March 17, 2000
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The Purdue baseball team lost both games in their double header today with the No. 17 East Carolina Pirates. The Boilers lost the first game 3-2 with Ben Quick (1-2) getting his second loss of the season, despite holding the ranked Pirates to three runs. Game two was almost as close, as the two teams battled in a one run game until ECU (20-4) broke things open in the eighth.
With Quick starting on the hill for Purdue in the first game of the double header, the junior college transfer had his work cut out for him. Quick?s last two starts have been against ranked teams. Quick was the pitcher of record in the Boilers? 5-0 loss to No. 6 Alabama, and opened today against No. 17 ECU. The Pirates opened the day with Scott Greene on the hill. Greene is 2-0 so far this season.
"Ben Quick pitched well enough to win today," Purdue head coach Doug Schreiber said. "The bottom line is that he pitched well enough to win and our offense didn?t score him runs for the third game in a row."
Purdue came to bat in the first inning of game one and started things off the way they would like to. Junior Nate Sickler hit his fourth home run of the season over the left field wall on the second pitch of the ball game. David Blomberg followed with a single to right field. With things apparently going the Boilers? way, Erik Frei hit into a fielder?s choice and then was caught stealing second. Kris Luce ended the inning by hitting a ground ball to the shortstop. Purdue failed to score another run until the top of the seventh when Nick McIntyre hit his first collegiate home run to bring Purdue within one at 3-2.
Quick opened the game strong, working through the third with only one player reaching base. The Pirates? leadoff hitter James Molinari reached in his first two at-bats, starting things off with a single and walking in the third. In the bottom of the fourth, ECU began to break through. Delfino led off with a single and was moved to second on a walk to Williamson. Following a wild pitch from Quick, Tracy knocked in the runner on third. Quick gave up another run in each of the next two innings to get the loss. Quick gave up only five hits, with no batter getting more than one hit of the junior right hander. Quick pitched the complete game, giving up three runs and striking out six. Quick was matched by Greene, who went seven innings before handing the ball over to Davey Penny who pitched one inning. The Pirates? closer, Cory Scott, came in to get his eighth save of the season. Greene ended the game giving up two runs and striking out three.
"Our offense is definitely struggling," Schreiber said. "With Chris Walker out of our lineup, we have yet to fill that void. I have high expectations of Erik Frei and Daryl Hallada, but they are not hitting on all cylinders."
In game two of the twin bill, the Boilermakers sent freshman Chadd Blasko to the hill for his first start of the season. Blasko had a strong outing, going four innings and giving up five runs. He closed out the game giving up seven hits and striking out six. In the fifth, fellow freshman Sean O?Neil came in to throw. O?Neil gave up two more runs on only four hits. Ben Kaebisch (0.2 IP, 1 hit) and Travis Dorsch (0.1 IP) finished the game off for Purdue.
"Blasko did a good job for us in his first start of the year," Schreiber said. "He walked a few to many batters for what we were trying to do. We don?t want to give up free bases."
For the second game in a row, Purdue opened things up with a leadoff home run by Nate Sickler. Sickler took his fifth home run of the year into deep left field to put Purdue ahead 1-0. The Boilers weren?t finished yet. Blomberg singled and Daryl Hallada knocked him in for Purdue?s second run of the game. Purdue wouldn?t score again until the fourth inning. Pirate-senior Jeremy Schumacher settled down and shut down the Boilers into the fourth. After hitting Daryl Hallada with a pitch to lead off the inning, Nick McIntyre hit a single to score the run. Shumacher got out of the fourth, and opened the fifth with by striking out Sickler. David Blomberg hit his second home run of the year and pulled the Boilers within one. The game stayed that way until the eighth inning when ECU broke the game open by scoring two runs off O?Neil. Scott came in to earn his ninth save, and his second of the day.
Coming on strong offensively in the second game of the series was Blomberg. The Boilers? first baseman went 4-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored. Blomberg was the only Boiler in either game to collect multiple hits.
"I expect us to come out ready to play, our guys expect to win," Schreiber said. "They are the No. 17 team in the country, but I don?t think our guys are intimidated by that."
The third and final game of the series will take place on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Jeremy Ballard is scheduled to start for the Boilermakers.