AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology improved to 3-0 on its Florida baseball spring team with a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over Capital University on Wednesday at Lake Myrtle Park.
Rose-Hulman jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a four-run second inning. Capital answered with a five-run sixth-inning rally to take a 5-4 advantage.
Rose-Hulman relied on timely hitting to score the game's final two runs in the seventh inning. David Burnside hit a one-out double and was still on second when Zach Witonsky came up as a pinch hitter with two outs. Witonsky provided a clutch double to tie the score at 5-5. The next hitter, Conner Helbling, added another double to score pinch-runner Shaine Mitchell for the eventual winning run.
Trevor Dallio provided a strong start for Rose-Hulman, pitching five scoreless innings with nine strikeouts before turning the game over to the bullpen in the sixth. Jacob Petrisko pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the win, and Brian Pershing earned the save in his first college appearance with two scoreless innings and two strikeouts.
Luke Calabrese led the Rose-Hulman offense with three singles, one run scored and one RBI. Josh Mesenbrink contributed a double, one run and one RBI to the team performance.
The four-run second inning for Rose-Hulman was keyed by an RBI single from Calabrese and an RBI double by Mesenbrink.
Rose-Hulman puts its 3-0 mark on the line on Thursday, when the Fightin' Engineers face Cabrini at 11 am at Lake Myrtle Park.
