April 24, 2001
The Purdue baseball team won its 19th game in its last 21 with a 13-6 win at Valparaiso. Luke Howard picked up his second win of the season, while the Boilermakers also improved their road record this season to 17-9 and its record against Indiana schools to 5-1.
Daniel Underwood led off the game with a walk, then moved to second on a single by Dave Blomberg. Blomberg, in the process, extended his hit streak to 18 games. After a double steal, Nick McIntyre drove in Underwood on a groundout to short. Blomberg scored on a wild pitch, making it 2-0. David Harrell singled before Nate Sickler hit his 19th double of the season to the wall in right centerfield. Harrell stayed at third. Purdue led 2-0 after their half of the first inning.
Luke Howard made his third start of the year. He had one strike out after giving up a leadoff double, then caught a ground ball, throwing it over to third to keep runners out of scoring position.
Mike Duursma was hit by a pitch to lead off the second. He stole second on a wild pitch, advancing to third on the wild pitch. Underwood then walked in his second plate appearance of the day. Blomberg then doubled to the right field wall, which scored Duursma. Underwood stayed at third, which kept two men on with no one out. McIntyre drove both runners in with a single to center field, increasing Purdue's lead to 5-0. McIntyre scored after Harrell hit his 11th double of the year. With one out, runners were on the corners after a Kris Luce single. Gusich singled to left field, scoring Harrell and making it 7-0. After Brad Kriner reached on a fielder's choice, Duursma stepped to the plate for the second time of the inning. The Boilermakers scored five runs on five hits in the second.
Howard stayed sharp in the second inning. Despite giving up two singles, he forced a double play to end the inning.
Underwood singled to lead off the third inning, getting on base for the third consecutive time in the game. He advanced to second and third on consecutive passed balls, then scored on Blomberg's third hit of the day, a base hit to left field. Continuing with their aggressive baserunning, Blomberg stole second, putting a runner in scoring position with no outs. McIntyre walked, his second time on base in three plate appearances. The Boilermakers converted their second double-steal attempt on the day, as Blomberg and McIntyre stole third and second, respectively. Simon Klink replaced Sickler in the lineup, and scored Blomberg from third on a groundout to second. McIntyre reached base on a fielding error by the shortstop, putting the Boilermakers in double-digits. Gusich singled to left field, the fourth player in the lineup to get his second hit. Kriner loaded the bases, reaching base on a fielding error by the third baseman, who neglected to step on third to get the force out. Duursma singled to center field, scoring Luce and Gusich, increasing Purdue's lead to 12-0. Underwood, in his second at-bat in the inning, got his second hit of the inning on a base hit, scoring Kriner, and reaching base for the fourth time in four plate appearances. Blomberg walked, also getting on base in his fourth appearance before McIntyre grounded out to first to end the inning. The Boilermakers sent 12 batters to the plate, added six runs on five hits and increased their lead to 13-0.
Howard kept all runners off base in the third, forcing two ground outs and striking out one batter looking.
Harrell led off the fourth with a single, then went to second after Klink walked. The Boilermakers did not score on the fourth, but with Klink's walk, it was the seventh walk drawn by the Boilermakers on the day.
Howard was relieved by Adam Green, the junior lefty. Howard finished his third start of the year pitching three scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, no walks and striking out two. Despite giving up a home run to Mark Pederson, Green struck out three Valparaiso batters to end the inning. In the fifth inning, John Badylak and Garret Guest replaced Mike Duursma and Dave Blomberg in the lineup. Guest singled to center field, picking up his first hit in a Purdue uniform. Green struck out his fourth batter to lead off the bottom of the fifth. He nabbed a ground ball and threw it over to first to end the inning, after the Crusaders score two more runs.
Nick Treadway replaced Harrell in the lineup, and walked to lead off sixth inning. Treadway moved to right field as McIntyre replaced Harrell behind the dish. Green was replaced by Heath Uppencamp after pitching two innings and striking out four. Uppencamp gave up just one run on a sacrifice fly, Purdue still owned a 13-4 lead. Uppencamp added a scoreless seventh, striking out one batter. Kriner threw out Badivonac, who singled then was thrown out at second by Kriner.
Jim Davies came on to relieve Uppencamp and struck out two batters, keeping the Crusaders scoreless in the eighth. John Badylak added a hit in the ninth after Mitch Koester walked, as the Boilermakers finished the day with 16 hits. Davies came on to pitch the ninth, giving up two more runs, but also adding one more strikeout before forcing his final batter to ground out into a double play.
NOTES - Sickler's double was his 19th of the season, one away from tying a school season record ... Purdue has posted a double-digit run total against Valparaiso in its last four meetings ... Blomberg, in addition to extending his 18-game hitting streak, has five consecutive multi-hit games, along with getting three hits in each of his last two games ... only Nick McIntyre and Daniel Underwood played the entire game, who are both tied for the team lead in multi-hit games with 17 ... with their 13 runs scored against Valparaiso, the Boilermakers have scored in double-digits in three of their last six games and 10 times overall this season ... Harrell's three hits gives him 16 multi-hit games on the season, second to McIntyre and Underwood ... McIntyre's three RBI give him eight multiple RBI games this season, third behind Sickler and Harrell ... Green now has nine strikeouts in his last four outings (seven innings pitched), while walking just two batters ... the Boilermakers six stolen bases today are the most in a game this season, while Blomberg's three are is an individual game high ... they also drew ten walks as a team, the most this season ... with Blomberg and Underwood stealing bases today, three players now have at least 10 stolen bases (Sickler, Blomberg and Underwood) ... the three are a combined 32-for-45 (.711) in stolen base attempts this year.