March 1, 2002
Box Score
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue dropped their second straight game to Cal State Northridge, a 11-4 decision, to fall to 2-3 on the season. It was the Boilermakers' first game in the Clash of the Conferences round-robin tournament in Lancaster, Calif.
Purdue jumped on the board first when Adam Fazio scored on a wild pitch after reaching base with a walk. Nick McIntyre doubled off the first base bag and later scored on John Gusich's RBI single, his first RBI of the season, to make it a 2-0 lead.
The Boilermakers added a run in the fifth when Daniel Underwood scored on a throwing error on a Fazio grounder, to take a 3-0 lead. Underwood reached base on a single to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, and stole second to put himself into scoring position.
After four scoreless innings against Chadd Blasko, Cal State Northridge tallied their first run of the contest when Jason Allec drove in Adam Nikolic on a single.
Purdue answered in the sixth, extending the lead to 4-1 on Gusich's second RBI-single of the game, plating Nick McIntyre.
The Matadors broke out with a three-run sixth inning to knot the game at four, scoring two runs with two outs. Tim Arroyo doubled home Shaun Larkin and later scored on Allec's two-out RBI single. Allec then scored on a Jason Gorman double.
Cal State Northridge threatened to take the lead in the seventh, but Blasko thwarted the scoring opportunity by striking out Eric Verbryke to end the inning with the potential go-ahead run stranded at third.
Blasko scattered nine hits in 7.0 innings, striking out seven along the way, before giving way to Scott Byrnes.
Gorman gave the Matadors their first lead of the game, 7-4, on a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth off Byrnes, setting off a run of six consecutive hits. Cal State Northridge totaled seven runs in the inning to take an 11-4 lead into the ninth.
The Boilermakers return to action Saturday with an 11:10 a.m. (PT) game against UNLV, who defeated George Washington 6-3 in Friday's Clash of the Conferences opener.
Additional Game Notes
-Daniel Underwood extended his hitting streak to 17 games (dating to 4/29/01 at Indiana).
-Adam Fazio has hit safely in all five games this season.
-Purdue has scored first in all five games this season.
-John Gusich made the third pitching appearance of his Purdue career and his first since 5/10/01 vs. Evansville.
-With the loss, Purdue fell below the .500 mark for the first time since 4/7/01 when the Boilermakers were 13-14.
Purdue 000 211 000 - 4 8 0
CSN 000 013 07x - 11 17 1
W: Murphy (3-1), L: Byrnes (0-1)
HR: Gorman (3)