March 16, 2007
Box Score
Fort Myers, Fla. -
Dan Hudeck collected a double, a home run and five RBIs Friday morning to lead The Rock to a 13-6 win over Hillsdale at Terry Park.
Hudeck's RBI double in the top of the third inning plated SRU's first run, his three-run home run keyed a nine-run Rock uprising in the seventh inning and his ground-ball RBI in the eighth pushed across the Green and White's final tally.
Behind his lead, The Rock improved its season record to 11-3 as it prepares for the final game of its annual spring-break trip to the Sunshine State, a 9 a.m. single-game Saturday vs. Ashland University.
Saturday's game will feature two teams currently ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II national poll. Ashland is ranked 21st, while The Rock is 27th.
The Rock split a pair of single-game meetings with No. 22 West Chester earlier this week, WCU winning a 7-2 decision on March 12 and SRU scoring a 4-3 triumph two days later.
Friday's game
The Rock pounded out 16 hits, eight of which were extrta-base knocks, vs. Hillsdale to five freshman southpaw Rich Hocanson more than enough offensive support.
Matt Adams was 3-for-5 with a double, triple and one RBI. Hudeck was one of five Rock players who had two hits in the game. The others included Phil Butch, Jacob Oswalt, Travis Trimbur and Billy Messer.
Butch, Messer and Trimbur each slapped a double, while M.J. Parsons had a triple.
Further indication of the complete dominance The Rock had over Friday's action is the fact that SRU, while scoring 13 runs, stranded 14 runners on base.
Hocanson recorded his second win in as many decisions this spring with a solid seven-inning outing. He allowed three earned runs on eight hits, but struck out seven and did not issue a free pass.
Tom Turnbull allowed three runs (one earned) on three hits and walked one in the final two innings.
After meeting Ashland on Saturday, The Rock will head north and prepare for its home opener, a 1 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday vs. Mansfield at Jack Critchfield Park -- weather permitting.
Notes:
Hudeck's HR was the fourth hit by The Rock this spring and third in the last two days. Billy Herman hit a two-run shot and Jim Eimiller added a solo blast on Thursday in SRU's 6-3 win over Southwest Minnesota State. Phil Butch hit a solo HR to lead SRU to a 6-5 win over Tiffin;
Adams has a team-best .400 batting average at this point in the season. Scott Hugney, who has been sidelined for the last five games with an ankle sprain, it hitting .391, while Butch carries a .375 average and Parsons a .372 mark;
Butch leads The Rock with 11 RBIs, followed by Parsons with nine, Adams and Hudeck seven each and Eimiller and Messer six each;
Adams has a team-best five doubles, while Parsons leads the team in triples with two;
The twinbill vs. Mansfield next Tuesday will be the first time this season that SRU will not play a neutral-site contest. The Green and White opened the season with a four-game series Feb. 24-25 vs. Tiffin at Veterans Administration Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe before embarking on its current 11-game series in Fort Myers;
The next Rock win will be the the 675th in Jeff Messer's 22-year reign as The Rock's head coach. Messer, who owns a 674-379 career record, entered the 2007 season ranked 15h in the nation in career wins and 16th in winning percentage among active NCAA Division II head coaches.
