TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology head baseball coach Jeff Jenkins earned the 500th victory of his coaching career and his 455th at the college as part of a doubleheader split against Bluffton University on Saturday.

The Engineers won the opening game by a 4-1 count, before falling 6-3 in the nightcap.

Jenkins has a career mark of 500-345-2 in his 22 years as a college head coach, including a mark of 455-280-1 in 19 seasons at Rose-Hulman.

Prior to Jenkins arrival at Rose-Hulman, the Engineers had won 397 games in more than 70 seasons of baseball.

"This represents all the hard work that our players have put in over the years.  The life of our graduates after they leave Rose-Hulman is tremendous, and we hope that our baseball program continues to show the best virtues of college athletics," said Jenkins.

Sophomore Derek Eitel (Marshall, Ill.) provided a strong performance on the mound to earn his fifth win in game one.  Eitel scattered four hits and allowed just one earned run with six strikeouts in the complete game victory.

Offensively, freshman Michael Kovacs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) blasted his second home run of the season to pace the Engineers.  Sophomore Keenan Long (Park Ridge, Ill./Northwestern University) added a pair of singles and sophomore Tim Tepe (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) drove home two runs for the Engineers.

In the nightcap, Bluffton pounded out 16 hits against three Engineer pitchers to earn a 6-3 victory.  Timothy Kay and Chris Bauman led the Beavers with three hits each.  Cody McPherson and James Hausman combined on the pitching effort in the victory.

The Rose-Hulman offense was able to amass seven hits, but could not piece together more than two runs in an inning.  Freshman Kreigh Williams (Ossian/Norwell) paced the team with a pair of doubles, one RBI and one run scored.

With the split, the Engineers captured two of three games in an HCAC series for the second straight weekend.  Rose-Hulman claimed two out of three victories at Manchester last week.

Rose-Hulman stands 17-8 overall and 4-3 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play with the victory, while Bluffton improved to 9-13 overall and 3-7 in league games.  The Engineers return to action on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. matchup against Anderson University at Victory Field in Indianapolis.