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Eitel excels in first pro start

Derek Eitel enjoyed a successful outing in his professional baseball debut for the Missoula Osprey in  Pioneer League action at Helena late Tuesday night.
Eitel was the starting pitcher for the Osprey, going four innings due to a 45-pitch count limit. He allowed one run on two hits, with no walks and four strikeouts. The only run allowed by was a solo home run by Helena’s Cody Hawn in the first.
Missoula rallied from the 1-0 deficit to plate a pair of runs in the second, third and fourth innings to assume a 6-1 lead when Eitel left the game.

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June 23, 2010

Eitel enjoying life of professional pitcher

Dennis Clark The Tribune-Star The Tribune Star Wed Jun 23, 2010, 12:00 AM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — So far, it’s been a whirlwind two weeks for Marshall, Ill., native and Rose-Hulman graduate Derek Eitel — and he’s loving every minute of it.

Since being drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 17th round (511th pick overall) of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft on June 8, he’s been quickly immersed into the lifestyle of a professional baseball player.

Presently, he’s in his first days as a starting pitcher on the roster of the Missoula Osprey, a rookie-league, short-season team in the Pioneer League. Their season runs from June 21 to Sept. 9.

Yes, that is all the way out in Montana.

“I’ve never been out West, so that is definitely a new experience too,” Eitel laughed.

Just days after Eitel inked his pro contract, he spent a week at the D-backs training complex in Tucson, Ariz. “I flew out there a week ago this past Friday,” he said. “I’ve been at their extended spring training camp, along with some of their second- and third-year players.”

The first day in Tucson was devoted to taking physicals, then practices ran every day from about 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. “including lunch mixed in there somewhere.” He said the work was easier for him, being a pitcher. “I did my throwing, did my running and then I would go out and shag fly balls.”

During his time at the D-backs facility, Eitel saw his baseball cards as a youngster coming to life, working with such past major league players as former Cy Young Award winning pitcher Doug Drabek, Mike Bell (son of Buddy Bell, grandson of Gus Bell) and Gil Heredia, his new pitching coach at Missoula.

“One-third of the players here were from Latin America,” Eitel observed. “That was different experience, but they were really nice. Some interesting personalities.” He felt his time in T cson “was a good learning experience, but it was more laid back than I thought it would be.”

Last Thursday, Eitel made the flight from Tucson to his new summer home in Missoula.

At one point, Eitel was the highest drafted player on the Missoula roster, but just in the past few days he said they added second-and third-round draftees, both coming out of high school. “I’m expecting to be in a starting role, my first start coming somewhere in the first five days of the season.”

Being a bit older, with four years of college under his belt, Eitel feels that should give him an advantage over the younger players in the organization.

“Being older should give me a leg up, mentally and emotionally,” he said. “I’ve learned how to handle failure and success. Baseball can be a grind, has it’s ups and downs. You have to be mentally tough for all the peaks and valleys.”

Eitel has drawn media interest in Tucson and Missoula. In Tucson, he’s already been interviewed for a future article in the Diamondback’s team magazine. When he hit Missoula, he was a focal point — along with a large action shot of him pitching at Rose-Hulman — smack dab in the heart of the team’s website.

“I’m flattered to be put on the cover [of the website] to begin with,” Eitel admitted.

But being the consummate team player in high school and college, Eitel quickly moved the spotlight off himself, saying, “My goal is to develop as a player, but I also want to win too. I’m a good competitor and try to lead by example. The goal here is to win a championship.”

The team had a media day, dinner with the fans and a public practice on Saturday. “Kind of like what the [Terre Haute] Rex did [before their season]”, he noted.

Eitel has already learned a lot about the Missoula franchise in just a few short days, espousing, “They are the longest-tenured team with the Diamondbacks, been with them since they came into the National League. The ballpark is just three years old, and it was not funded by the community. Private organizations put up the money.

“Baseball is a big deal in Missoula, there’s no pro franchises up here,” he added. “The people love baseball up here, really latch on to the Osprey.”

While the pressure to perform is paramount in baseball, the management of the Osprey also told the players upon arrival to enjoy the experience too.

“They told us to be relaxed and have some fun,” Eitel mentioned. “But they did stress it’s a job now too, and to take it seriously. They don’t have a 1,000 rules, they treat us as adults.”

While being out in Montana is taking Eitel far from his Marshall, Ill., home — 1,705.58 miles to be exact — he will enjoy a semblance of homestyle living. He’ll be residing in the home of the parents of a former football teammate and fraternity brother, Riley Lubbers.

“[Riley’s] got a job in Bozeman [Montana], about three hours away. But his parents live only 15 or 20 minutes from the stadium, so his mom and dad are putting me up for the summer,” Eitel stated.

Asked if being the first Rose-Hulman player to be drafted in a professional sport has sunk in yet, he said, “Oh yeah. I expected to be drafted. But toughest part was not knowing which organization would be drafting me and where I’d end up playing this summer.”

Now he knows. So it’s time to ‘Play Ball’!

 

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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

  With some teams, having almost every player back from the previous season is not necessarily a good thing, depending on the talent level of those players.
   

  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.
  This time, the talented running back from Munster had to “settle” for 85 yards against Mount St. Joseph at Cook Stadium.
   

  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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