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Oregon St’s Luke Heimlich asks to be excused from playing

FILE--In this May 31, 2015, Oregon State's Luke Heimlich pitches to a Dallas Baptist batter during the third inning of an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game in Dallas, Texas. Heimlich, a standout pitcher for Oregon State’s top-ranked baseball team, pleaded guilty to a single count of molesting a 6-year-old girl when he was a teenager. Heimlich’s criminal history was reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive on Thursday, June 8, 2017. The newspaper says it learned about the 2012 conviction while doing a routine background check on Heimlich before running a profile on him. (AP Photo/Ralph Lauer, file)
FILE--In this May 31, 2015, Oregon State's Luke Heimlich pitches to a Dallas Baptist batter during the third inning of an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game in Dallas, Texas. Heimlich, a standout pitcher for Oregon State’s top-ranked baseball team, pleaded guilty to a single count of molesting a 6-year-old girl when he was a teenager. Heimlich’s criminal history was reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive on Thursday, June 8, 2017. The newspaper says it learned about the 2012 conviction while doing a routine background check on Heimlich before running a profile on him. (AP Photo/Ralph Lauer, file) FILE--In this May 31, 2015, Oregon State's Luke Heimlich pitches to a Dallas Baptist batter during the third inning of an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game in Dallas, Texas. Heimlich, a standout pitcher for Oregon State’s top-ranked baseball team, pleaded guilty to a single count of molesting a 6-year-old girl when he was a teenager. Heimlich’s criminal history was reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive on Thursday, June 8, 2017. The newspaper says it learned about the 2012 conviction while doing a routine background check on Heimlich before running a profile on him. (AP Photo/Ralph Lauer, file)

By Associated Press 3 min read

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) – Oregon State’s top pitcher, who as a teenager pleaded guilty to molesting a 6-year-old girl, released a statement Friday saying he has asked to be excused from playing.

Luke Heimlich said in the statement that he didn’t want to be a distraction to the team, which begins play in the NCAA super regionals on Friday evening against Vanderbilt. Heimlich’s attorney, Stephen Ensor, released the statement just hours before the game.

“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 said in the statement.

He also said, “I have taken responsibility for my conduct when I was a teenager.”

Heimlich’s criminal history was first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive (http://bit.ly/2s0uFD8) on Thursday. In an editorial accompanying the article, the newspaper said it learned about Heimlich’s 2012 conviction while doing a routine background check before running a profile on him.