May 12, 2001
The Purdue baseball team opened a crucial weekend series against Iowa with an 8-1 victory. The Boilermakers got another outstanding pitching performance from senior ace Ben Quick, who pitched his fourth complete game of the season, allowed just seven Hawkeye hits, one run and struck out four.
Purdue helped itself in its chase for the Big Ten Championship by narrowing its magic number to three. Michigan was of no help, as the Wolverines were shut out in game one of its Saturday doubleheader at Ohio State and fell 10-7 in the second game. At this point, a combination of Purdue wins and Ohio State losses equal to three would give the Boilermakers the 2001 Big Ten crown.
The Boilermakers jumped out to big lead in the first, sending the entire batting order to bat. The first five batters of the Purdue lineup got a hit. Daniel Underwood led off the game with his third triple of the season. He scored on the very next play as Dave Blomberg singled. Nick McIntyre added to his team-leading hit total with a single as Blomberg advanced to second. David Harrell singled then advanced to second on a throw after Blomberg scored. McIntyre moved over to third on the play. Sickler drove in Harrell and McIntyre, as the Boilermakers quickly built a 4-0 lead. Kris Luce grounded into a double play, as the Hawkeyes got two outs, but Purdue was not finished scoring in the inning. John Gusich was hit by a pitch, then advanced to second on a balk. He moved over to third thanks to a Brad Kriner infield single. He stole home and scored the Boilermakers' fifth run of the inning, as Kriner sacrificed himself in the process, getting caught stealing between first and second.
Purdue added another run in the third inning, building its lead to 6-0. Sickler and Luce singled to start the inning. Sickler was driven in on a Gusich single. Iowa added one run in the top of the fifth to narrow the score to 6-1 as Alex Dvorsky scored on a Jim Reid single. Dvosrky had singled, then stole second, then advanced to third on a wild pitch, but that was all the Hawkeyes would put on the board on this day.
Purdue added a pair of insurance wins in the bottom of the seventh as Nate Sickler hit his eighth home run of the season, knocking in Harrell, who doubled to get on base, in the process.
Quick pitched another dominant performance, getting his fourth complete game of the season and improving his record to 7-4, surpassing his 2000 win total.
The Boilermakers return to action tomorrow as they host Iowa for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Lambert Field. Chadd Blasko (5-5) takes to the mound in game one, while Dave Gassner (6-4) will start game two.
NOTES - With his four strikeouts, Quick upped his season strikeout total to 76, the third-highest total in school history ... his 93.2 innings pitched this season is also the third-highest season total in that respective category ... Nate Sickler made his first start in center field since April 22 at Illinois, and produced a 3-for-4 performance today with the 32nd home run of his career ... Sickler also had his third game of the season with at least four RBI ... Underwood added his team-leading 21st multi-hit game of the season, while surpassing his triple total of two he had last year as a freshman ... with their 16 hits today, Purdue has built its season total in hits to 545, 42 away from breaking the school record set by last year's team ... McIntyre needs 10 more hits to set a new school record for hits in a season ... every player in Purdue's starting lineup has at least 12 doubles except for Gusich, Kriner and Underwood, who have all started fewer games than the rest of the regulars ... Blomberg extended his hitting streak to eight games.