April 15, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team suffered its seventh conference loss today, at the hands of the Indiana Hoosiers. IU scored five runs in the sixth inning, including back-to-back home runs tod distance themselves from Purdue in the 9-3 win. David Gassner pitched six innings for the loss, moving to 4-3 on the season. Zach McClellan went the distance for Indiana, getting the win to move to 4-4.
The Boilers started things off well, as the usual late starting offense got on the board early, as Chris Walker led off the game with a single. Walker stole second, despite a pitchout by Indiana. David Blomberg moved Walker to second, and he scored on a fielder's choice by Erik Frei. McClelland settled down after the Boilers notched their first run, and shut down Purdue until the seventh inning. Purdue scored two more runs in the seventh in a late game rally, but it was too little too late for the Old Gold and Black.
Starting the game on the hill for Purdue was their No. 2 starter, David Gassner. Gassner came into the day with a 4-2 record, and an impressive 33 strikeouts. The junior-southpaw made it through six innings, giving up four runs. Gassner was pulled in the seventh, in favor of Ben Kaebisch. Kaebisch got the first batter he faced to ground to third baseman Daryl Hallada, but Hallada couldn't handle the sharply hit ground ball and McNab was on by virtue of an error. That was the beginning of a six-inning Hoosier sixth, as two more runs scored before Kaebisch was pulled. Sean O'Neil came in to relieve Kaebisch and Indiana took advantage of the freshman hurler. The IU hit back-to-back home runs before the inning was over, and the score stood at 9-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Purdue threatened in the seventh but couldn't overcome the defecit, losing by a final score of 9-3. Purdue dropped to 21-13 overall, as the Hoosiers better their record to 24-16.
The Boilers will now start the second game of the twinbill at Lambert Field. Jeremy Ballard (4-3) will throw for the Boilers.