FRANKLIN, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology travels on the road for their first Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference away matchup against Franklin College on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Spurlock Center.

The Fightin' Engineers stand 5-1 on the season to match the best six-game start in school history.  The 2006-07 squad previously started 5-1, before winning its next 9 games to earn national top 25 poll votes.  This year's team opened with wins over Albion, Oberlin and Case Western before falling to undefeated Marietta on Sunday.

Rose-Hulman recently beat Illinois Wesleyan 70-46 in their home opener in Hulbert Arena last week, and won the HCAC opener against Mount St. Joseph Saturday afternoon 59-44.

Junior Josie Schmidt leads the Rose-Hulman offense with averages of 10.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game.  Junior Kristen Belyea ranks second in scoring at 9.2 points per contest.  Senior Cassidy Cain has chipped in 6.8 points per game and leads the team with 19 assists.

Defensively, Rose-Hulman leads the HCAC in scoring defense (51.0), field goal percentage defense (31.0%), blocked shots (4.5 per game).

Mount St. Joseph comes into the matchup with an overall record of 4-1 on the season. They have a loss to Trine and a recent win against Defiance College.  Franklin leads Rose-Hulman with a 21-10 overall record in the series including a 11-9 record in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Rose-Hulman won the last meeting in the HCAC conference tournament.

After Wednesday's matchup, Rose-Hulman travels to Bluffton University in a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. with the men following at 3 p.m.