April 1, 2000
STATE COLLEGE, Penn. - The Purdue baseball team dropped to 4-3 in conference play today, as it dropped the second game of the twin bill to the Penn State Nittany Lions, 2-1. The Boilers won the first game of the day, 6-1, but couldn't produce the same offensive results in game three of the four game series. The Boilermakers fall to 15-9 overall, while the Lions jump to 20-7, 5-2 in the Big Ten Conference.
Opening the second game for the Boilers was right-hander Jeremy Ballard. Ballard came into the game with a team-best record of 3-0, and looked to continue his perfect season with a win over the Lions in the short, seven inning matchup. Ballard opened the game well, retiring the opening three batters of the game in order. Ballard kept the Lions hitless through the second inning, only giving up a walk to PSU's second baseman. In the third inning, The Lions No. 8 hitter kinked the armor of the senior-pitcher. Eric Spadt led off the inning with a shot over the left field fence to give Penn State the lead. The Lions helpd the lead into the fifth when The Boilers led off with a base hit by Brandon Buck. Buck was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Daniel Underwood, and then reached third on a wild pitch by the Lions starter, Dan McCall. Underwood came around to score on a ground out by Kris Luce before McCall got out of the inning with a ground out by Brad Kriner. With the game knotted at one, Ballard came in and struggled in the fifth. He gave up a single to Zack Smithlin who was advanced to second on a groundball to second base for the first out of the inning. The Boilers followed with two consecutive errors by Mike Duursma and Brad Kriner, which allowed the Nittany Lions to score the go-ahead run. With the bases juiced, the Boilers opted to take Ballard out and throw the lefty, Ben Kaebisch. No. 8 ended the inning in exciting fashion, getting pinch hitter Scott Hamilton to ground out into a 5-2-3 double play. Purdue got out of the inning nearly unscathed, and was coming to bat with the No. 9-2 hitters. The Lions stayed with McCall, who gave up a single to Duursma to start the inning. Sickler replaced Duursma on first, after reaching in a fielders choice, and with a runner on first David Blomberg singled to move Sickler to third. With runners on the scoring, and the Boilers on the offensive, Purdue got caught taking a chance, as Blomberg was thrown out at second trying to steal. With two outs and the tying run on third, Erik Frei knocked a 3-2 pitch to the outfield, where centerfielder Zack Smithlin ended the Purdue threat. The Boilers' couldn't get the same rally in the seventh, and McCall closed out the game for the complete game win. Ballard got the loss after picthing well, going 4.1 innings and giving up five hits and only one earned run. Andy Helmer pitched well again for Purdue, pitching the last 2/3rd's, striking out one and giving up no runs.
The Boilers struggled offensively, collecting only four hits in the second game. David Blomberg, Erik Frei, Brandon Buck and Mike Duursma were the only Boilers to collect hits on the afternoon, Buck's being the most important as he was the only Boiler to cross the plate.
The Old Gold and Black will wrap up their four game set with Penn State on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 11:00 am. Purdue's scheduled starter for the final game of the series is Russ Morgan. Morgan brings a 3-3 record and a 5.93 ERA into the game.