TERRE HAUTE, IND. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology relied on a 17-hit attack and strong pitching to defeat Bluffton University 12-0 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball opener at Art Nehf Field on Friday night.

Sophomore Andrew Stull (Sammamish, Wash.) benefited from the offensive outburst with a nine-inning shutout in the victory.  Stull allowed just three hits with three walks and three strikeouts for his first win of the season.

Rose-Hulman jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings with two runs in the first and three runs in the second.  Singles by sophomore Kody Alayon (Hammond/Bishop Noll), senior Hank Akard (Indianapolis/Ben Davis) and junior Josh Hoeing (Rushville, Ind.) keyed the first inning rally. 

In the second inning, freshman Zach Trusk (Plainfield, Ill.) doubled and scored on a single by Alayon.  Akard added another single, before sophomore Donnie Waters (Franklin) capped the rally with an RBI double.

Rose-Hulman added another run in the fourth inning, courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Alayon and Waters.  In the sixth, the Engineers tacked on two more runs on a double by sophomore Caleb Kissel (Plainfield, Ill.) and singles by senior Andrew Benitez (Mililani, Hawaii) and Hoeing.

Waters blasted a home run and had two doubles, three RBIs and scored twice to pace the Engineer attack.  Alayon contributed four hits, including a double, three runs scored and one RBI.  Hoeing also had a three-hit performance with three RBIs and a double.

Two more Engineers had multiple hits for the 16-hit offensive attack.  Akard had two singles, two runs and two RBIs, and Benitez slapped a single and a double with one run and one RBI.

David Ianiro paced the Bluffton offense with a pair of singles. 

Rose-Hulman improved to 6-4 on the season and 1-0 in league play, while Bluffton dropped to 7-5 and 0-1 in league play.  The Fightin' Engineers and Beavers conclude their series with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.