LEXINGTON, KY. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology completed a three-game series sweep with 16-7 and 5-0 victories over Transylvania University on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, Rose-Hulman clinched a winning season and needs just one win in next weekend's three-game series at Defiance to secure a bid to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on May 8-10.
In the opener, Rose-Hulman scored four runs in the second, five in the fourth and five in the eighth to score 16 runs and pound out 18 hits in the victory. Junior Josh Hoeing (Rushville, Ind.) slapped four hits, including a double, with three RBIs and two runs scored to pace the offensive attack.
Sophomore Kody Alayon (Hammond, Ind./Bishop Noll) blasted a home run and a double with two runs scored and one RBI. Freshman Zach Trusk (Plainfield, Ill./North) added three singles and scored three times.
Other key offensive contributors included senior Andrew Benitez (Mililani, Hawaii) with two singles, three RBIs and one run scored; sophomore Caleb Kissel (Plainfield, Ill./North) with two singles and two RBIs; and sophomore Patrick Klima (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph) with two singles, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Sophomore Karson Nixon (Jasper, Ind.) tossed the first six innings to pick up the victory, and junior John Krasich (Westfield, Ind./Brebeuf) pitched three scoreless innings in relief to pick up the save.
Trey Simpson and Pete Travisano led the Transylvania offense with two hits each.
In the nightcap, sophomore Andrew Stull (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake) was the story, shutting out the Pioneers for 7 2/3 innings. Stull scattered six hits and allowed no runs with seven strikeouts to move to 3-4 on the season.
Senior Michael Bush (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Christian) and sophomore Alec McNally (Geneva, Ill./Wheaton Academy) pitched the remainder of the eighth and ninth innings to secure the shutout.
Senior Hank Akard (Indianapolis/Ben Davis) hammered a home run and had three RBIs, while Alayon had three hits and scored twice to lead the game two offense. Benitez contributed two singles to the 11-hit performance.
Rose-Hulman improved to 21-13 on the season and 14-8 in HCAC play, while Transylvania dropped to 16-20 and 10-11 in conference games. The Fightin' Engineers travel to Washington University in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon.
