Feb. 20, 2000
By Brian Remsberg
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Purdue (2-1) battled to a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt (1-3) for their second straight win on Sunday. The win came on the heels of a 4-1 win Saturday, which gave the Boilermakers their first ever series win over the Commodores.
Starter Ben Quick (1-0) picked up where David Gassner (Hortonville, Wis.) left off on Saturday. After Gassner pitched a complete game Saturday, Quick pitched seven solid innings to earn a win in his first start as a Boilermaker. Quick, a Hemet, Calif., native allowed just two runs, both of which were unearned, on three hits. The Riverside Junior College transfer struck out three and walked just two.
"Ben pitched his game today, he managed the (strike) zone well," said Purdue head coach Doug Schreiber. "He was getting more than one pitch over today and really did a good job of keeping Vanderbilt off balance."
The Commodores jumped out to a 2-0 lead after scoring a single run in the fourth and the fifth innings. Purdue came back to tie the game with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. Chris Walker (Joliet, Ill.) who went 2-for-4 in the game led off the inning with a single and scored on a RBI groundout by senior-catcher Eric Frei (Rome, NY). The Boilers' second run came on a hard grounder hit by third baseman Daryl Hallada (Janesville, Wis.) to Vanderbilt's second baseman Scott Vanderhoff, who failed to make the play.
Purdue freshmen Daniel Underwood (Bedford, Ind.) and Brad Kriner (Indianapolis) teamed up to give Purdue a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning. Underwood led off the inning with a double to right and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by first baseman Kris Luce (Selma, Ind.). With the infield drawn in Kriner hit a sacrifice fly to right. Kriner also contributed a pair of singles and is now 4-for-6 on the season.
"We ask our guys to make ten big plays in a game," said Schreiber. "In that inning we had three big at bats, the double by Underwood, the sacrifice by Luce and the sacrifice fly by Kriner."
Purdue would go on to add a run in the top of the eighth inning on a solo home run by Frei. The home run came with two outs and gave the Boilermakers some much needed insurance making the score 4-2. The hit was Frei's first of the season after starting out 0-for-10. Despite struggling with the bat, Frei did his job behind the plate well all weekend, throwing out all three runners attempting to steal, including two on Sunday.
Andy Helmer (Fort Wayne) came on in relief of Quick in the eighth inning and allowed a run but struck out the side in the ninth inning to earn the save.
Coach Schreiber was extremely pleased with the way his team responded after losing the opening game of the series on Friday and coming back with two consecutive wins.
"I think this is a much more mature start for us. I was more impressed with this win today than yesterday's, to see how we responded after a win. There was no pressure on these guys to come back and win again today. We didn't have too many fun bus rides home last season, so this is a good start for us."
The Boilermakers continue non-conference play on Friday, Feb. 25 with a game at Western Kentucky at 2 p.m.