April 18, 2001
The Purdue baseball team avenged an earlier season loss to Illinois State by picking up a 16-6 win over the Redbirds at Lambert Field Wednesday afternoon. It marked the Boilermakers' 16th win in its last 19 games, its sixth home win of the season and its eighth game of the season scoring in double-digits.
Adam Green picked up his first career win for the Boilermakers while Brian McDevitt takes the loss for Illinois State.
Illinois State took the lead in the bottom of the first, grabbing an early 2-0 lead, but was quickly answered by the Boilermakers in the bottom half of the first inning. Daniel Underwood walked to lead off the game then went over to second on a wild pitch. Dave Blomberg doubled, extending his hit streak to 13 games, which scored Underwood. Blomberg tied the game, scoring on a Nate Sickler sacrifice fly.
Illinois State was held scoreless in their half of the second inning, as Purdue took advantage and grabbed a 4-2 lead after two innings. After Mitch Koester, making his second start of the season as the designated hitter, grounded in to a double play, the Boilermakers put together a two-run, two-out rally. Mike Duursma was walked in his first at-bat of the game, then advanced to second as Underwood reached base in his second attempt on the day, singling through to the left side. Blomberg hit a ball to deep left field that was bobbled by the left fielder Jason Scherer, allowing Underwood and Duursma to score.
Illinois State evened the score in the top of the third with two runs, as starting pitcher Sean O'Neil exited. O'Neil, making his eighth start of the season, yielded four earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched. He was relieved by Adam Green, the junior left-hander, who got the final two outs of the inning, keeping the score tied at 4-4.
Purdue then scored its final nine runs of the game all in the bottom of the fifth inning. Nick McIntyre led off the inning with a single, picking up his team-leading 51st hit of the year. After David Harrell flied out, the Boilermakers sent the next six batters to the plate without producing another out. Sickler singled to advance McIntyre to second. Kris Luce singled to left field, scoring McIntyre, giving the Boilermakers the lead at 5-4. Gusich had an infield single, scoring Sickler and advancing Luce to second. The Redbirds made a pitching change, substituting Clark for Schoeberlein. Koester singled to right field, scoring Luce. Duursma reached base on a throwing error by the third baseman Jon Peacock, but still was credited with the RBI as Gusich scored, increasing Purdue's lead to 8-4. Koester and Duursma each moved up a base after a wild pitch. Returning to the top of the order, Underwood was walked, loading the bases. Blomberg flied out to center field, but the ball was deep enough to score Koester from third, crediting Blomberg with the sacrifice fly. McIntyre stepped to the plate for the second time in the inning and was walked to load the bases again. Harrell, recently named Big Ten co-player of the week, drilled his ninth double of the season to center field, clearing the bases. It was his second game in his last four with three RBI. Harrell then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Sickler's double, his team-leading 18th of the season. Luce struck out to end the inning, but not before the Boilermakers added nine runs on seven hits. Blomberg was the only member of the starting lineup not to score in the fourth, while McIntyre and Harrell scored twice and Sickler had two hits in the inning.
Illinois State added two runs in the top of the seventh, but that was all they got against a stong pitching effort from six Purdue relief pitchers. Green, who was credited with his first collegiate win, combined with Luke Howard, Ben Kaebisch, Dustin Glant, Daniel Hernandez and Billy Lester to allow four hits, no earned runs and seven strikeouts over a 6.1 inning span. Green struck out three batters for the second outing in a row. In his last two outings, Green has pitched 4.2 innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out three. Howard pitched his pitched his third consecutive outing without giving up an earned run, pitching seven innings in his last three outings and striking out two. He is second on the team with 12 appearances this season. Kaebisch also pitched his third consecutive outing without allowing an earned run, pitching the seventh inning. He was credited with the two runs, but both runs were unearned. In his last three outings, Kaebisch has pitched a total of three innings without allowing an earned run while striking out three. Hernandez saw his first action since March 13, finishing off the eighth inning while Glant pitched his third scoreless outing in four appearances. Lester made his team-leading 13th appearance to finish off the Redbirds in the ninth inning. He struck out two, giving him 15 for the year. He has allowed just one earned run in his last nine outings, a total of 17.2 innings (0.51 ERA).
NOTES - Blomberg's 13-game hitting streak is the second-longest of the season, second only to Nate Sickler's 14-game hitting streak (March 21 - April 13) ... Sickler's 18th double leaves him two doubles away from tying Jermaine Allensworth (1992) and Daryl Hallada (1999) for the school's single-season record ... he is six doubles away from setting a new career mark for doubles ... Purdue is now 11-9 all time against Illinois State ... the Boilermakers are 6-2 in games started by Sean O'Neil, best winning percentage for any starting pitcher on the team ... Underwood, McIntyre and Sickler all picked up their 15th multi-hit games of the season ... Blomberg, Harrell, Sickler and Duursma all had multi-RBI games for the Boilermakers.