March 29, 2003
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team found offense in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, but was unable to piece anything together in the nightcap, splitting the two games with Penn State at Lambert Field. The Boilermakers won Game One 11-6 before falling the second contest 13-3.
Penn State struck first in the first game on Saturday as Mike DeRenzo hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. Purdue would answer with a single run in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to 2-1.
Andy Rempel drew a walk and stole second base before Nick McIntyre walked to give the Boilermakers two base runners. Daniel Underwood flied out to center field, advancing Rempel to third base. With two outs, McIntyre broke for second and drew a throw from PSU catcher Matt Harter. With the throw, McIntyre began retreating to first and Rempel broke for the plate, scoing the Purdue run before McIntyre was tagged out.
Purdue tied the game at 2-2 in the third when Mitch Koester singled to start the inning. Rempel bunted the base runner to second and McIntyre singled to left-center field, scoring Koester with the Boilermakers' second run.
Two runs in the fourth gave Penn State a 4-2 lead, but it would be an advantage that was short lived. Purdue grabbed the lead for good in the home half of the fourth inning with an eight-run outburst.
Singles by Matt Bush and Ben Fritz and a bunt single by Eric Wolfe loaded the bases with no outs, chasing the PSU starting pitcher, Josh Palm, from the mound. Koester greeted new hurler Jared Hopewell with an RBI single and Fritz scored when the Lion left fielder misplayed the ball. Rempel walked to reload the bases and McIntyre singled through the right side of the infield to plate Wolfe and Rempel to make the score 6-4 in favor of the Old Gold and Black. Underwood drew a base on balls to load the bases again and Simon Klink walked to force home another run. Tyler Johnstone grounded into a fielder's choice, forcing Klink out at second but scoring McIntyre from third. Bush, in his second at-bat of the inning, drove a flyball to center to bring home Underwood and give the Boilermakers a 9-4 lead. Fritz doubled to right field to score Johnstone and cap the eight-run inning.
Penn State narrowed the gap to 10-6 in the sixth with two runs, but Purdue would answer right back with a run of its own in the bottom half on the inning. Klink doubled with one out and scored on a Johnstone single to center, giving the Boilermakers an 11-6 win.
Brent Coundron (3-0) would pick up the win in relief of starter Scott Byrnes for Purdue. Coundron came in to pitch in the fifth inning and struck out six batters in two innings, including the first five Lions he faced.
The second game of the afternoon started much the same way as the first two of the weekend series, as Penn State grabbed the lead on a home run. This time, the blast came in the second inning off the bat of Clint Eury. Penn State would add three runs in the top of the third, but Purdue would have an answer in the bottom half of the frame, scoring three runs itself.
Fritz reached on a fielding error by the Penn State shortstop and moved up a base on a passed ball. Koester drew a walk to bring up Rempel, who singled up the middle to score Fritz from second. One out later, Underwood laced a double down the right field line to score Koester and Rempel and pull Purdue to within two runs, 5-3.
That would be as close as the Boilermakers would come. The Nittany Lions added four runs in the fifth and tallied four more runs in the seventh to post a 13-3 win.
Chris Toneguzzi (2-1) was saddled with the loss for Purdue, yielding five runs in just over two innings of work. The freshman allowed six hits and walked two.
The split dropped Purdue to 11-9 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten play, while Penn State improved to 2-1 in conference games and 7-10 this season. The teams will conclude the series on Sunday at noon at Lambert Field.