South Indy News

HCAC 2022 Baseball Notebook, Week 13

The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) baseball teams competed in week 13 of the 2021 season.

Around the League: HCAC Baseball Schedule

Athletes of the Week: Hitting Athlete of the Week:

Josh Mesenbrink (Troy, Ill.) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | First Base | Senior – Mesenbrink batted .500 with a .591 on-base average and an .875 slugging average as Rose-Hulman finished 3-1 last week. Against Defiance, Mesenbrink was 3-3 with a home run and a triple in a game one win, then was 3-5 with one RBI in the team's game two loss. For the week, Mesenbrink was 8-16 with one double, one triple and one home run.

Pitching Athlete of the Week:

Jacob Hughes (Cincinnati, Ohio) Mount St. Joseph University | Pitcher | Senior - Hughes was outstanding in his last start in a Lions uniform. Hughes went the distance pitching a complete game shutout, allowing just two hits. Hughes struck out nine in as many innings while allowing zero runs and walking just two batters.

Notable Performances:

• Rene Casas Jr. (Pendleton, Ind.) Anderson University | Utility | Junior - Casas Jr. went 5-for-13 with a double, a homer and five RBI last week. He closed the week with a .385 batting average, a .467 on-base percentage and a .692 slugging percentage. Casas Jr. went 2-for-4 with a three-run blast in Game one against Manchester. He then went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI in Game 2two against Manchester. Casas Jr. drew a walk in each game against Transylvania.
• Evan Doan (Frankton, Ind.) Anderson University | Pitcher | Senior - Doan went 1-0 with 6.2 scoreless innings in two appearances last week. Doan relieved the last 5.2 innings in Anderson's win against Manchester, allowing zero runs, five hits and zero walks, while striking out five in his win. He also had a hold against Transylvania, throwing a scoreless inning, issuing one hit, zero walks and striking out one.
• Garrett O’Reilly (Galena, Ohio) Bluffton University | Pitcher | Graduate Student - O'Reilly tossed six shutout innings in an 8-5 win over MSJ in the season finale. He allowed just three hits and struck out four batters, holding the Lions to a .130 batting average.
• Nate Kaffenbarger (De Graff, Ohio) Defiance College | Short Stop / Outfield | Senior - Kaffenbarger hit .364 (4-11) this week with two doubles and an RBI. He also scored twice and was hit by two pitches. IN DC's 5-2 sin over RHIT he tried the program record for career doubles with 40.
• Tyler Hines (Cincinnati, Ohio) Defiance College | Pitcher | Senior - Hines threw 3.2 innings in relief for DC with a 2.45 ERA and went 1-0. He picked off two runners as well.
• Andrew Bradley (Stow, Ohio) Earlham College | Catcher/Utility | Junior - Bradley finished out the regular season with a run of four home runs on the week. He posted a .368 average and brought home six RBI.
• Jacob Renner (West Chester, Ohio) Earlham College | Pitcher | Sophomore - Renner appeared in two games in relief this week and pitched 7.1 innings. He allowed just three hits and no runs on the week and struck out eight batters. He earned a winning decision against Manchester for going five shutout innings to finish the game.
• Carter Hooks (Rochester, Ind.) Manchester University | Pitcher | Senior – Hooks started in a pair of wins for Manchester during the last week of the regular season. Tossed 11 total innings. Allowed only six hits, gave up three ER while striking out 10.
• Jake Lawson (Cincinnati, Ohio) Mount St. Joseph University | Second Base | Sophomore - Lawson provided some pop at the start of the order for the Lions in the last week of play. Lawson finished the week 6-15 including 4 RBIs and a pair of doubles.
• Ian Kline (Frederick, Md.) Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Pitcher | Sophomore – Kline tossed six shutout innings, allowing two hits and one walk, as Rose-Hulman won 15-0 over Defiance in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader. Kline improved to 7-2 on the year and had six strikeouts in the effort.
• Trent Youngblood (Louisville, Ky.) Transylvania University | Outfield | Sophomore - Youngblood went 6-for-9 total at the plate in Sunday's doubleheader at Anderson, with 3-5 and 3-4 games. He scored four total runs and hit both a double and a triple on the day, as well as stealing two bases. With the performance, the sophomore set the new No. 2 all time most total bases in a season school record.
• Robby Arnet (Crestwood, Ky.) Transylvania University | Pitcher | Sophomore - Arnett took a complete game win against Anderson on Sunday, with eight strikeouts, and just two walks, five hits allowed, with two earned runs.

Looking Forward:

HCAC Baseball Standings

Original source can be found here.