DEFIANCE, Ohio -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology baseball team cruised to a Sunday doubleheader sweep to complete a perfect 3-0 weekend against the Defiance Yellow Jackets. With the wins, the Fightin' Engineers improve to 21-14 on the season and 12-6 in the HCAC. They have clinched a top-5 seed in the HCAC Tournament which will be held in Kokomo, Indiana in two weeks.

In the first game, the Fightin' Engineers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after an RBI single by Connor O'Connell and a grand slam by Colton Brown in the first inning.

In the third, it was all Rose-Hulman as they would stretch their lead to 12-0 with a seven run innning. Ryland Hixon hit a two-run home run before Peter Rogers and O'Connell brought home a pair of runs on RBI singles. Dalton Busboom then capped off the inning with a three-run home run.

The Fightin' Engineers would tack on two more in the fifth with a sacrifice fly by Brown and a bases loaded walk for Kade Kline as they cruised to a 14-1 victory.

O'Connell led the team with 4 hits and 3 runs, and Busboom, Brown, and Jonathan Oliger each added multiple hits. Brown led with 5 RBIs and Busboom added 3 RBIs.

On the mound, Ian Kline picked up his sixth win of the season with just one run allowed in six innings. Warren Goik closed it out with three outs in the seventh.

In game two, the Rose-Hulman offense stayed hot with their third consecutive double-digit run output of the weekend.

Rogers opened the scoring in game two with a solo home run in the first inning. They would tack on four more in the second on a two-run double by Kade Kline and a sacrifice fly for Rogers to make it 5-0.

After Defiance scored their first run of the game, Rose-Hulman answered with an RBI double for Brown. Brown would then score on a wild pitch to make it 7-1.

Mason Rasmussen got into the RBI column with a two-run single to stretch the lead to 9-1 in the seventh inning.

The Yellow Jackets battled back with a four-run eighth inning to cut the lead in half, but the Fightin' Engineers responded once again in the ninth with a couple of RBIs from Oliger and Kline to cruise to the 12-5 victory.

Oliger led the team with 3 hits, and Brown led with 3 runs in the win. Kline, Rogers, and Rasmussen all added multiple RBIs for Rose-Hulman.

On the mound, Brady Strawmyer went 5.0 innings and only allowed 1 unearned run to pick up the win. He struck out a career-high 10 batter which is the most in a game since Michael Yager struck out 10 against Franklin last season. Brad Nardi pitched 2.2 innings in relief, and Schuyler Wilcox closed it out with 1.1 shutout innings.

Rose-Hulman will return to action on Tuesday, April 30 as they travel to Greenville to take on the Panthers. They will cap off their 2024 regular season over the weekend as they travel to Hanover for two games on Saturday and host Manchester for two games on Sunday.