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June 7, 2010

ISU’s Jake Petricka, RHIT’s Derek Eitel could make MLB Draft historic

Todd Golden The Tribune-Star The Tribune Star Mon Jun 07, 2010, 12:07 AM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana State’s one and only first round Major League Baseball draft pick occurred 32 years ago when catcher Bill Hayes was selected 13th overall by the Chicago Cubs.

Rose-Hulman has never had a player taken in any round of the draft at all.

With ISU pitcher Jake Petricka being discussed as a first-round draft pick and with Rose-Hulman pitcher Derek Eitel a lock to be taken in the MLB Draft, it could be a historic day for both of Terre Haute’s collegiate baseball programs when the MLB Draft begins tonight.

The first round of the MLB Draft begins at 7 p.m. tonight and will be televised on MLB Network. Rounds 2-30 take place Tuesday and rounds 31-50 are Wednesday.

Petricka’s name could be called tonight. Petricka was chosen in the 34th round in 2009 by the New York Yankees, but he elected to return to ISU to play his junior season this year and his stock has zoomed along with his arm velocity.

A year ago, Petricka was throwing in the low 90s. Throughout the Sycamores’ season, Petricka has consistently been clocked in the 97-98 mile per hour range. One Major League scout clocked Petricka at 100 during an ISU game at The Citadel in April.

“I hit the weight room a lot this season and got stronger as a whole. I cleaned up my mechanics and made my delivery smoother. I finally got my curveball into the groove I wanted it in and never let myself get out of it,” said Petricka on Sunday from his home in Minnesota.

Petricka (7-4, 4.11, 113 strikeouts at ISU) is currently ranked as the 40th best prospect in the nation by Baseball America, a position that would have him picked as a supplemental “sandwich” pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds, the round set aside as a compensatory round for teams that lost free agents. Terre Haute’s Josh Phegley was a compensatory pick last year by the Chicago White Sox.

However, given his position and velocity, ISU observers are hoping Petricka will be taken in the first round proper.

“I don’t get too excited. I’ve had league MVPs I thought would go early go in later rounds, but I think Jake is a first-rounder, a supplemental pick or no later than a second-rounder,” ISU coach Rick Heller said. “My opinion is that he’s a first-rounder. Enough teams have seen him executing at his best for him to slip past anyone.”

Petricka has had one formal workout with Seattle, but given how much attention he got from scouts during ISU’s season -- there were 15 to 20 scouts on hand in Wichita, Kan. for his Missouri Valley Conference start -- the conventional wisdom is that Petricka didn’t need to do many formal workouts.

Petricka has tried to scout the scouts to try and get a consensus of what the book is on him.

“The main thing I’ve read is they’d like to see the changeup. I haven’t has as much of a need to throw it this season. I only threw it a lot against Missouri State [April 30] because they had a lot of lefties. I threw mostly fastballs and curveballs this season, but the changeup is still there,” Petricka said.

Eitel, a two-sport star at Rose-Hulman and a native of Marshall, Ill., should be picked in the top half of the draft. Eitel (6-2, 3.74, 92 strikeouts at RHIT) is also keeping the book on himself.

“They really like my sinker-slider combination. I’m in the low to mid 90s with the sinker, there’s good action on it and good tilt. The slider is thrown from the same arm slot. Against wooden bats, I should be able to ground balls and quick outs. I have a fluid delivery, but I need to get stronger,” said Eitel, who has worked out with St. Louis.

Though Eitel is considered old by MLB Draft standards, he’s a graybeard at 22, Eitel doesn’t have very much mileage on his arm because he didn’t participate in as many off-season baseball activities when he was younger as other prospects typically do.

“I feel like I’m a 22-year-old with the arm of an 18-year old. I didn’t do all the travel ball, I wasn’t primarily a pitcher until high school. The amount of innings on my arm is minimal,” Eitel said. “Scouts like my athletic ability. They don’t like me playing football while I’m doing it, but they liked it once I didn’t get hurt. The combination with football has strengthened arm and its helped my leadership skills too.”

