May 8, 2001
The Purdue baseball team won its final road game of the regular season, a 10-7 victory at Chicago State. The Boilermakers finish with a final road record of 21-12. Sean O'Neil was the winning pitcher for the Boilermakers, improving to 5-3 on the season. O'Neil, a Chicago native, is 2-0 this year, pitching in his hometown. He picked up an earlier victory at Northwestern, allowing two hits and no runs in six innings of work. Against the Cougars, O'Neil pitched five innings, allowed three earned runs and struck out seven.
Purdue scored one run in the top of the first, taking a 1-0 lead. Dave Blomberg was hit by a pitch, then advanced to second on Nick McIntyre's 71st hit of the season, a team-high. David Harrell singled to load the bases, then Blomberg scored on a Nate Sickler fielder's choice.
Purdue added six runs in the top of the third, increasing its lead to 7-0. Daniel Underwood walked to lead off the inning, then moved to second on a Blomberg single. Harrell reached on a fielder's choice, but Blomberg was put out at second. Underwood was able to score on the play. Sickler then drilled his fifth triple to center field, scoring Harrell. Kris Luce walked, then stole second. After John Gusich walked, all three runners were driven home by a Brad Kriner grand slam, the team's second of the season. Sickler hit an inside the park grand slam against Minnesota on March 24. Chicago State added three runs in the in the third trimming Purdue's lead to 7-3.
Purdue added two more runs in its half of the fourth. Underwood got on base for the third consecutive appearance, this time with a single. He advanced to third on Blomberg's 14th double of the season, then scored on a McIntyre groundout to short. Blomberg advanced to third on a throwing error by the pitcher, then scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Purdue led 9-3 after three and a half innings.
The Boilermakers added one more run in the top of the seventh after Luce nailed his 11th double of the season, then was driven in on a Gusich single. Purdue led 10-3, marking the 12th time this season scored in double-digits. Chicago State rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth.
In addition to O'Neil getting his fifth outing, Purdue was backed by a solid relief effort from Daniel Hernandez and freshman Dustin Glant. Hernandez pitched two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three. Glant pitched one inning, striking out two batters. Heath Uppencamp came on to pitch the ninth and added another two strikeouts to the Purdue total for the day. Hernandez has not given up an earned run in his last five relief outings, pitching 7.1 innings, giving up just two hits, striking out six and walking just two. Glant has not allowed an earned run in his last four relief outings, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing five hits and striking out four while walking just one batter.
NOTES - Kriner continues his late season offensive surge, going 8-for-20 (.400) in the last five games with six RBI and seven runs scored ... his four RBI today was a season-high ... Blomberg's two-hit performance was his 18th multi-hit game of the season ... the team is just two doubles away from breaking the school record for doubles in a season (107) set by the 2000 team ... the team is 71 hits away from breaking last year's hit total.