Oregon State just lost its best pitcher for the stretch run of the College Baseball World Series for a crime he committed five years ago.
Luke Heimlich announced Friday he was removing himself from the team after it was revealed the 21-year-old was convicted on one count of sexual molestation in Washington in 2012 and had failed to inform the Oregon sex offender registry. An Oregon newspaper unearthed Heimlich’s past Thursday after he received a citation on campus and his offense went public.
“I have taken responsibility for my conduct when I was a teenager,” Heimlich said in a statement, according to KMTR Oregon. “As a 16 year old, I was placed on juvenile court probation and ordered to participate in an individual counseling program. I’m grateful for the counseling I received, and since then, I realized that the only way forward was to work each day on becoming the best person, community member and student I can possibly be. I understand that many people now see me differently, but I hope that I can eventually be judged for the person I am today.
“I’m so proud of our team’s accomplishment and don’t want to be a distraction. Therefore, I’ve respectfully requested to be excused from playing at this time.”
Heimlich, a 6-foot-1 lefty who is expected to come off the board early in the next MLB draft, is officially registered as a sex offender for life after he was charged with molesting a 6-year-old female relative when he was just 15. Heimlich’s original sentence, which included 40 weeks of detention in a juvenile rehabilitation facility, was cut short following completion of probation and two years of sex-offender counseling.
The mother of the victim, who is now 11 years old, told OregonLive she was “appalled that the college he’s going to would even have him on their team.”
Oregon State, the No. 1 team in college baseball, needs just two more wins to reach the College World Series. The Beavers face Vanderbilt in the Super Regional Friday night — without their star pitcher.