March 14, 2001
The Purdue baseball team, continuing its California spring break trip, fell to UCLA, 10-6.
The Boilers got off to an early lead as Dave Blomberg led the game off with a solo home run, his first of the season and third of his career. The Bruins got five runs back in the bottom of the first inning, knocking starting pitcher Ben Quick for four doubles to start the game.
Purdue refused to give in early, as they fought back over the next two innings, evening the score in the top half of the third inning. The Boilermakers got one run in the second, followed by a three-run third inning. In the second, Kris Luce and David Harrell both singled. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Luce was driven home on a Brad Kriner sacrifice fly. In the third inning, Daniel Underwood and Nick McIntyre singled, followed by a Nate Sickler walk to load the bases. John Gusich singled, scoring Underwood, then Harrell came through with his second hit of the game, driving in McIntyre and Sickler, tying the score at 5-5.
Purdue took a 6-5 lead in the fifth inning when Sickler notched his team-leading seventh double of the season. He was driven home on a Kris Luce base hit, which marked the end of the Boilermaker scoring. Luce leads the team with 11 RBI. UCLA evened the score at 6-6 in their half of the fifth.
Ben Quick, despite giving up five runs in the first inning, pitched the following four inning scoreless and struck out six batters. He leads the team with 36 strikeouts this season, and has 99 for his two-year career. Quick was relieved by Matt Skripsky, who pitched two innings and yielded two runs. Skripsky also struck out two batters. UCLA added two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to close their scoring.
For the Boilermakers, Daniel Underwood had his fourth consecutive multi-hit game. Over the last four games, Underwood has gone 11-19 (.579) with one double, one home run and five RBI. David Harrell is 6-9 (.667) over his last two games with four RBI. For the season, Harrell leads all batters with a .424 average (14-33) and is tied for the team lead with two home runs. Harrell has started the last seven games in the designated hitter spot. Sickler's seventh double of the year gives him 45 for his career, good enough for fourth place on the school's all-time list. He needs just 17 more doubles this season to set a new school record.
Purdue will face Long Beach State tomorrow