Terre Haute, Ind. - The Franklin College baseball team scored two runs in the ninth inning to pick up an 8-6 road Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) victory over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on Tuesday evening.
Senior Dylan Reyher (Clinton, Ind./South Vermillion) hit a sacrifice fly that allowed sophomore Jacob Troxell (Lapel, Ind./Lapel) to give the visitors the ninth-inning lead. A throwing error later in the frame allowed an insurance run to be added to the winning margin.
Junior Hayden Cleveland (Brownsburg, Ind./Cardinal Ritter) tossed a scoreless ninth inning to pick up the victory in relief. The left hander came into the game in eighth inning with Rose-Hulman having runners on second and first bases, with one out. He got out of the jam by striking out the first batter he faced, and then got the next hitter to ground out.
Cleveland added another strikeout in the bottom of the ninth inning, and closed out the game by getting the Engineers to hit into a double play.
Franklin (13-15, 6-9 HCAC) wins the season series with Rose-Hulman (14-12, 9-7 HCAC) by capturing two of the three games.
The Grizzlies scored four runs in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie. However, the hosts answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame to tie the contest.
A two-run single by senior Jameson Brock (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) started the scoring in the seventh inning. Troxell followed with a two-run double later in the inning.
Reyher led Franklin's 13-hit attack, going 4-for-4 with two runs batted in. Junior Jason Simpkins (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) added three hits and scored two runs. Brock chipped in two hits in the winning cause.
Rose-Hulman's Kody Alayon and Donnie Waters each had two hits in the game.
Franklin returns to action on Friday, April 17 at 4 p.m. when it opens a three-game home HCAC series against Transylvania University. Live statistics and video of the game will be available.