April 20, 2003
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Purdue offense came to life in a big way in the nightcap of an Easter doubleheader against Iowa, posting a 18-6 win over the Hawkeyes to claim the shortened Big Ten series. The 18 runs put on the scoreboard by the Boilermakers are a season high, eclipsing the former best of 16 scored against Kentucky on March 7.
The win for the Boilermakers pushed Purdue back above the .500-mark in Big Ten play with an 8-7 record, 21-15 overall. Iowa dipped to 3-12 in conference action and 10-19 overall.
Freshman John Hunter, a local product out of Harrison High School in West Lafayette, set an individual season high for the Boilermakers with seven RBI in the game. Daniel Underwood drove home six runs against Ball State on April 2 of this year.
Purdue outhit the Hawkeyes in the game 20-12, including six doubles. The six two-base hits tied a single-game high this season, first accomplished against Sacred Heart on March 2 and repeated on March 16 vs. Middle Tennessee State.
Iowa jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning on an RBI single to left by Nate Yaho that scored Kyle Thousand from third. Thousand had been walked to lead off the inning, stole second and moved to third on a flyball to right.
John Hunter doubled in the home half of the second to score two runs and give the Boilermakers a 2-1 lead. The drive to right-center field plated John Manuel, who reached on a fielder's choice, and Tyler Johnstone, who singled to left.
With two pitches thrown in the third by Iowa starter Cory Hollenhorst, the Boilermakers had runners at first and third on a double by Andy Rempel and a single from Nick McIntyre. Nick Jensen relieved Hollenhorst on the hill and was greeted by a lined double over the right fielder's head to plate Remple and advance McIntyre to third. Two pitches later, Simon Klink grounded a ball just inside the chalk down the right field line for the third Purdue double of the inning, driving home two more runs and upping the Boilermaker lead to 5-1. Ben Fritz followed with his own two-base hit to score Klink, and Manuel was hit by a pitch to give the Boilermakers two runners on base. A sacrifice bunt attempt by Johnstone was mishandled by first baseman Mike Best to load the bases for Hunter, who joined the third inning double parade with a shot to center that cleared the bases, chasing Jensen from the mound in favor of Andrew Hansen. A wild pitch moved Hunter up 90 feet and Rempel hit a laser up the middle for an RBI single and a 10-1 Purdue lead. When the inning came to an end, Purdue had put up eight runs on seven hits including five doubles.
Iowa responded with a run in the bottom of the third, but threatened for much more. Back-to-back-to-back singles to begin the inning built for a promising Hawkeye inning, but Underwood threw behind the runner at second on the third hit to nail the runner off the bag. With one down, Yoho was caught stealing on an attempt at second with Thousand scoring from third. Purdue hurler Scott Byrnes struckout Mike Best to end the inning and push the game to the fourth with a 10-2 Purdue lead.
Fritz started the fourth with a single to second base and Manuel walked to bring up Johnstone. Johnstone singled towards third and all runners moved along another 90 feet on a throwing error by third baseman Chris Steele. Hunter followed with an RBI single through the left side of the infield, his sixth run-batted-in in the contest. Mitch Koester walked to load the bases and force Hansen from the Hawkeye hill for Chris Maliszewski. The new pitcher hit Rempel with a pitch to score Johnstone from third and up the Boilermaker advantage to 13-2. A long flyball by Underwood was caught on the warning track in deep right-center, but aggressive baserunning by the Boilermakers allowed Hunter to score from second and Koester from second. Rempel moved to third on the play when a throw home from the Iowa shortstop sailed over the catcher's head. Maliszewski was tossed from the game by home plate umpire Jon Garlits after the play for words said in the direction of the Purdue dugout and was replaced by Brent Jackson, who was able to end the inning with the score 15-2.
Iowa pushed across a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Lytle, scoring Brian Bucklin from second with the Hawkeyes' third run of the game.
Purdue tied the season-high run output in the fifth with 16 runs on an RBI fielder's choice by Koester, scoring Fritz from third. Fritz had reached base on a single and advanced around to third after a walk to Manuel and a hit-by-pitch to Hunter.
Yoho gave the run scored by Purdue in the fifth back to the Hawkeyes, taking the first offering from Byrnes in the home half of the inning over the right-center field wall for his second home run of the season. A one-out single by Lance Guyer came around to score on a basehit to center off the bat of Bucklin.
In the top of the seventh against the sixth Hawkeye pitcher in the form of Aaron Reasland, singles by Fritz and Johnstone gave Hunter a shot at his seventh RBI of the season. The freshman came through with a single through the right side of the infield. Rempel followed with a basehit through the left side to score Johnstone with the 18th run of the game for the Boilermakers.
The Hawkeyes pushed across a single run in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Andy Cox off Purdue reliever Dustin Glant to close the scoring.
Scott Byrners (2-3) was the recipient of the offensive barage put up by the Boilermakers. Byrnes tossed five innings, allowing five runs on nine hits while striking out six. Trae Dauby and Dustin Glant closed the game for the Boilermakers. The loss went to Cory Hollenhorst of Iowa, who yielded four runs on six hits in 2.0+ innings of work.
Five Boilermakers had three or more hits in the game, led by 4-4 afternoons by John Hunter and Ben Fritz. Andy Rempel, Daniel Underwood and Tyler Johnstone each collected three hits. Joining Hunter's seven RBI game were Rempel and Underwood, each with three runs driven in. Fritz and Johnstone led the Old Gold and Black with four runs scored.
Purdue stays on the road for a Tuesday game at Valparaiso at 3 p.m. before returning to Lambert Field for a 3 p.m. contest on Wednesday against Xavier. The Boilermakers will host Ohio State in Big Ten action next weekend.