Rose-Hulman coach Jeff Jenkins said the biggest adjustment for Eitel is in how he’s perceived.

“The first thing that stuck out, and one thing Derek has had to get used to, is that they don’t like at him as a power pitcher. He throws 91 to 92 and is consistently 89-90. They look at him as a good athlete on the mound,” Jenkins said. “Scouts feel like he’s got a lot of upside. With the chance to dedicate himself to baseball, I think he can take his game to another level.”

Eitel is humble about his place in Rose-Hulman’s history. The Engineers’ best-known pro players all played in the pre-draft era and there hasn’t been a Rose-Hulman player in the bigs since Art Nehf’s final season in 1929.

“I haven’t wrapped my mind around [being the first RHIT pick] yet. There’s been a lot of athletes who have gone through RHIT, I’d like to think I stack up after baseball and football. Everything went right for me and I’ve worked hard,” Eitel said.

Among others of local interest, Heller believes ISU center fielder Ryan Strausborger could be drafted in the first half of the draft. ISU pitcher Joe Rodriguez is a candidate to be drafted later. There are no area high school players who are expected to be picked this year.



 

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Rose-Hulman

• Rose-Hulman eyes baseball milestone

  Baseball may not be on the minds of too many Wabash Valley sports fans yet, but the Rose-Hulman program is prepared to commemorate an upcoming milestone.
   

  February 14, 2012  

• WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Rose, The Woods post weekend victories

  Rose-Hulman relied on a balanced scoring attack and a strong defensive effort to earn a 55-44 women’s basketball victory Saturday over Mount St. Joseph.

  January 29, 2012  

• Bluffton nips Rose-Hulman men

  Bluffton placed three players in double figures to capture a tightly contested 62-56 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball victory over visiting Rose-Hulman on Saturday.

  January 22, 2012  

• HCAC title still a possibility for Rose

  A 60-46 loss at Transylvania on Saturday did not help Rose-Hulman’s chances, but coach Jim Shaw’s Engineers are still in their best position to capture a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball championship and earn an NCAA Division III tournament bid in several years.

  January 16, 2012  

• Rose drops pair to Transylvania

  Transylvania withstood a second half charge by Rose-Hulman to earn a 60-46 men’s basketball victory in a battle of Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference co-leaders Saturday.

  January 15, 2012  

• Rose’s win streak snapped

  Alisa Dickerson had a strong second half of women’s college basketball Wednesday in Hulbert Arena, but the Rose-Hulman senior could not get two shots to fall in the final 13 seconds of overtime.

  January 12, 2012  

• Rose men edge Anderson

  Rose-Hulman successfully defended two shots in the final five seconds by Anderson University to earn a 71-70 men’s basketball victory Wednesday night.

  January 12, 2012  

• Rose wins twinbill

  Playing an afternoon doubleheader inside Hulbert Arena, the Rose women routed Mount St. Joseph 71-40 to post their largest margin of victory since the 2006-07 season when the female Engineers defeated St. Mary-of-the-Woods by 41.

  January 8, 2012  

• Ploof has big 2nd half for Rose women

  Rose-Hulman sophomore Kelsey Ploof scored 16 second half points, including the last three points of the game, to help the Engineers top Earlham 49-47 in women’s basketball Wednesday in Hulbert Arena.

  January 5, 2012  

• Rose-Hulman dominates Earlham in conference

  Rose-Hulman relied on a strong defensive effort and a balanced scoring attack to top Earlham College 73-43 in men's basketball action on Tuesday night.

  January 4, 2012  

• Rose men, women manage sweep

  Rose-Hulman’s men’s basketball team improved to 9-2 as it defeated nearby rival DePauw 67-59 on Monday at DePauw.
   

  December 20, 2011  

• Rose-Hulman teams swept at Hanover

  Rose-Hulman rallied from a 28-point first-half deficit to close within single digits in the second half, but Hanover College held off the charge to earn a 60-54 men’s basketball victory on Saturday.

