By his own admission, Heidelberg baseball coach Matt Palm isn't a numbers guy.
So the fact that Palm won his 400th game as a coach Thursday didn't seem to be as important to the 13th-year mentor as the fact that his squad improved to 19-15 with a 9-4 win over Wooster.
When asked about reaching the milestone, Palm downplayed it.
His players didn't.
"I came here as a freshman excited to play in his program," said senior centerfielder Elvin Williams, who was a starter on HU's World Series-qualifying team of two years ago. "I'm happy for him to get his 400th win. It's pretty big, 400."
Williams tripled in three runs and scored against Wooster, adding a couple of nice running catches. On the mound, Chris Thomas overcame some command issues early to provide Heidelberg with a quality start. He went seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits. He struck out two and walked four.
Like Williams, Thomas said he was pleased to be there for Palm's 400th.
"Coach Palm, everyone knows, he's historic to this program; he's built up this program, everything's come around him. Every time we can help him out, it feels good for the team," Thomas said.
For his part, Palm was less concerned about basking in glory than he was about the immediate future. After years of being one of the Ohio Athletic Conference's powerhouses, the Student Princes are 7-7 and a just making the conference tournament is far from assured. Palm said he's hoping Tuesday's non-conference tilt can benefit the Student Princes in OAC games this weekend.
"We've got a gritty group, and they've competed hard all year," Palm said. "Maybe this is the game that helps springboard us into this weekend and an opportunity to be in the conference tournament."
Steven Kisan had three hits and drove in three runs for HU. Ben Blystone drove in a pair of runs.
Wooster dropped to 21-12. Palm, who played for Wooster coach Tim Pettorini with the Scots in the 90s, said it wasn't extra special to reach the milestone against his school. He also downplayed the win total itself.
"I'm more about the process and the expectations we have in this program," Palm said. "I guess it just means we've put the right guys out here for enough years to accumulate enough wins."
