April 22, 2003
VALPARAISO, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team won its fifth consecutive non-conference game on Tuesday, defeating Valparaiso 5-1 in Valparaiso, Ind., at Emory G. Bauer Field. The Boilermakers out-hit the Crusaders 10-3 in the game to sweep the two-game season series, having won the contest in West Lafayette one week prior to today's game.
With the win, the Boilermakers improve to 22-15 while the Crusaders drop to 9-23-1.
Purdue used four pitchers in the three-hit performance, with Trae Dauby picking up his first win of the season. Dauby (1-0) pitched 3.1 innings and allowed one run on one hit while striking out three. Purdue started with Daniel Underwood on the mound, and the senior hurled the opening 2.0 innings and allowed one hit with two strikeouts.
The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning when Purdue broke through against Valpo's second pitcher of the game, Kyle Nelson. Simon Klink opened the inning with a double down the right field line and scored on the next pitch when Ben Fritz laced a two-base hit into the gap in right-center. John Hunter singled through the right side of the infield to move Fritz up 90 feet, and Brad Kriner lofted a sacrifice fly into right to score the Boilermakers' second run.
The Crusaders answered in the bottom of the fifth, cutting the Purdue lead in half. With one out, Kevin Kutansky was hit by a Dauby pitch and advanced to second on a groundout to second baseman Nick McIntyre. Caleb Kimmel followed with a single up the middle just beyond the reach of a diving Mitch Koester to score the lone Valpo run of the game.
The Boilermakers added three insurance runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Andy Rempel singled down the line at third base and promptly stole second and third. An RBI single by Tyler Johnstone scored Rempel and made the score 3-1. Johnstone added to the stolen base party for the Boilermakers, swiping second before a groundout moved him to third. Underwood singled to right-center to drive home Johnstone and moved to second on a fielding error by the right fielder. Klink picked up his second hit of the day with a single to center that scored Underwood with the game's final run.
Joining Underwood and Dauby in the Purdue pitching effort were Josh Herman with 2.2 innings of no-hit ball and three strikeouts, and Dustin Glant, who pitched the final inning with two strikeouts while yielding a single.
John Hunter continued his torrid hitting, going 3-4 at the plat with a double. In the last four games, Hunter has batted 10-12 with four doubles, two runs scored and eight RBI. Simon Klink and Ben Fritz each had two hits with a run and RBI. For the game, the Boilermaker 4-5-6 hitters (Klink, Fritz, Hunter) had seven of Purdue's 10 hits in 12 at-bats.
Purdue also ran wild on the basepaths, stealing seven bases against the Crusaders. Tyler Johnstone, Nick McIntyre and Andy Rempel each had two steals while Klink added the seventh. Rempel leads the Boilermakers and the Big Ten this season with 19 successful swipes in 23 attempts.
Purdue returns to the friendly confines of Lambert Field for a Wednesday afternoon game, a 3 p.m. start, against Xavier.