  December 18, 2011  

• Rose-Hulman sweeps conference doubleheader from Bluffton

  For Rose-Hulman basketball fans, the one-hour delay was worth the wait Saturday.

  December 11, 2011  

• Rose-Hulman men overpower Manchester; women lose close game

  Rose-Hulman relied on a strong defensive effort to top Manchester 59-29 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball Wednesday.

  December 8, 2011  

• Rose’s wins traversed generations

  Nine-ninety-eight … 999 … 1,000 … 1,001 … 1,002 … and counting.

  December 8, 2011  

• Beating the odds: Now cancer free, Prevo avoids surgery

  For the Rose-Hulman women’s basketball team, bald is beautiful.

  December 7, 2011 2 Photos  

• Wabash takes down Rose-Hulman

  Two men’s college basketball teams entered Hulbert Arena undefeated Wednesday night, but only one could leave that way.

  December 1, 2011 2 Photos  

• SMWC topples Rose-Hulman

  After a sluggish first half for both teams, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College found enough offensive rhythm in the final 20 minutes to outlast host Rose-Hulman 51-41 in the 19th annual Clabber Girl Trophy women’s basketball showdown Tuesday night inside Hulbert Arena.

  November 30, 2011 2 Photos  

• Two for the price of one: Rose-Hulman perfect academic, athletic option for Dickerson

  Alisa Dickerson had two distinct goals in mind when she was deciding where to play women’s college basketball.
   

  November 29, 2011 3 Photos  

• Rose-Hulman drops Earlham

  Rose-Hulman’s football team overcame a slow first half to defeat winless Earlham 21-7 Saturday afternoon to retain the Borders of the Borders Broadsword for the 11th straight year.

  November 13, 2011  

• Rose, Kovach have record day in 53-50 victory

  Rose-Hulman established three single-game school records and relied on a key defensive play to win a 53-50 victory in an offensive shootout at Anderson on Saturday.

  November 6, 2011  

• METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman earns share of HCAC volleyball title

  Rose-Hulman earned a share of the first regular-season volleyball conference championship in school history with a three-set win over Defiance College on Saturday.
  The Engineers improved to 21-8 overall and established new single-season school records for victories and highest winning percentage by defeating Illinois College in four sets later in the day.

  October 30, 2011  

• Defiance stops Rose-Hulman

  Held to zero yards of net rushing, Rose-Hulman lost to red-hot Defiance 21-18 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football Saturday afternoon at Cook Stadium.

  October 30, 2011 2 Photos  

• Rose-Hulman receives $27.8M in-kind software grant from Siemens

  An international company has given Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology a $27.8 million in-kind software grant, the largest in-kind corporate donation in college history.

  October 28, 2011  

• Engineers rich in good experience

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  October 25, 2011  

• Rose second-half rally not enough vs. Bluffton

  Bluffton built an early 24-0 lead and held off Rose-Hulman’s second-half charge to post a 31-13 win in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football Saturday afternoon.

  October 22, 2011  

• There’s little Kovach can’t do on gridiron

  Rose-Hulman junior Kyle Kovach didn’t top 100 yards rushing Saturday like he usually does.
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  October 18, 2011  

• Mount St. Joseph at Rose-Hulman

  The matchup — The Rose-Hulman Engineers (2-3 overall, 2-1 HCAC) will play host to the Mount St. Joseph Lions (3-2, 2-2) for a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football matchup today.

  October 15, 2011  

• Rose inductees learned sacrifice

  Former wide receiver Eric Gappa admits that when he completed his Rose-Hulman football career in 1995 and when he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1996, he wondered if someday he would be inducted into the engineering institute’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
   

  October 11, 2011  

• Franklin speeds away from Rose-Hulman 55-24

  Franklin College maintained its undefeated mark in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference football on Saturday, defeating Rose-Hulman 55-24 in sunny, warm weather at Cook Stadium.

  October 9, 2011  

• More Rose-Hulman Headlines

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