WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology baseball team capped its Florida trip with a thrilling 4-3 win in 11 innings over Milwaukee School of Engineering Saturday at the Chain of Lakes Complex.
The Fightin' Engineers improved to 3-3 with the victory, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
Sophomore Patrick Klima (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph) opened the 11th inning rally with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice by sophomore Kody Alayon (Hammond, Ind./Bishop Noll). Sophomore Caleb Kissel (Plainfield, Ill./North) then smashed the game winning double to score Klima and send the Engineers home with a victory.
Rose-Hulman scored once in the fourth inning and twice in the sixth to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. Kissel opened the fourth inning rally with a single and scored on a single by senior Hank Akard (Indianapolis/Ben Davis).
In the sixth inning, Rose-Hulman relied on singles by Akard, sophomore Warren Whithaus (Robinson, Ill.), junior Josh Hoeing (Rushville, Ind.) and freshman Zach Trusk (Plainfield, Ill./North) to gain a 3-2 lead.
Milwaukee School of Engineering rallied to tie the score at 3-3, but four Engineer bullpen pitchers held the Raiders to just one run over the last 5.2 innings of work. Sophopmore Alec McNally (Geneva, Ill./Wheaton Academy) picked up the win with a scoreless 11th inning.
Offensively, Akard and Klima had three singles each to lead the Fightin' Engineers. Akard scored once with one RBI, while Klima scored one run. Kissel added a two-hit game with one run and one RBI.
Rose-Hulman finished its Florida trip at 3-3 overall and hosts Concordia Chicago on Friday night in the 2014 home opener.
