March 24, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team won their third straight game today, as the Boilers opened up their conference season with a win over the Michigan State Spartans, 3-1. Purdue starter Ben Quick earned the win to go to 2-2 on the season and Andy Helmer picked up his fifth save of the year. Purdue moves to 11-6, 1-0 in the Big Ten on the season while Michigan State drops to 4-13 (0-1).
"Ben Quick has pitched that well all season for us, and we just haven't produced the runs," Purdue head coach Doug Schreiber said. "I wouldn't say we got a lot of runs for him today, but he came through for us. That is just `Ben Quick' baseball."
Quick, the owner of the Boilermaker-starters' lowest ERA (2.35), came into the game following a loss to then No. 17 East Carolina in his last start. In his first ever start at Lambert Field, the junior college transfer pitched well, giving up only five hits and striking out four over 8.0 innings. Quick matched his longest outing of the season with the 8.0 innings of work, before Purdue closer Andy Helmer came in in the ninth inning to shut down the Spartans and wrap up his fifth save of the season. On the Spartan side, Josh Axelson got the loss as the Michigan State hurler threw seven innings, striking out eight and giving up only six hits. The Boilers cracked through the armor of Axelson in the third when David Blomberg knocked in Mike Duursma for the Boilers first run of the game. Purdue would score two more times in two separate innnings, coming in the sixth and seventh innings, before it was over. After Erik Frei walked to lead off the sixth, Axelson managed to get the next hitter out. Daryl Hallada followed with a run scoring single to put the Boilers up by two runs. In the seventh, Purdue wrapped things up, scoring Mike Duursma on Blomberg's single.
"Axelson pitched well today," Schreiber said. "He is a big-time pitcher. I think that we satyed on him and got some RBI situations. So we did maximize the few opportunities that we did have."
"All we are going to worry about now is the first game tomorrow," Schreiber said. "We can't really think in terms of what is going to happen on the weekend. We are concentrating on going 1-0 in the first game tomorrow."
Purdue will resume the series with Michigan State on Saturday, March 25, as Purdue will host a double header at Lambert Field with Game One starting at 1:00 p.m.