May 13, 1999
OXFORD, Ohio - Purdue got timely hitting and five strong innings from freshman Heath Uppencamp en route to a 4-2 non-conference victory over Miami (Ohio), Thursday May 13th, at Stanley G. McKie Field in Oxford, Ohio. Uppencamp, who had appeared in 23.2 innings in 13 games, surrendered just four hits, while earning his first collegiate win in his first start. With the victory, the Boilermakers have won three-in-a-row and improve to 24-27 on the season, while Miami (Ohio) falls to 27-25.
Despite not arriving at the ballpark until twenty minutes before game time due to construction on the expressway and bad weather, Purdue pounded out 10 hits off Miami's Steve Neil, who drops to 0-1 on the season. Three Boilers pounded-out two hits apiece, seniors Ryan Cole and Todd Ellinger and junior Erik Frei.
In the top of the fourth, the Boilers put three runs on the board on the strength of a two-run blast by sophomore Nate Sickler, his ninth of the season. Sophomore right fielder Mike Rose drove in Cole with the other Boiler run with a sacrifice fly to center for his 27th RBI.
After Cole led off the sixth with a double off the left field fence and advanced to third on a ground out, he scored on a wild pitch to push the Purdue lead to 4-0 and that would be all the Old Gold and Black would need.
In the Miami (Ohio) half of the seventh, the RedHawks put two runs on the board when pinch-hitter Luke Reinhart drilled a double to left-center scoring Joe Spain and John Lackaff, who reached base via walks off Purdue sophomore Carlos Gomez. Junior Andy Helmer relieved Gomez and ended the RedHawks rally registering a putout to end the inning. Helmer went on to pitch the last two innings to pick up his second save of the season.
The Boilers travel to Champaign, Ill., on Saturday, May 15 for the start of a three-day season-ending four-game series with the Illinois Fighting Illini at 6 p.m.