March 26, 2003
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Purdue Boilermaker baseball team attempted to bounce back from an 8-0 loss on Tuesday when it faced No. 22 Notre Dame in South Bend. However, defensive lapses by the Old Gold and Black and timely hitting by the Irish cost the Boilermakers in an 8-5 loss at Frank Eck Stadium on Wednesday evening.
With the loss, Purdue fell to 10-7 on the season, while the Fighting Irish improved to 13-6.
The Irish broke through first, scoring a single run in the bottom half of the second inning. Javi Sanchez started the inning with a single up the middle and advanced to third on a single through the middle by Matt Macri. Cody Rizzo skied a fly ball to right field that pushed home Sanchez with the game's first run.
Purdue tied the score at 1-1 in the visitor's next at-bat. With two outs, Tyler Johnstone doubled to right-center field and scored one batter later when Nick McIntyre doubled down the left field line, his second two-base hit of the evening.
One inning later, Purdue grabbed a two-run lead after John Hunter began the inning with a one-out grounder that took a bad hop through the Notre Dame shortstop. A passed ball by Sanchez advanced the Boilermaker freshman a base. Andy Rempel's groundball was misplayed at second base, giving the Old Gold and Black runners on the corners with two outs. Catcher Ben Fritz was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Mitch Koester, who singled to left center to plate Hunter and Rempel.
Notre Dame answered in the bottom of the fourth with two runs. Kris Billmaier singled and moved to second on a wild pitch by Purdue hurler Jason Driscoll. A double off the bat of Sanchez scored Billmaier from second to draw the Irish to within one. After a change of pitchers by the Boilermakers, a ground out by Cody Rizzo moved Sanchez to third base. After new Purdue pitcher Trae Dauby hit Steve Andres with a pitch, Sanchez and Andres each advanced a base on a wild pitch with Sanchez scoring Notre Dame's third run of the game.
The Irish grabbed the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning with three runs, two unearned. Sanchez reached base on a throwing error by the Purdue shortstop and moved to second on a single by Macri. A flared single into center field by Rizzo scored Sanchez, and Macri advanced to third on a fielding error in center. Rizzo pushed up to second base on the throw to third base by center fielder Brad Kriner. With runners on second and third and no outs, Craig Cooper hit a groundball to second to score Macri from third and Rizzo was plated one batter later on a safety squeeze by Joe Thaman.
With the Irish leading 6-3, Purdue pulled to within one run in the seventh when Rempel drew a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third on the throwing error by Sanchez. A single up the middle by Ben Fritz scored Rempel from third to make the score 6-4 in favor of Notre Dame. Back-to-back walks to Johnstone and McIntyre loaded the bases, and Fritz scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Daniel Underwood.
Notre Dame stretched its one-run lead to three in the bottom of the eighth. Three bases on balls, an RBI groundout and a single added the insurance runs for the Irish.
The loss for the Boilermakers was credited to Matt Skripsky (0-1), who yielded three runs, one earned, in one inning of work. For the Irish, Tyler Jones piched up the win with one inning pitched. J.P. Gagne pitched the ninth inning for his fourth save of the season.
Offensively for the Boilermakers, Tyler Johnstone and Nick McIntyre each had two-hit games. Mitch Koester drove in two runs on a single and Andy Rempel scored twice.
Purdue opens Big Ten Conference action on Friday at home against Penn State. The opening game of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Lambert Field.