes to two hits and three walks while striking out a career-high eight of the 19 batters he faced. Eric Lakomek limited Heidelberg to one run on five hits over three innings of relief work. He struck out a career-best seven of the 15 batters he faced in the game. Freshman right-hander Mitch Bertrand worked the final inning of relief, retiring all three batters he faced while recording one strike out.
 
Blevins collected three of the Little Giants' 15 hits in the game. Martin, Jumonville, Smith, and Prather finished with two hits apiece.
 
Wabash returns to Grand Park for a pair of games on Sunday. The Little Giants play the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 11 a.m. followed by a game against Baldwin Wallace at 2:30 p.m. The Yellow Jackets received three votes in the initial D3baseball.com top-25 poll.