May 7, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.,--The Purdue baseball team defeated Northwestern 10-6 in game two of Sunday's doubleheader after falling 4-3 in the first game. Senior Daryl Hallada went two for two with a two-run homer in the fourth inning and a two-RBI triple in the fifth to lead the way in the Boilermaker victory. The split takes Purdue to 31-19 (14-9 Big Ten). Northwestern moves to 27-23 (10-13 Big Ten).
"All these games are important," Purdue head coach Doug Schreiber said. "That first game was our fifth loss in a row, with three of those coming in extra innings. We have not been nailing things down. In today's second game, they just ran out of outs."
In that second game Purdue bats generated 10 runs, which proved to be just enough for the Boilermaker pitching staff. The Old Gold and Black struck for two runs in the second. Junior Nate Sickler was hit by a pitch to lead things off and Hallada drew a walk to set up the rally. Daniel Underwood followed with a sacrifice bunt that put two Boilers in scoring position with only one out. Kris Luce drove in the first run on a ground out to second and the next batter Brad Kriner beat out a grounder to third enabling Hallada to score the second Purdue run.
Purdue played long ball in the fourth inning and increased its lead to 4-0. Sickler hit a leadoff double to left in front of Hallada's fourth home run of the season, an opposite field shot that just cleared the wall in left center. Hallada finished the game with four RBI and three runs scored. Sickler also scored three runs while driving in two.
The pair combined to cause the Wildcats more problems in the fifth as Sickler hit a single with the bases loaded to drive in Mike Duursma and Chris Walker, who both reached on singles. Hallada drove in the next two Purdue runs on a triple to the wall in right, which chased Wildcat starting pitcher J.J. Standring from the game. Jake Briskman came in from the bullpen but was greeted rudely by Daniel Underwood who singled to center, driving in Hallada. In all, the Boilers tallied six runs in the inning and led 10-2 heading into the seventh inning.
In the final frame, the Wildcats scored four runs on three hits and a Boiler error off of Purdue starter Jeremy Ballard before Travis Dorsch retired the final batter to secure Ballard's seventh win of the season. The senior right-hander improved his record to 7-2 on the season.
In Sunday's first game, Purdue looked to have things in control with a 3-2 lead and the ball in the hands of Big Ten save leader Andy Helmer in the seventh inning. The pesky Wildcats had other ideas and managed to scratch a run across to send the game into extra innings, keeping Helmer from recording what would have been his 14th save on the season. With Helmer (2-2) remaining on the mound, the Wildcats scored an unearned run, the eventual winning run, in the eighth to take the game 4-3. Northwestern pitcher Gabe Ribas threw all eight innings and improved to 7-3.
Purdue and Northwestern return to Lambert Field on Monday at 1:00 p.m. for the fourth and final game of the weekend series.
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