Dennis Rudolph '18 helped the EC baseball team finish the final week of the regular season with a 3-2 record, including a doubleheader sweep of Medaille College on Saturday at historic Dunn Field. He started all five contests and paced the team in batting average (.545), hits (12), extra-base hits (4), slugging percentage (.909) and stolen bases (3). In 22 at-bats, Rudolph did not strike out, and he posted an unblemished 1.000 fielding percentage in center field.
The Glen Ellyn, Illinois, native recorded a hit in all five outings, including four multi-hit performances. Against Alfred State he had two hits and two RBIs, one of which helped Elmira tie the game in the ninth inning, as the Soaring Eagles went on to beat the Pioneers 14-10 in 10 innings. Rudolph went 4-for-5 with a triple, one RBI and two runs scored last Wednesday in a near comeback against Penn College. The following afternoon, he collected two more hits and one stolen base in the 2018 Empire 8 Conference finale at Ithaca College.
On Saturday against the Mavericks, Rudolph combined for a cycle by going 4-for-7 with a single, triple and an inside-the-park home run in the early game with a double in the nightcap. The fourth-year outfielder scored three runs in the early game and secured one RBI on his round tripper, the third homer of his career.
In 36 games this spring, Rudolph compiled a career-high .376 batting average with 50 hits, 23 RBIs and 25 runs scored. He also led the Soaring Eagles in on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.496), while swiping 19 bases, all of which are also single-season career-bests.
