DEFIANCE, Ohio -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology baseball team swept Defiance College on Sunday 12-5 and 13-11. Rose-Hulman has won 10 of its last 11 games to improve to 21-11 on the season, while Defiance fell to 6-29.
In game one, Defiance took a 2-1 lead into the fourth inning, but Rose-Hulman scored three times in their half of the fourth off the bats of
Luke Kluemper who singled and
Brett Tuttle who hit a sacrifice fly to center field. Rose-Hulman scored seven runs in the final four innings to record the 12-5 win.
Kluemper finished with three hits for back-to-back games while also driving in two runs and scoring twice. Tuttle,
Shaine Mitchell,
AJ Ernst,
Logan Cody, and
Andy Krajecki each recorded two hits in game one. Ernst and Tuttle both drove in two RBI's.
Brett Borcherding remained perfect on the hill, moving to 3-0 in seven innings of work. He struck out 10, a career-high for the freshman.
Quintin Bynum pitched two innings in relief and struck out two.
In game two, Defiance jumped out to an 8-0 by the end of the third, but Rose-Hulman scored seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings to cut the deficit. Krajecki,
Luke Calabrese, and
Josh Mesenbrink all homered in the back half of the game.
In the top of the ninth and still down three runs, Cody and Krajecki both reached base safely. Calabrese then blasted his second homer of the game over the left-center field fence to tie the game at 11. Mesenbrink then tripled off the batter's eye in center field but was left stranded at third.
With the score tied at 11-11, the game-winning run reached third base for Defiance in the bottom of the ninth but was also stranded, leading to extra innings. In the tenth, Rose-Hulman's Camp and
Manuel Lopez both reached base - Camp on a walk and Lopez with a bunt single. Camp and Mitchell, who pinch ran for Lopez, both scored to take the lead and secure the win.
Calabrese accounted for 9 of the team's 13 runs and set career highs for hits and RBI's in game two. He ended with four hits and six RBI's and also scored three times. Krajecki finished 3-for-5 with three RBI's for his first three-hit game of his career. Mesenbrink chipped in two hits and Cody scored three times.
Korey Marlow and
Adam Taylor combined for 3.2 innings of work to close the game on the hill. Marlow earned the win in 2.2 innings with zero hits and two strikeouts, while Taylor earned his second pitching save of the season for tossing one hitless inning.
The Fightin' Engineers head to HCAC-leading Translyvania University on Wednesday, May 5 for a single HCAC contest. First pitch is scheduled for 5pm.
