May 19, 2000
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. The Purdue Boilermaker baseball team rallied from a 1-0 deficit with three runs in the seventh and eighth innings to defeat the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 6-1, in the fifth game of the 2000 Big Ten Tournament. Purdue (35-22) improves to 1-1 in the tournament and will play Ohio State in an elimination game Friday at 8:30 p.m. Minnesota (37-21) drops to 1-1 in the tournament and will play the loser of the Penn State-Illinois game Friday at 5 p.m. The Old Gold & Black now own a 4-1 series lead against the Maroon & Gold, and has outscored the Golden Gophers 32-22 in the five meetings. It was the fourth time in five games that the Purdue pitchers did not allow a home run to the league's most potent offense.
"I wouldn't say that we have their number," Purdue head coach Doug Schreiber said. "They're a good team. It comes down to getting a break hear and there. In this game, somehow, someway, we found a way. We didn't quit."
Purdue starting pitcher David Gassner threw his team-leading fourth complete game of the season throwing 105 pitches, limiting the Gophers to four hits and one walk while striking out four batters. He retired the final nine Gophers of the game and improved to 6-3 on the season. Minnesota's Ben Birk worked 7 1/3 innings, his longest appearance of the season, but allowed six runs (four earned) and nine hits and dropped to 4-3 for the season.
"I didn't we started all that well," Schreiber said. Gassner gave us a chance to sustain the ballgame, and let us get it late. Give the credit to Dave."
Freshman catcher Nick McIntyre, making his first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament, came off the bench to go 3-for-3 with three runs batted in. Sophomore first baseman Kris Luce added two hits to the 10-hit Boilermaker attack. No Gopher had two hits in the game.
"It was a fire-up type of thing to get us going," Schreiber said about inserting McIntyre into the lineup. "Sometimes you have to make changes to the lineup to get things going. Mac's done that for us all year. He's one of our better hitter, and he stepped up today."
Gassner and Birk threw three scoreless innings to begin the game. Both teams had leadoff doubles in the third inning, but failed to score. The Gophers scored the game's first run in the top of the fourth inning. Gopher first baseman Josh Holthaus doubled down the left-field line, was sacrificed to third on a bunt by right fielder Jason Kennedy, and scored on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Luke Appert.
The Boilermakers took their first lead of the tournament with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. First-team All-Big Ten selection designated hitter Daryl Hallada reached on a fielding error by Minnesota shortstop Rick Brosseau. Freshman right fielder Daniel Underwood grounded a single to left field, advancing Hallada to second base. Luce lined a single off of Brosseau's wrist, scoring Hallada and sending Underwood to third base. McIntyre executed a hit-and-run single to right-center field, scoring Underwood and moving Luce to third base. Purdue followed with a safety squeeze, as junior shortstop Mike Duursma bunted down the first-base line to score Luce with the Boilermakers' third run.
Purdue added three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Third baseman David Blomberg and second baseman Erik Frei led off the inning with bunt singles. After a foul out, Hallada dumped a single into center field, scoring Blomberg. Minnesota replaced Birk with Brandon Kitzerow, and Purdue executed a double steal on his first pitch, sending Frei to third base and Hallada to second. Underwood was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Luce popped out to first base attempting to bunt. McIntyre laced a single to left field, scoring Frei and Hallada with the final two Boilermaker runs.
"I didn't have to do a lot of thinking out there," Gassner said. "I was just doing what I was told. My defense gave me confidence to get the job done. I just tried not to get over-excited. My defense kept getting ground ball after ground ball, fly ball after fly ball."
Purdue will play No. 5 seed Ohio State tonight at Siebert Field starting at 8:30 p.m. The Buckeyes last night eliminated No. 6 seed Northwestern, 4-2.