TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology baseball team won their second and third straight games to finish the weekend thanks to a Senior Day sweep over the Manchester Spartans. The Fightin' Engineers won the first game 19-3 thanks to an offensive explosion, and they won the second game 6-5 on a walk-off from Jonathan Oliger. With the wins, the Fightin' Engineers earn a trip to the HCAC Tournament next weekend.

In the first game, the Manchester Spartans started it off with a run in the first. However, the Fightin' Engineers responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning. Mason Rasmussen started it off with an RBI single, and Connor O'Connell doubled home three runs with the bases loaded. Then, Colton Brown and Kade Kline each brought home another run to make it 6-1.

In the second, Rose-Hulman added another run on an RBI groundout from Rasmussen. In the third, Rose-Hulman added another big inning thanks to a pair of Manchester errors and RBIs from Rasmussen, Kline, and O'Connell. The Fightin' Engineers would score five in the third to make it 12-1.

In the fourth, the Fightin' Engineers' bats just kept rolling thanks to a deep two-run home run by senior Andy Krajecki and two more RBI hits from Brown and O'Connell.

Peter Rogers added his third home run of the season in the fifth to extend it to 19-1. Senior Sam Stieby was able to close out the game in the seventh inning for a 19-3 victory.

All but one Rose-Hulman starter recorded two or more hits in the big win. Alec Lewandowski, Zacheus Carr, and Stieby locked it down on the mound for the win.

In the second game of the day, the Spartans again got the bats rolling early with two runs in the first. However, just like the first game, Rose-Hulman answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Dalton Busboom doubled home a run, and Mason Rasmussen added an RBI groundout to make it 2-2.

Manchester added a pair of solo home runs to take a 4-2 lead. Rose-Hulman then got the bats going again on an RBI single by Krajecki, an RBI double by Kade Kline, and a sacrifice fly for Peter Rogers to take their first lead of the game in the sixth inning.

Manchester would tie the game in the seventh, but they would leave runners on base and could not take the lead.

In the ninth inning, O'Connell got it started with a single. Brown then hit a deep drive into the right-center gap that hit the wall in the air for a double which allowed Jonathan Oliger to step up and drive one over the center fielder's head for a walk-off single.

Kline, Rasmussen, and O'Connell led the team with two hits. In the two ball games, the Fightin' Engineers' bullpen combined to go 9.2 innings pitched with just 4 runs and 9 hits allowed.

Rose-Hulman moved to 21-19 on the season and clinched either the third or fourth seed in the HCAC tournament at 13-9. Manchester moved to 21-18 on the season and dropped to 12-10 in the HCAC. The Spartans clinched the #6 seed in the HCAC Tournament with the Anderson sweep and a Transylvania win over Earlham. The Fightin' Engineers advance to the HCAC Tournament in Kokomo, Indiana next Thursday where they will play at either 10:30 AM or 1:45 PM.