BOX SCORE
HANOVER, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
clinched a bid to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
Baseball Tournament with a 12-1 victory at Hanover College on
Sunday.
Rose-Hulman secured the No. 3 seed in the four-team tournament with Sunday's victory. The Fightin' Engineers will enter tournament play at 26-14 overall and finished 16-9 in league games.
Rose-Hulman will square off with No. 2 seed Franklin College (26-12, 16-8 HCAC) on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Top-seeded Manchester College will serve as the tournament host after completing the regular season at 26-13 overall and 17-7 in league play. Anderson University holds the No. 4 seed at 26-12 and 14-8 in conference games.
Live in-game statistics and live in-game radio broadcasts will be available for every Rose-Hulman contest in the HCAC Tournament.
In Sunday's contest, Rose-Hulman scored three times in the first inning and six times in the fifth to secure the victory.
The offensive outburst helped senior Andrew Oakley (Clinton, Mich./Chippewa Valley) move to 6-1 on the season with six strong innings on the mound. Oakley scattered seven hits and struck out six with just one walk in the win. Junior Ryan Fuller (Fort Wayne/Homestead) added three strikeouts in 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.
The six-run fifth inning was opened on a triple by senior Chris Stemple (Mount Vernon). The frame also included singles by senior Michael Kovacs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller), junior Derek Dauenbaugh (Bloomington, Ill./University), sophomore Bobby Newman (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg), junior Jamie Weinle (Harrison, Ohio/Olney C.C.), sophomore Matthew Turk (Addison, Ill./Addison Trail) (pictured) and Stemple.
Kovacs led the offensive effort with four hits, including a double, with two runs scored and two RBIs. Stemple added two singles and a triple with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Turk pitched in with three singles and two RBIs for the Engineers. Newman rounded out the Engineers with multiple hits with a single, double and two runs scored. Weinle contributed a game-high three RBIs.
The Fightin' Engineers won the 2009 and 2010 HCAC Tournament titles to earn automatic bids to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Rose-Hulman will seek its fourth straight NCAA appearance after qualifying for the national tournament in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
2011 HCAC TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS
May
12-14, 2011 -
at Manchester
College
Thursday, May
12
Game 1 or Game 2: #1 Manchester vs. #4 Anderson, Noon or 3:30
p.m.
Game 1 or Game 2: #2 Franklin vs. #3 Rose-Hulman, Noon or 3:30
p.m.
Friday,
May 13
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 9:30 a.m.
Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 12:30 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 4
p.m.
Saturday, May 14
Game 6: Game 3
winner vs. Game 5 winner, Noon
Game 7: If needed, opponents of Game 6 play again, 3:30
p.m.