Dennis Rudolph '18 turned in a career performance at the plate and on the mound for the Soaring Eagles over the weekend. He registered an impressive .727/.692/.909 slash line in leading Elmira with eight hits in three games. In Sunday's contest against Valley Forge, he tossed five scoreless innings to earn his first victory of the year.
In the two-game set against Eastern University on Saturday, Rudolph batted a combined 3-for-5 with one walk, one run and one RBI. He then set program records for hits and RBIs in a single game against Valley Forge, as he finished 5-for-6 with 5 RBIs and three runs. In the first inning against the Patriots, he slugged a bases-clearing, two-RBI double. He added another run-scoring two-bagger in the fourth inning to go along with a pair of one-run base knocks.
In addition to his record-breaking performance at the plate, the Glen Ellyn, IL, native toed the rubber for the Soaring Eagles. He allowed only three Patriots to reach base safely in 5.0 innings, while fanning a career-high six batsmen. It marked the second scoreless outing of Rudolph's career and his first such start.
On the season, the 5-foot-11 sophomore leads all qualified batters in the Empire 8 Conference with a .625 batting average (10-for-16) and a .611 on-base percentage. He is sixth among qualified pitchers with a .241 opponent's batting average and is tied for eighth with 11 strikeouts.
The Elmira baseball team will continue its trip through Pennsylvania with a twin-bill against Penn State Abington on Saturday, March 19th, beginning at 12:00 p.m.
