April 9, 2000
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Purdue Boilermakers' offense struggled, as Purdue lost its third straight game to Iowa, losing the Big Ten series three games to one. The Boilers left four runners aboard and wasted many scoring opportunities as they were shutout for just the third time this season and the second time by the Hawkeyes. The Boilers fall to 18-12 on the season and 6-6 in the conference while Iowa moves to 12-19 and draws even with the Boilers at 6-6 in conference play.
"We have got guys in Erik Frei and Daryl Hallada who gave us a lot of offensive producion last year who just aren't producing," Purdue head coach Doug Schreiber said. "Today we got 12 hits but they weren't timely. We don't hit in situations very well."
Purdue pitching proved to be the bright spot for the Boilers on the weekend, as a Hawkeye team that scored 16 runs against Iowa State earlier in the week was held to only 12 runs in four games, including a 2-0 loss and a 1-0 loss. Russ Morgan got the start in the crucial Game Four of the series and vitrually shut down the Hawkeye offense. With two outs in the inning, Andy Jansen, the Hawks' left fielder, poked one over the left field wall for Iowa's first and only run of the game. After surrendering the bomb in the first inning, Morgan went the rest of the way, giving up only three more hits and allowing only two runners to get to third base. The senior from New Hartford, N.Y., had a stellar pitching performance, but came up short as the Boilermakers failed to score a single run for the second game in the four game series.
The Boilermakers only managed four hits at the plate, one each from Nick McIntyre, Daniel Underwood, Daryl Hallada and Mike Duursma. Duursma extended his hitting streak to seven games, but the efforts of the shortstop from the Netherlands was not enough, as the Boilers fell to 6-6 in Big Ten play.
"The only way we are going to get through this frustration of not scoring runs and not fielding the ball very well, is hard work," Schreiber said. "We've got to fall back on what got us to this point because we had set ourselves up pretty well, and those things are having a positive attitude and staying mature. This is our first dose of adversity as a team, and we have to work through it. We have to have a positive attitude and work through it, otherwise we will be in trouble."
The Boilers will now travel to No. 26 Notre Dame for a single game set before playing at Valparaiso for an additional mid-week non-conference game. The Boilers beat the Crusaders, 10-1, in the meeting earlier in the season.