April 6, 2001
Ben Quick pitched his second complete game of the year, and the Boilermaker offense collected 11 hits in a 4-2 victory at Northwestern. It marks the Boilermakers' fifth conference win in a row and seventh win in a row overall. Purdue improves to 12-14, 5-2 in the Big Ten.
Both teams were scoreless after the first inning. Purdue went 1-2-3 in the top of the first while the Wildcats had back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Quick got Wildcat third baseman Wes Robinson to fly out to left field for the third out.
David Harrell led off the second inning with a base hit to right field. After Nate Sickler struck out and Kris Luce flied out to right field, John Gusich singled to right field, advancing Harrell to third. The first four hits of the game were singles to right field. Simon Klink stepped to the plate and drilled a ball to third base. He was safe as third baseman Robinson committed a throwing error, allowing Harrell to score, giving the Boilermakers a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second. Quick pitched a solid second inning, striking out his first batter of the game for the first out, then forced a groundout to shortstop.
In the third inning, after Mike Duursma struck out, Daniel Underwood laid down a bunt and was able to beat out the throw for a hit. Underwood was thrown out attempting to steal second, but on the next pitch, Dave Blomberg drew his team-leading 13th walk before McIntyre grounded out to shortstop.
Quick struck out the first batter of the third inning for his 50th strikeout of the season, followed by a nice sliding grab by Underwood for the second out of the inning. He then picked up his third strikeout of the game for the third out.
Harrell led off the fourth inning with an infield single, his second consecutive single to lead off an inning. Sickler reached base on a fielder's choice as Harrell was put out at second. Luce followed up with one out with a base hit through the left side, putting two runners on base. Gusich hit what appeared to be a double play. Luce was forced out at second, but as the shortstop hesitated with his throw, then committed an error on the throw. Sickler scored from second to increase the Purdue lead to 2-0.
The Wildcats flied out to each outfield spot for all three outs of the fourth inning as Purdue held on to its 2-0 lead.
After Duursma grounded out to second to start the fifth, Underwood smoked a triple to right centerfield, adding some nice hustle rounding second to pick up his first triple of the year. Underwood scored on the next play when Blomberg grounded out to second, the first earned run of the game. McIntyre added a single, followed by a Harrell walk, his third time on base in his third attempt. McIntyre scored after Sickler drilled his first single of the game on a 1-0 pitch, increasing the Purdue lead to 4-0. Luce grounded out to second to end the inning, but not before the Boilermakers finished their half of the fifth with two runs on three hits.
Quick's pitch count was only at 42 in the bottom of the fifth. After giving up his second hit of the game back in the first inning, he went on to retire the next 12 in a row before Ken Padgett singled with two outs in the fifth inning. He then walked his first batter of the game after Padgett's single. Underwood made another sliding catch on a line drive to end the inning, leaving two runners on base for the Wildcats and keeping them scoreless.
Purdue went 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth. With one aboard in the sixth inning, Quick struck out the designated hitter Todd Morgan for the second out. Robinson then popped up to second for the final out, keeping Quick's shutout intact after six innings of work.
Underwood led off the seventh by tapping another infield single, beating the first baseman to the bag, who left first base uncovered with no help from the pitcher Nall. McIntyre struck out swinging, followed by a Harrell groundout to third, his first at-bat where he did not reach base.
For Northwestern in the seventh, Travis Tharp led off the seventh with a base hit through the right side, the first Northwestern hit of the game to lead off an inning. Quick struck out Jason Krynski for the first out, then walked the next batter to put two runners on, just the second time in the game the Wildcats had two runners on base. Quick forced a pop out to second, followed by a Steve Haake walk to load the bases. Eric Roeder singled to centerfield on his first pitch to put the Wildcats on the board. David Gresky grounded out to second base to end the seventh as the Wildcats gained two runs on two hits in the seventh.
The Boilermakers went 1-2-3 in the eighth. Morgan led off the eighth with a single, followed by two fly outs to Underwood in right field. Quick's pitch count hit 100 in the bottom of the eighth. He struck out Krynski, his sixth of the game.
Duursma got his first hit with a single in the eighth, the team's tenth hit of the game. Underwood then flied out to right. Blomberg ripped a sharp single to centerfield, advancing Duursma over to third, with two outs. Blomberg stole second to put both runners in scoring position, but McIntyre struck out to end the inning.
It was up to Quick to hold the lead. He forced Brandon Ackley to fly out to right field for the first out. He then forced a Joe Hietpas pop up to shortstop. The final out came down to Steve Haake who attempted a bunt, which was fielded quickly by cartcher Harrell then tossed to first for the game's final out.
Quick finished with nine innings pitched, giving up seven hits and striking out six, giving him 54 total strikeouts on the year, nine short of tying his season total from last year.
NOTES-Before Northwestern got on the board in today's game, Purdue pitchers Gassner and Quick had combined to pitch 13 scoreless innings in their last two starts, allowing just six hits and two earned runs in the Boilermakers last two conference starts combined ... Blomberg's stolen base was his eighth of the year, second only to Nate Sickler (10) ... it also marked the team's seventh consecutive game with at least one stolen base ... Sickler extended his hitting streak to nine games, second longest of the season (Nick McIntyre - 10) ... with his three hits today, Daniel Underwood has reached 96 career hits in just his sophomore year ... with three more hits, Nick McIntyre will tie his hit total (40) from last season ... Purdue scored first for the 13th time this year ... the Boilermakers are 11-2 when they score the first run of the game.