Metro roundup: Rose baseball rolls to 13-3 victory over Beloit

Auburndale, Fla. — Rose-Hulman improved to 2-0 for the 2010 baseball season with a 13-3 victory over defending Midwest Conference champion Beloit on Monday afternoon.

The Engineers pounded out 19 hits for the second consecutive day to cruise to their second straight win. Tim Tepe smashed four hits, including a double, to pace the Rose-Hulman offense.

Kirk Thompson and Kreigh Williams contributed three hits each. Williams scored three times with one double, while Thompson drove home two runs and scored once.

Other contributors included Michael Kovacs with a triple, double and two runs scored; Troy Eveslage with two hits, including a double, and two RBIs; Chandler Kent with two runs scored and one RBI; and Andrew Bilse with two runs scored.

The offense helped make a winner of Nick Maloney, who scattered five hits with four strikeouts in five innings. Ryan Fuller added two scoreless innings from the bullpen.

Rose-Hulman, ranked No. 21 nationally by d3baseball.com, topped a Beloit squad that finished 28-9 last season and received votes in both national NCAA Division III preseason polls.



Rose-Hulman 011 134 003 — 13 19 3

Beloit 000 200 010 — 3 10 2

Maloney, Fuller (6), Martin (8), Stenger (9) and Long; Pilcher, Deckert (5), Edwards (7), Majeski (9) and Sill, Bartz (7). W — Maloney, 1-0. L — Pilcher, 0-1.

Next — Rose-Hulman (2-0) plays Hiram at 9:30 a.m. today. Beloit is 2-1.



Softball

• Sycamores have perfect weekend — At Nashville, Tenn., Indiana State grabbed two wins on Sunday to cap the Tennessee State Tiger Classic and improve to 5-3 on the season.

The Sycamores, who finished a perfect 4-0 on the weekend, beat Valparaiso 13-5 in five innings, then beat the host team 1-0.

“It was great weekend, not only because we won four games but because it was a true team effort,” coach Brenda Coldren said. “We made good progress this weekend and it was nice for our young players to get some confidence in tough situations. Meagan [McCurdy] was outstanding starting games and in relief. She is doing a great job leading the team as a senior.”

Lindsey Beisser and Bailey Wittenauer each tallied three hits, including a pair of doubles from Wittenauer, who also had three RBIs. McCurdy and Kristen Felker both earned pitching wins

Indiana State returns to action Sunday at the Rebel Games in Orlando, Fla.



• McCurdy gets MVC honor — Indiana State’s Meagan McCurdy has been named MVC Pitcher of the Week, the conference office announced Monday. The weekly honor is the first of her career.

McCurdy made four appearances over the weekend at the Tennessee State Tiger Classic, going 2-0 with a save in 18.2 innings of work. The senior averaged just one walk per game and struck out 21 batters, holding her opponents to a .211 batting average and three extra-base hits. For the weekend, McCurdy threw two complete-game victories and had a 0.38 earned-run average, which helped her to a 0.44 ERA for the year.



• Engineers drop openers — At Clermont, Fla., Rose-Hulman opened its 2010 season with a pair of losses to Ohio Athletic Conference foes on Monday.

Capital topped the Engineers 8-1 in the opener, while John Carroll captured the nightcap by a 4-0 count. Kayla Yano led the Rose-Hulman offense with three singles, including two against John Carroll. Brianne Widmoyer had a double in each game, along with a single and one run scored against Capital, and Kristin Greer also contributed a hit in each game.

Rose-Hulman returns to action today against Lebanon Valley and Lycoming.



Basketball

• Luna and Marshall easy choices — There should have been no surprise about the Indiana State University basketball players receiving this week’s Exchange Club Athlete of the Week Award: seniors Harry Marshall and Kelsey Luna both had Senior Day performances that they — or ISU fans — will not soon forget.

Marshall’s pull-up jumper from the First Financial Bank logo in front of the Sycamore bench left his hands with 1.1 seconds on the clock and hit nothing but the bottom of the net as the horn sounded to give ISU a 75-72 overtime victory over Missouri State last Saturday in the Hulman Center. It marked the second time in his career that Marshall has hit a buzzer-beating game-winner.

