Wabash played long ball in game one, bringing out the big sticks. The Little Giants crushed four home runs in the opening contest, including two by junior Mike Mack (Butler, IN/Eastside) (photo). Mack opened the third inning with a solo shot, then added another solo homer with two out in the fifth. Senior Jake Martin (Rushville, IN/Rushville) continued his hot hitting, smacking a three-run shot over the right field fence in the fourth as a part of a four-run inning. Sophomore Jared Martin (Rosedale, IN/Riverton Parke) blasted a solo homer in the third one batter after Mack's first home run.
The problem in game one for Wabash came in the field. Six Little Giant errors led to five unearned runs for the Fighting Engineers, leading to the two-run victory for Rose-Hulman. Wabash took a 9-8 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning, only to see Rose-Hulman score four runs in its half of the sixth. Three of those runs were unearned on two Wabash miscues.
Wabash jumped out to an early lead in game two, scoring three in the first inning and four in the second. Mack started the scoring with a two-run single to right, bringing both Martins home. Mack stole second then came home on a Rose-Hulman fielding error to give Wabash a 3-0 lead in the first.
The Engineers responded with three in their half of the first, setting up a big second inning for Wabash.
Freshman Nick Rico (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) slammed his first career home run in a Wabash uniform to lead off the second inning. Sophomore shortstop Danny Schubert (Lebanon, IL/Lebanon) added a two-run single after a wild pitch had scored Jake Martin for the second run of the inning. Schubert's single brought home Bill Goff (Brownsburg, IN/Brownsburg) and Jared Bogan (Struthers, OH/Struthers) to put the Little Giants in front 7-3.
It was long ball time again in the third for Wabash. Freshman catcher Justin VanderIest (Hudsonville, MI/Hudsonville) crushed a pitch to left field for his first college homer, giving Wabash an 8-3 lead. Wabash added two more runs in the fourth on a ground out and a wild pitch before Mack added the final run of the contest.
Mack continued to swing a hot bat, crushing his third home run of the day, his sixth of the season, over the right field fence in the seventh inning. Wabash survived a late comeback attempt by Rose-Hulman in the bottom of the seventh. The Engineers closed the gap to three runs before senior Marc Rowe (West Point, IN/McCutcheon) was finally able to close the door in the final inning.
Freshman Taylor Back (Bedford, IN/Bedford North Lawrence) earned his first collegiate victory, pitching six innings and striking out six batters. He allowed only four earned runs on nine hits before giving way to Rowe to in the last inning.
Mack finished the game hitting .833 on a 5-of-6 performance from the plate. He hit three home runs and one double, tallied five RBIs and had 15 total bases. He also walked twice, finishing with an on-base percentage of .889, and scored six runs. Jared Martin was 3-for-7 in the two games. Jake Martin had four RBIs and four runs scored.
The Little Giants move to 17-15 with the split. Wabash returns to the diamond on Friday with a single nine-inning game at DePauw University beginning at 3 p.m. The Little Giants will play a doubleheader against DePauw on Saturday afternoon at Mud Hollow Field to complete the three-game series. First pitch on Saturday is slated for 1 p.m.