METRO ROUNDUP: Rose baseball, softball sweep HCAC doubleheaders

Apr. 13—Rose-Hulman's baseball team rolled to a doubleheader sweep of Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Earlham with 14-2 and 11-1 home victories in seven innings Saturday at Art Nehf Field.

Earlham jumped on the board with a pair of runs in the second inning of the first game, but that would be almost all of the offense the Quakers could muster for the day.

The Engineers responded with six runs in the bottom of the second, thanks to a three-run homer by Michael Stenger and RBI hits by Kade Kline, Peter Rogers and Connor O'Connell.

O'Connell finished off Game 1 with one of the hardest hit-balls of the Rose season as he took a 3-0 fastball off the net in right field for a walk-off grand slam.

Rose-Hulman's Michael Yager pitched a complete game, recording eight strikeouts while only allowing two runs and four hits.

In the second game, the Rose bats picked up where they left off from Game 1 with three runs in the first and five in the second to take an 8-0 lead. Colter Couillard-Rodak added the third Rose home run of the day with a three-run bomb in the first inning. Then, after an RBI groundout by Rogers, O'Connell added a two-run triple and Busboom launched the Engineers' fourth homer for an 8-0 lead.

The lead extended to 10 in the fourth to stretch it to 24 consecutive runs scored by the Engineers after an RBI double by O'Connell and an RBI single by Dalton Busboom.

Rose-Hulman (16-11 overall, 8-4 HCAC) will return to action Sunday as it travels to Greencastle to take on the DePauw Tigers at noon.

Softball

—Engineers sweep — At Rose-Hulman, the host Engineers earned a doubleheader sweep over Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent Anderson on Saturday with scores of 6-2 and 8-0.

This advanced Rose to 17-9 overall and 4-2 in the HCAC.

Phoebe Worstell, a junior from Bicknell, enjoyed a record-breaking Game 1 performance by going 3 for 3 with three home runs and five RBIs. This is the most roundtrippers recorded by a player in a single game in school history.

Worstell would try her luck in the circle in the second game of the doubleheader. She led the team to a shutout win, lasting all six innings with four strikeouts and allowing only three hits.

Jadyn Winkler got the Engineers on the board first with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second. Jessica Newsom added another bomb in the bottom of the third to make the score 3-0.

Rose-Hulman softball will continue HCAC action this weekend, traveling to take on Manchester for a doubleheader at 1 p.m.

—Pomeroys split — At Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, the host Pomeroys earned a River States Conference doubleheader split Saturday afternoon against visiting IU-Southeast. While IU-Southeast took the first contest 6-0, the Pomeroys came back in Game 2 to win 10-1 in five innings.

The Pomeroys are now 21-12 overall and 14-5 inside RSC play. IU-Southeast is 25-12 and 19-3 respectively.

In the second game, the Pomeroys jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Jaselyn Conn recorded a sacrifice fly to score Jasmine Kinzer and Abbi Henderson created havoc on the base paths by stealing third and coming home to score on an error.

Summer Rocha picked up the pitching win by scattering four hits over three innings and allowing one run to score. Emily Fitzwater came in for the final two innings of work and allowed no hits.

The Pomeroys stolen five bases in the victory.

The four-game weekend continues with a rare Sunday doubleheader against Midway (Ky.), which will start at 1 p.m.

Track

—Trio of ISU school records shattered at Gary Wieneke Memorial — At Champaign, Ill., Indiana State rewrote its record book Saturday afternoon at the Gary Wieneke Memorial, as three program records were broken at Demirjian Park.

Lillian Gibbs (148 feet, 8 inches in the women's javelin) and Will Staggs (17-10.5 in the men's pole vault) set school records in individual events, while Casey Hood Jr., Daunte Majors, Isiah Thomas and Tahj Johnson teamed up to break the ISU men's 4x100-meter relay record (39.64 seconds). Gibbs' record-breaking performance came in just her third collegiate meet, while Staggs broke his own pole-vault record for the second time this season.

As a team, Indiana State had five first-place finishes, with every event group being represented by at least one winner. The Sycamores racked up 23 top-five finishes, while five program top-10 marks were set in the one-day meet. Indiana State also had multiple additional marks which rank among the conference leaders and will have athletes in contention for NCAA East first-round appearances.

Up next for the Sycamores will be hosting the Gibson Invitational from Thursday through next Saturday at the Gibson Track and Field Complex.

Men's volleyball

—Woods wins — Saturday afternoon was a historic day for the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods' program as the Pomeroys notched their first-ever winning season — in just the second year of the program — with a 3-1 victory over Aquinas (Mich.) inside Knoerle Center (25-19, 13-25, 25-18, 25-22).

The Pomeroys finished the season with an overall record of 17-15, 5-13 in the WHAC, while Aquinas fell to 3-22 and 1-17 respectively. The Woods ended the year on a three-match winning streak.

Additionally, SMWC celebrated the career of senior Julian Green in pre-match ceremonies. Green is the program's first-ever senior and graduate. Green came to the Woods from Lancaster, Calif., and was joined by his parents Julie & Barry as well as his sister Bailey. Over his two-year career he recorded over 200 kills and 30 digs. He carries a 4.0 grade-point average and currently works as a graphic designer in the SMWC Marketing Office.

The Woods were paced by Marko Zolnjan, who recorded 14 kills in the season's final match. He also posted four service aces in the victory. Ethan Martins and Joseph Szadorski chipped in with three blocks each, while Yammiel Martinez tallied a pair. Martins recorded 36 assists, while Jalen Noveda had 14 digs and Manase Fetulimoeata added 13.

SMWC raced out to a 4-1 lead in first set and after falling behind erased the deficit by scoring the set's final eight points for the 25-19 victory. Fetuliemoeata set up set point with a kill and then took advantage of an Aquinas attack error for the 25-19 victory.

After falling in the second set, the Woods received blocks from Zolnjan and Martinez to cap a 3-0 run and take the 7-5 lead. Once again, the Pomeroys finished strong with three consecutive points to win the set.

A pair of early 3-0 runs in the deciding fourth set, capped by a kill from Christian Green, staked the Pomeroys to an early 9-5 lead. Trailing 17-15, The Woods scored four in a row, capped by blocks from Martinez and Christian Green, for the 19-17 cushion. Then tied at 21, kills from Christian Green and Zolnjan made it 24-21 and Szadorski finished it off with a kill for the 25-22 victory.