ORLANDO, Fla. – The Fightin' Engineers opened their season with consecutive victories over the Vermont State-Castleton Spartans. Rose-Hulman won game one of the double header by a score of 6-2 in 11 innings, and game two by a score of 11-9.
 
Game One
Junior Jackson Summers led off the game with a single on a grounder out to left field. Sophomore Jackson Harms recorded an RBI triple on the next at-bat, as he dove into third following his line drive to the right field wall. Senior Connor O'Connell brought Harms home on a sacrifice fly as RHIT took a quick 2-0 lead.
 
Junior Brad Nardi got off to a hot start on the mound, as he struck out consecutive batters looking to close out the first inning.
 
O'Connell and sophomore TJ Pipkins would each add line drive singles at the top of the third, but the Spartans defense would keep Rose-Hulman off the board. On the defensive side, Harms made a phenomenal sliding save on a line drive to left field en route to Rose-Hulman recording three quick outs.
 
Nardi struck out two more batters swinging in the fourth inning, and he finished the match with a game-high seven strikeouts across six innings pitched.
 
Senior Tyler Orr subbed in during the bottom of the seventh, and the Spartans were able to put the game-winning run on second with no outs. With the game on the line, Orr recorded the first two outs of the inning as he struck out back-to-back batters who went down swinging. With two outs and the bases loaded, the Fightin' Engineers' defense forced a groundout to third, which sent the game to extra innings.
 
Sophomore Noah Rasmussen led off the 11^th inning with a double out to center field. Harms would later get hit by a pitch, and O'Connell was able to load the bases as he was walked. With one out, senior Mason Rasmussen launched a line drive to left-center field to bring his brother Noah, and Harms home.
 
Sophomore Joe Nevle extended the lead to three as he brought O'Connell home on an RBI single to left field. With the bases loaded once again, Erickson would draw a walk, where M. Rasmussen would score to make it a 6-2 game.
 
Summers closed out the game on the mound by striking out two batters, as Rose-Hulman secured the 6-2 victory. Orr picked up the win for the Fightin' Engineers, striking out five batters across four innings pitched.
 
Game Two
The Fightin' Engineers would once again put together a two-run first inning as Summers and Harms both scored unearned runs. Freshman Michael Hines would lead off the second with a double to right-center field, and he advanced to third on a single to third base from sophomore Issei Takahashi. Summers added an RBI single to third base as Hines' run would put the Fightin' Engineers up 3-0.
 
Vermont State-Castleton was able to cut the lead to 3-2, highlighted by a triple and an RBI double at the top of the third inning.
 
After being walked during his first career at-bat, freshman Matthew Furtado recorded the first hit of his collegiate career in the third, by smacking a nuke over the center field wall to put Rose-Hulman up 4-2.
 
The Spartans would once again battle back, as they scored three runs atop the fourth, which included a two RBI double to deep right field.
 
Freshman Danny Jaso hit a single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth, and Harms would be walked, putting two on for Rose-Hulman. With one out, Jaso scored off a Spartans error, and a sacrifice fly from M. Rasmussen would bring Summers home to give Rose-Hulman a 6-5 lead.
 
The Fightin' Engineers put together their most dominant inning of the day in the fifth. During the top of the inning, sophomore Gavin Drooger struck out a batter looking, and Summers made a sensational over-the-shoulder catch in the outfield.
 
At the bottom of the inning, Hines would hit a triple out to the right-center field wall. He would score on a Takahashi single to left field, which extended the lead to two. Takahashi would then steal second before Rose-Hulman put two runners on as Summers was walked. Harms would then add a two RBI double to the right field wall to make it a 9-5 game.
 
The Fightin' Engineers would then force four straight walks, which brought in two more runs to extend the lead to 11-5.

Vermont State-Castleton would respond with four runs at the top of the seventh, to cut the lead to two. With a runner on and two outs, freshman Jack Reeves forced a ground out to pick up the save, while Drooger would record the win on the mound as Rose-Hulman achieved an 11-9 victory.
 
The Fightin' Engineers will continue the Russ Matt Invitational tomorrow, Sunday, March 1, at 12 PM. They will face the Anna Maria Amcats on Field 8 at the Lake Myrtle Sports Park.