April 2, 2000
STATE COLLEGE, Penn. - The Purdue baseball team finished their four game set with Penn State with a strong showing, both at the plate and on the hill. The Boilers knocked out 10 hits and scored six runs as they pulled even with the Nittany Lions both in the series and in the conference standings. The Boilers better their record to 16-9, 5-3 in the Big Ten, while Penn State drops to 20-8, 5-3 in the conference.
"We are happy to get out of town with a split, but not satisfied," Purdue head coach Doug Schreiber said. "I was very proud of the guys, the way we came out and played with enthusiasm and focus in what was a crucial game. Russ picked us up and pitched very well, and we played great defense."
Opening the day on the hill for Purdue was senior Russ Morgan. Morgan, the Boilers' usual No.1 starter was moved to the four spot in this weekend's rotation, and took full advantage of his new role as the Boilermakers' Sunday pitcher. Morgan opened the game getting the first three hitters in order, and continued to do so until fourth inning. After holding the Lions hitless through three innings, Penn State opened the fourth with a triple into the gap in center by Michael Campo. Campo would later score on a ground out that wasn't to Erik Frei. Frei threw the ball away, and with a run in, PSU had a runner on second and one out. Morgan quickly closed the gap and struck out Chirs Wright and Scott Hamilton to end the inning. Morgan worked into the sixth before another batter touched him. With a runner on first, Morgan threw high on a potential double play ball to the shortstop, pulling him off the bag. The Boilers got the force at second, but couldn't turn two. The inning continued, and Morgan's mistake proved costly as Chris Netwall hit a shot over the left field wall to bring the score to 6-3. Morgan closed out the inning, and started the seveth, but with runners on first and second, he was pulled in favor of freshman Chadd Blasko. Blasko did his job, getting the Lions to ground into an inning ending double play. After Blasko got in some trouble in the eighth, pitching coach Gary Adcock opted to put an end to the potential rally, and insert the Big Ten's save leader, Andy Helmer into the game. Helmer completed his seventh save of the seasonl, starting things off with a double play in the eighth and only giving up one hit in the ninth. The ending line on Helmer was two innings, one hit and no strike outs. Morgan got the win with six innings of work, giving up five hits, three runs and striking out four.
"The offensive production was solid," Schreiber said. "Out of our 10 hits five were extra base hits as was the situation in our other win this weekend, and that is what we need to do. We don't need to have 15 hits per game. We can do some things to manufacture runs if we get some guys getting on base eary in the inning and moving the ball around and not striking out. We only had three strike outs, so we are doing a better job of putting pressure on the defense."
The Boilers offensive power was a different story from the second game of Saturday's twinbill. The Boilers only managed four hits in the 2-1 loss to Penn State for their third conference loss of the season. In today's final game, the Boilers struggled through the first three innnings as Morgan and Penn State thrower Justin Nash battled through two innings of no-hit baseball. Nash, last week's Big Ten Pitcher-of-the-Week, made it into the third inning unscathed, before the Boilers got to him. Kris Luce led off the inning with his third double of the season, and Brad Kriner followed that with a single to move Luce to third. Mike Duursma moved Kriner over to second, and David Blomberg knocked both runners in with his first double of the ballgame. Nash made it out of the inning with only two runs, but was hit hard again in the next inning. Daryl Hallada reached on an error by the second baseman, and Purdue took advantage. Hallada stole second, and then was knocked in by Daniel Underwood single. Underwood went to second on the throw home, and then stole third. The double steal allowed Kris Luce, who had reached after he was hit by a pitch, to reach second. Kriner again came through in the clutch, hitting a two-run scoring double to make the score 5-1. The Boilers added a run in the sixth to put the game out of reach for the Lions.
"I am very happy with the production from the bottom part of the order," Schreiber said. "Kris Luce fits nicely where he is right now, and I think Kriner will scrap to get some good hits, Duursma is very functional and does a good job down there. It is nice to know that your 3-4-5 hitters could have a day where they are not hitting on all cylinders, that we still have a shot to win the game."
Purdue was led at the plate by junior David Blomberg and freshmen Brad Kriner, who both went 3-for-4. Blomberg and Kriner combined for three doubles, and four RBI. Kris Luce added a solid performance, going 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. Luce scored three of the Boilers six runs on the day.
Purdue will be back in action again as they play a mid-week non-conference game against the Ball State Redbirds at Lambert Field. First pitch will be scheduled for 3:00 p.m.