The guard from Bowling Green averaged 15.5 points and three rebounds as ISU lost at Illinois State before Saturday’s thrilling victory over Missouri State. He scored 21 points on his Senior Day against the Bears.

Luna averaged 20 points and 6.5 rebounds last week in helping the Lady Sycamores to victories over Northern Iowa and Bradley and extending the team’s winning streak to five games.

The guard from St. Louis scored 23 points and had nine rebounds against UNI and had a game-leading 17 points against Bradley. With her second 3-point field goal Sunday, Luna broke the school record for career 3-pointers (258 and counting — good for fifth in Missouri Valley Conference history).

Marshall and Luna will be recognized by the Exchange Club during today’s luncheon meeting at the Holiday Inn.



• Menser game remembered — Michael Menser’s 32-point performance that helped lead Indiana State to a semifinal victory over Creighton in the semifinals of the 2001 State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Championship on March 4, 2001, has been selected as the No. 6 top moment in Arch Madness history by a vote of the league’s fans.

Menser was 9 of 18 from the field in the 87-74 Sycamore victory over the top-seeded Bluejays. He hit 5 of 11 3-pointers, was a perfect 9 of 9 at the free throw line and added seven assists as Indiana State became the lowest seeded team (No. 5) to win the event.

The Sycamores went on to to down No. 2 Bradley the next day by the score of 69-63 to take the tournament crown. ISU advanced to the NCAA Tournament and downed No. 4 seed Oklahoma 70-68 in overtime before falling to No. 12 Gonzaga in the second round.



• Final luncheon; tickets available — Indiana State’s men and Beef O’Brady’s will conduct their final “Sycamore Basketball Tipoff Lunch” at noon today.

ISU has also announced that tickets for Friday’s game at St. Louis against Illinois State will be sold today and Wednesday at the Hulman Center box office. Fans can call (812) 237-3737 for more information.



Football

• Carmel coach returns to IU — Indiana head football coach Bill Lynch announced Monday that Mo Moriarity will rejoin the Hoosier staff as the team’s offensive line coach.

Moriarity replaces Bobby Johnson, who took an assistant offensive line coach position with the Buffalo Bills on Feb. 17. Moriarity, who has 33 years of coaching experience, coached tight ends from 2002-04 and mentored future NFL talent Aaron Halterman.

Moriarity has a career mark of 241-56 in 25 years as a high school coach, the last five seasons at Carmel. He has won three state championships



Auto racing

• Gardner, East win — At Perris, Calif., Damion Gardner and Bobby East won U.S. Auto Club features Sunday in the Sokola Shootout at Perris Motor Speedway.

East led all 30 laps to win the midget main with points leader Brad Sweet second and Chad Boat third.

Gardner led the last 25 laps of the 30-lap feature for sprint cars and increased his early lead in the point standings. Henry Clarke was second and Chris Windom third.

Next national midget race is March 24-25 in North Carolina while the next sprint race is in April in Ohio.



Sunday’s results

Sprint cars

Fast qualifier — Mike Spencer.

Heat winners — Bud Kaeding, Cory Kruseman, Seth Wilson, Robert Ballou, Tony Jones (semi).

Feature — Damion Gardner, Henry Clarke, Chris Windom, Tracy Hines, Spencer, Levi Jones, Jerry Coons Jr., Shane Hmiel, Ballou, David Cardey, Kruseman, Chad Boat, Matt Mitchell, Danny Sheridan, James Crawford.

USAC sprint points leaders — Gardner 324, Coons 275, Levi Jones 247.

Midgets

Fast qualifier — Darren Hagen.

Heat winners — Hagen, Coons, R.J. Johnson, Brad Sweet, Dave Darland (semi).

Feature — Bobby East, Sweet, Boat, Bryan Clauson, Coons, Zach Daum, Clarke, Darland, Brad Loyet, Hagen.

USAC midget points leaders — Sweet 207, East 169, Loyet 155.

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