March 24, 1999
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team opened up its 1999 home schedule by downing the Crusaders of Valparaiso 11-10 in nine innings at Lambert Field. It's the second consecutive win for the Boilermakers, who improve to 7-10. The Crusaders drop to 5-7.
The victory was hard earned for the Boilers who had to rally from a 10-3 deficit going into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Crusaders had scored in each of the first four innings and put four more runs up on the board in the top half of the seventh.
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Boiler's bats woke up as Chris Walker led things off with a single and then stole second. After two outs and a Crusader error, senior Ryan Cole hit a two-run homer to deep left-center field, cutting the Valparaiso lead to four at 10-6.
As freshman hurler Matt Skripsky held the Crusaders scoreless in the top half of the eighth the Boilers came to bat for what would be the final time. With one out, Walker again singled. Sophomore Nate Sickler was then hit by a pitch and junior Daryl Hallada doubled, bringing home Walker. Junior Eric Frei then singled, and with one out, sophomore Mike Rose hit a sac-fly to center bringing home Frei and putting the Boilers up 11-10.
In the top of the ninth, junior Russ Morgan faced four batters, gave up one hit and recorded his first career save, giving the Boilers an 11-10 victory.
Skripsky picked up the win improving his record to 2-0 on the season. Mark Pederson was given the loss for Valparaiso surrendering five runs in just an inning's work. Walker collected three hits on the day and stole two bases giving him a team-high seven steals for the year. Cole's homerun was his fifth tying him with Sickler for the team lead.
The Boilers are in action next on Saturday, March 27, against Northern Illinois for a doubleheader at Lambert Field with the first game starting at noon. Purdue then wraps up the series against the Huskies on Sunday, March 28, with the first pitch at noon.