March 23, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team secured the series win against Miami (Ohio) on Sunday afternoon at Lambert Field, defeating the RedHawks by a 12-2 final. With the win, Purdue improved to 10-5 while Miami fell to 7-11.
The Boilermakers unleashed a power surge previously unseen this season, blasting MU pitchers for four home runs, upping the team's season total to nine. The roundtrippers were hit in pairs, as Daniel Underwood and Simon Klink belted back-to-back shots in the fourth inning and Nick McIntyre and Underwood hit back-to-back homers in the sixth.
Freshman hurler Chris Toneguzzi improved to 2-0 with the win with five innings on the mound. Toneguzzi yielded two runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out two in his second career start for the Old Gold and Black.
Purdue wasted little time jumping ahead of Miami, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Klink singled up the middle with one out and moved to second on a groundout to third base. brad Kriner and Ben Fritz were hit by pitches to load the bases for Mitch Koester, who drew an RBI walk. With the bases still full, Andy Rempel's single through the left side of the infield plated two runs.
The RedHawks countered with a run in the third on a walk, a double and a sacrifice fly to draw the score to 3-1. Purdue, however, would have an answer of its own.
In the bottom half of the third, Klink ripped a two-out double to left and scored on a double by Eric Wolfe, also to left field. The one run put the Boilermaker lead back to three, and a Purdue outburst in the fourth would blow the game open.
Fritz opened the fourth inning with a bunt single and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Koester. Rempel's single to right advanced Fritz to third, from which he would score on John Manuel's basehit to right. A double steal with two outs brought up Underwood, who drove an opposite-field home run over the right field wall for a three-run shot and a 8-1 Purdue lead. The Boilermakers added one more run when Klink drove the second pitch he saw over the fence in right-center.
Miami plated its second, and final, run of the contest in the fifth inning on a Michael Carlin home run to left field. Two singles after the long ball went for naught when Toneguzzi coaxed a groundout to second base to end the inning.
In the home portion of the sixth, McIntyre joined the home run parade with his seond of the year, a shot over to left-center field. Not to be out-done, Underwood followed suite with a home run to left, his second of the game.
Leading 11-1, the Boilermakers tacked on one more run in the seventh. Kriner started the when he lofted a fly ball that fell near the right field line for a two-base hit. A ground ball advanced Kriner to third and Koester ripped a single to right field to drive in the final run of the game.
Underwood was 2-5 on the day with two home runs and four RBI. Klink and Rempel each had three hits on the afternoon, as the Boilermakers collected 15 basehits as a team. Klink was 3-3 with three runs scored while Rempel was 3-5 with two RBI. Each of the nine Purdue starters in the batting order had at least one hit in the game.
Miami had won the opening game of the series on Friday in Oxford, Ohio, by a 7-3 score. The Boilermakers evened the series on Saturday in Oxford, 9-8.
Purdue returns to the road for two midweek games before opening Big Ten action next weekend. The Boilermakers travel to Terre Haute to play Indiana State on Tuesday. A game time has not been determined. On Wednesday, Purdue takes on Notre Dame in South Bend at 5 p.m.
The Big Ten season opens at Lambert Field on Friday at 3 p.m. with the first of four games against Penn State.