ANDERSON, Ind.. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology battled back from an 8-0 deficit to win a 16-15 slugfest over Manchester University in the opening game of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Thursday at Anderson University.
Manchester jumped out to an 8-0 lead, before Rose-Hulman rallied with five runs in the second inning and eight in the third to take a 13-8 advantage. Manchester knotted the score again at 13-13, before Rose-Hulman took the lead with one run in the fifth to earn a 14-13 edge.
Manchester regained the lead with two runs in the eighth, before Rose-Hulman scored two more of their own to earn the win. Junior pinch hitter Josh Koutnik tied the game at 15-15 with a double, and junior pinch runner Nevin Fansher scored the eventual winning run on a wild pitch.
Junior Alec McNally came out of the Rose-Hulman bullpen to pick up the victory. McNally came on to shutdown the Manchester rally in the eighth, then pitched a scoreless ninth with one strikeout to move to 4-1 on the season.
Offensively, junior Josh Hoeing and sophomore Kevin Jendra led the Fightin' Engineers with four hits each. Hoeing had a double, a bases loaded triple and five RBIs, while Jendra had three singles, a double and scored three times.
Other Engineers with multiple hits included junior Donnie Waters added two singles, one run and one RBI; sophomore Zach Trusk with two singles and two runs scored; junior Hazen Hamatherwith three runs scored and two singles; and junior Patrick Klima with two singles, two runs scored and two RBIs. Rose-Hulman had 19 total hits on the day with a season-high 16 runs.
Manchester had 20 hits of its own, led by three hits from Jordan Nieman, Tailur Szarenski and Logan Hug. Nieman and Hug also had home runs for the Spartans.
Rose-Hulman improved to 26-14 on the season and returns to action in the winner's bracket game against either Anderson or Earlham on Friday at 9:30 a.m. Rose-Hulman would advance to the Saturday championship round with a win Friday morning, or would play the third game on Friday with a morning loss.