April 13, 2001
The Purdue baseball team, playing its first home game in nearly three weeks, returned to Lambert Field to put on impressive performance for the home crowd in a 7-3 decision over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The win improves Purdue to 17-14 overall, 9-2 in the Big Ten. Penn State falls to 17-19, 7-4 in the conference. It marks Purdue's 12th win in a row, the longest winning streak of any Division I baseball team, as well as its ninth consecutive conference win.
Ben Quick got the win for the Boilermakers, his fourth of the season and third win in a row, while Dan McCall took the loss for Penn State.
Purdue struck first in the bottom half of the first inning. Daniel Underwood walked to lead off the game, then advanced to second on a Dave Blomberg sacrifice bunt. David Harrell, starting his tenth game in the cleanup spot, drilled a single to centerfield, scoring Underwood and putting the Boilermakers ahead 1-0. Penn State got one back in the top of the second as Chris Netwall homered to left field.
The 1-1 tie was as close as the Nittany Lions would get. Purdue broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the second. The Boilermakers put up a two-out rally to put more runs on the scoreboard. John Gusich walked with one out. After Simon Klink struck out, Mike Duursma was walked in his first plate appearance of the day. Underwood ripped a single to centerfield to get on base for the second time of the day, scoring Gusich and putting the Boilermakers back in the lead at 2-1. Blomberg singled to centerfield in the next at-bat, scoring Duursma. With runners on the corners, Nick McIntyre singled through to the left side, scoring Underwood and advancing Blomberg to second. Harrell reached base in his second plate appearance of the day on an overthrow by the shortstop, which scored Blomberg. Purdue led 5-1 after just two innings.
After Ben Quick pitched his second scoreless inning of the game in the third, Purdue added two more hits in their half of the third, knocking out starting pitcher Dan McCall. McCall, who before today's game was 3-0 in his first three Big Ten starts against Indiana, Michigan and Iowa, pitching 24.2 innings, allowing just five earned runs during that span, left the game after pitching just two innings against the Boilermakers, giving up five hits and four earned runs in his first loss of the year. He was replaced by Aaron Tressler, who pitched the remaining six innings for Penn State, allowing four hits and two earned runs.
Purdue got those two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. They put two runners on base with no outs as Kris Luce walked to lead off the inning, followed by a Gusich double. With runners on second and third, Duursma laid down a bunt hit right at the pitcher, allowing Luce to score. Gusich scored on Underwood's second base hit of the day. Underwood added his eighth stolen base of the year before the inning ended. Purdue led 7-1 at the end of five innings.
Quick was stellar once again for the Boilermakers. Despite giving up the one run in the second inning, the rest of his innings were scoreless. He finished the game with eight innings pitched, the one earned run and 12 hits. He struck out six and only walked one. He now has 58 strikeouts on the season, six away from tying his 2000 total. With just 18 walks on the season, Quick has slightly over a three-to-one strikeout to walk ratio. His ability to pitch in tight situations was evident today, as he struck out the final batter in the fifth with one man on as well as the final batter of the eighth with the bases loaded. He has now won his last three decisions, all conference games, pitching a combined 24.1 innings, allowed four runs (1.48 ERA) and has struck out 16 batters, while walking just four.
Penn State added two more runs in the top half of the ninth off a Chris Wright home run, narrowing the score to 7-3 in favor of Purdue.
The Boilermakers continue their series with Penn State, playing a 1 p.m. doubleheader tomorrow. Chadd Blasko (3-3, 4.18) will start Game 1, while Dave Gassner (3-3, 8.42) starts Game 2. The game will be aired on www.purduesports.com, with Nate Barrett providing play-by-play analysis and special guest Jeff Washburn, of the Lafayette Journal & Courier, providing color commentary.