Anderson Grinds Out Split with Rose-Hulman

The Anderson University baseball team grinded out a split with Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology during Sunday's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) doubleheader in Terre Haute.

Anderson (1-1, 1-1) captured a dramatic 6-5 win against Rose-Hulman (1-1, 1-1) in Game 1. The Fightin' Engineers had loaded the bases with zero outs while down by a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Ravens kept the Fightin' Engineers off the board. Rose-Hulman then took a 7-5 win in Game 2.

"We played well enough to win one," Coach Mathew Bair said. "We did a lot of good things [on Sunday] across the board with some inexperience on the field and some young arms on the mound. We ran ourselves out of a few innings and those were ultimately costly. We are an aggressive base-running team and will continue to be, but we have to clean up some of the early-season mistakes. I'm proud of our effort and competitiveness against a tough Rose-Hulman team."

GAME 1: ANDERSON 6, ROSE-HULMAN 5

Rose-Hulman held a 4-1 lead after five innings. The Ravens then added a run in the top of the sixth. During the eighth, Anderson plated four runs, which came from a two-run home run from T.J. Price (Anderson, Ind./Daleville) as well as RBI singles from Jonathan Willoughby (Speedway, Ind./Speedway) and Justin Reed (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville). The Fightin' Engineers cut the lead to one in the bottom half of the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Rose-Hulman led off with a walk and two singles. With the tying run on third and no outs, Anderson retired the next three batters and sealed the win.

Price went 2-for-5 with a two-run blast. Reed finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Willoughby drove in two runs for the Ravens while Jason Hall-Manley (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine) added an RBI. Branton Sanders (Whiteland, Ind./Whiteland), Willoughby, Tyler Burton (Knightstown, Ind./Knightstown), Grahm Reedy (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) and M.J. Furnish (Fishers, Ind./Heritage Christian) recorded singles to round out Anderson's nine hits. Reed and Bennie Day (Charlestown, Ind./Jeffersonville) stole two bases each.

Kennedy Parker (McCordsville, Ind./Mount Vernon) struck out three batters, issued a walk and allowed four runs on three hits in six innings. Cole Whitlock (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South) earned the win to move to 1-0. He fanned three batters, gave up three walks and yielded one run on one hit in one inning. Travis Bevington (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) picked up his first save of the season. He punched out a batter, issued a walk and gave up two hits in two scoreless innings.

GAME 2: ROSE-HULMAN 7, ANDERSON 5

Burton cranked two jacks for the Ravens. The junior from Knightstown went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Willoughby blasted a homer and delivered two RBIs. Hall-Manley finished 2-for-3 with a run-scoring double. Sanders went 2-for-2 while Reed and Price rounded out Anderson's nine hits with doubles.

Kasey Henderson (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) suffered the loss for the Ravens. Jose Olivo (Knightstown, Ind./Knightstown) threw two scoreless innings of relief.

UP NEXT

Anderson hosts Hanover College (3-1, 3-1) in an HCAC doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Don Brandon Field.