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BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell celebrates the 30th anniversary of Henry Rochelle's amazing five home run game Monday, March 30, 2015.
Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Mickey Mantle never did it. Neither did Willie Mays, Joe Dimaggio or Mike Schmidt. In 1985, Henry Rochelle, then a freshman at CU, hit five home runs in a game to establish a record that has yet to be equaled in the Major Leagues. The mark stood for 14 seasons in the NCAA Division I ranks until Marshall McDougall of Florida State hit six home runs against Maryland on May 9, 1999.
Rochelle's five-home run performance came in a 38-0 win against Radford University on March 30, 1985 at Taylor Field. In his "once-in-a-lifetime" game, Rochelle went 8-8, scored eight runs, blasted five home runs and knocked in 10 runs. Rochelle established new NCAA records for most home runs (5) and most total bases in a game (23). Rochelle's home runs came in the first, third, fourth, seventh, and eighth innings. His incredible performance lifted his batting average from .302 to .412 and his slugging percentage from .419 to .804. He had not homered prior to the game and hit more home runs in that contest than he did during his high school career.
"I couldn't believe I hit five," Rochelle said at the time. "I was expecting a lot of breaking balls after I hit the first couple of homers and the last two I hit out were curves. I was just looking to get a base hit when I went to the plate. I guess it's one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. It's kind of hard for me to believe."
Campbell (20-8, 4-5 Big South) travels to nearby Duke on Tuesday, March 31, before returning to Big South play at Presbyterian April 2-4. CU returns home on Tuesday, April 7 against East Carolina.
