WESTFIELD, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology baseball team opened their season on Saturday afternoon with a 9-7 win over the Mount Union Purple Raiders. 

The Fightin' Engineers got on the board in the first frame of the season as Kade Kline hit a leadoff single, made his way to third base on an error, and scored on a fielder's choice by Colton Brown for the first run of the season.

Rose-Hulman doubled their lead in the fourth with an infield single by Kade Kline and an RBI double by Connor O'Connell to increase the lead to 2-0.

Brady Strawmyer cruised through the first four innings for the Fightin' Engineers with just one hit allowed through four innings, but he got into a little bit of trouble in the fifth. The Purple Raiders looked like they had scored their first run of the game on a single to right field, but Mark Serdinak came up firing from right field and gunned down the runner at the plate as he attempted to score from second. Then, with two runners on and two out, Mount Union had another single to right field with a chance to score their first run of the contest, but Serdinak came up big again as he gunned down his second runner of the inning at the plate to keep the Purple Raiders off the board.

Strawmyer would finish the game with 5.0 innings pitched of shutout baseball with just 5 hits allowed and 5 strikeouts.

In the top of the seventh, the Fightin' Engineers opened up the game. With two outs, Connor O'Connell ripped a single into center field, and Colton Brown worked a walk. This brought Michael Stenger to the plate who ripped a fastball over the left field wall for the first home run of the season to extend the lead to 5-0 for Rose-Hulman.

However, Mount Union took advantage of Rose-Hulman mistakes in the bottom of the inning as they turned three walks, two hit by pitches, an error, and a wild pitch into five runs to level the game at five through seven innings.

Rose-Hulman retook the lead in the eighth as Mason Rasmussen reached with a leadoff single, advanced to second on a passed ball, and scored on an error by the Purple Raiders to give the Fightin' Engineers a 6-5 advantage. 

After Mount Union took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth on a pair of unearned runs, the Fightin' Engineers did not blink with a leadoff double by Colton Brown and a bunt single by Jackson Summers to open the final frame. They would tie the game on a ground out by Jonathan Oliger, and Oliger would hold Mount Union scoreless in the bottom of the inning to send it to extras.

Rose-Hulman loaded the bases with nobody out in the tenth after a double by Mason Rasmussen, a bunt single by Caleb Frakes, and a hit by pitch for Kade Kline. They would push a pair of runs across on a walk by Peter Rogers and a sacrifice fly by Connor O'Connell to take a 9-7 lead. Jonathan Oliger would then pitch a three-up, three-down tenth inning to give Rose-Hulman their first win of the season.

Oliger earned the win on the mound with three innings pitched, three strikeouts, and a pair of unearned runs allowed. Mason Rasmussen led the team with three hits at the plate, including a pair of doubles. Kade Kline, Connor O'Connell, and Mark Serdinak also added multi-hit games for Rose-Hulman.

With the win, the Fightin' Engineers improve to 1-0 on the season. The team returns to action on Friday, February 28 as they travel to Danville, Kentucky to battle the Centre Colonels in a three-game series.