April 19, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The baseball game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Illinois State Redbirds was called in the top of the seventh inning, however, lighting struck the Redbirds in the third inning, as Purdue ran up the score to 8-0 with a two-out eight run rally. The Boilermakers notched two more runs in the seventh, but could not count thr runs becuase the inning was not completed.
Purdue opened the game without much of a sign of offense in the first two innings, but with two outs in the third, David Blomberg walked. The base on balls moved Mike Duursma to second, who had reached on an error. Duursma became the first of eight runs for Purdue as Erik Frei followed with a walk to load the bases. The the bases juiced, junior Nate Sickler stepped to the plate and hit a rocket over the left field wall for his first grand slam of the season. Purdue continued their dominance in the inning, scoring four more runs following singles by Daniel Underwood and Kris Luce. Brad Kriner came to the plate and lined a triple to knock both runs in. Kriner would later score to complete the inning for Purdue.
Sean O'Neil went six innings, giving up one earned run on six hits to pick up the win.