SCORES: G1 – Rose-Hulman 3, Earlham 2 / G2 – Rose-Hulman 6, Earlham 5
LOCATION: Richmond, Indiana – Randal R. Sadler Stadium
RECORDS: Earlham 16-13 / Rose-Hulman 16-10
RICHMOND, Indiana – Earlham College baseball struggled to make the most out of its scoring opportunities while the visiting Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers capitalized on theirs as the Quakers fell in both ends of a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader on Sunday at Sadler Stadium.
Earlham fell to Rose-Hulman, 3-2, in game one of the twinbill after the Engineers had a two-out, three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning. Rose-Hulman completed the sweep with a 6-5 win in game two as Earlham's rally effort from a 5-0 deficit after the first inning fell short of its goal.
GAME 1
Earlham plated a single run in the second inning when
Isaiah Shake's sacrifice fly to center scoring
Maxwell Fries, who got aboard on a lead-off double.
The Quakers doubled their lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning, but missed out on the opportunity to pad their lead even more.
Danny Dopp and
Austin Hatfield led things off with back-to-back singles, and Fries was put aboard with a hit-by-pitch to load the bases.
Brian Pincura's sac fly to center allowed Dopp to score, but both Hatfield and Fries were put out on rundown plays allowing Rose-Hulman to record a triple play to get out of the inning without further damage.
Earlham was one out away from victory in the top of the ninth with Rose-Hulman runners on second and third, when Logan Cody sent a three-run shot over the right field fence off reliever
Domanick Michael to put the Engineers in front 3-2.
The Quakers were able to get runners aboard at first and second with one out in the home half of the ninth, but a pair of groundouts ended the Earlham rally.
Earlham starter
Joey Gerbus went eight-and-a-third innings and scattered five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in the no-decision appearance, with Michael getting charged with the loss.
Dopp and Hatfield each had two hits for the Quakers in the loss. Cody accounted for two of the Engineers' six hits.
Earlham finished the game with eight runners left on base while Rose-Hulman had two.
GAME 2
Rose-Hulman manufactured five runs on four hits, two errors, and a walk in the top of the first inning, keyed by Luke Calabrese's three-run double to left-center.
The Quakers got one run back in the bottom of the second on
Marc Gendreau's RBI single, plating Shake. Earlham cut the Rose-Hulman lead to 5-2 in the home half of the fourth when Shake reached on a base hit to center, eventually scoring on a steal of third and coming home when the Rose-Hulman third baseman was unable to collect the throw from the catcher.
Earlham pushed two more runs across in the seventh, cutting the deficit to 5-4. The Quakers opened the frame with back-to-back doubles by Pincura and Fries, with Fries coming home when
Cameron Wissel was hit by a pitch with bases loaded. That still left the bases loaded with one out for Earlham, but the next two Quaker batters struck out and flied out to end the inning.
Rose-Hulman tacked on a single run in the eighth on Alex Gavrilovich's infield RBI single, and Earlham answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the frame. Fries got aboard with a hit-by-pitch, was doubled over to third by Hatfield, and scored on a balk by Engineer pitcher Michael Yager.
Chance Strickley retired the Engineers in order in the top of the ninth, and Wissel's one-out double put a runner in scoring position for the Quakers in the bottom of the frame. However Rose-Hulman reliever Adam Taylor recorded a strikeout and a grounder to second to clinch the win.
Shake finished the game 4-for-5 at the plate with two runs, while Pincura, Fries, and Hatfield each had two hits. The Quakers finished the game with 13 runners left on base.
NEXT UP:
Earlham baseball will travel to Anderson, Indiana, on Monday, April 26, for a single game against Anderson University. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
