April 6, 2003
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team swept a doubleheader with the Illinois Fighting Illini on Sunday, claiming the Big Ten series at Lambert Field. The Boilermakers defeated the Illini 7-6 and 4-3, giving Purdue three conference wins on the weekend.
The twinbill sweep evened Purdue's conference record at 4-4, and improved its overall mark to 14-12. Illinois is now 14-9 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten action.
A combination of solid defense, timely hitting and a gutsy pitching performance by a true freshman sparked the Boilermakers to the wins. The series win is the first for Purdue in Big Ten play in the last seven series, dating back to last season. The last time Purdue took three games from a conference foe was April 13-14, 2002, against Northwestern.
The series looked like it might be in jeopardy right from the start on Sunday, as Illinois built a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second inning of game one. A two-RBI single in the first inning by Dusty Bensko and RBI basehits in the second by Andy Schutzenhofer and Drew Davidson built the Illini lead.
Purdue broke onto the scoreboard in the second after Simon Klink led off the inning with a walk. Ben Fritz singled up the middle and Tyler Johnstone singled to right to drive Klink in from second with the Boilermakers' first run of the game.
With one out in the bottom of the third, Nick McIntyre continued his power streak by hitting a the first pitch of the at-bat over the right field wall. The home run was McIntyre's fourth of the series, seventh in five games, and ninth of the season.
Purdue inched closer in the fourth inning with another run, making the score 4-3 Illinois. John Manuel singled with one down and Johnstone bunted for a basehit. Eric Wolfe collected an infield hit to load the bases for Mitch Koester, who hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Manuel.
The Boilermakers grabbed the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run outburst. McIntyre drew a base on balls and Underwood was hit by a pitch, forcing Illinois starter Josh Lane from the hill. Klink layed down a sacrifice bunt to third, and the ball was thrown away by Illini third baseman Bensko, allowing Klink to move to second, Underwood to third and McIntyre to score the tying run. Fritz shot a single up the middle to drive home the two baserunners and give Purdue a 6-4 lead.
Illinois fought back in the sixth with two runs on back-to-back RBI doubles by Schutzenhofer and Davidson, tying the score at 6-6.
With one out in the home half of the seventh, Fritz doubled to right field for his third hit of the game. Manuel was walked and Brad Kriner singled through the right side of the infield to load the bases. With the Illinois infield playing in to try to cut down the run at home, Wolfe hit a grounder just beyond the reach of the shortstop for the game-winning hit, scoring Fritz from third.
Dustin Glant (2-0) was credited with the win, pitching 1.2 innings of relief. Jason Driscoll ws the Purdue starter, and was relieved by Josh Herman in the second. Herman yielded just one hit in 3.2 innings of work.
Game Two started with the Old Gold and Black grabbing a second inning 2-0 lead. Klink doubled to right-center field before Fritz walked. A passed ball charged to Sean Patrick allowed both runners to move up 90 feet. Johnstone singled up the middle to score Klink and Wolfe popped a sacrifice fly out into left to plate Fritz.
Illinois answered the call with a three run rally in the top of the third inning. Davidson singled to left to get the Illini on the scoreboard and Trevor Frederickson's two-run single to center put the visitors on top, 3-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Purdue was the recipient of some shaky pitching from Illinois' Jimmy Conroy. Wolfe led off the inning with a single and Koester was hit by a pitch to give Purdue runners at first and second. Back-to-back wild pitches from Conroy scored Wolfe and left Koester on third with one out. One out later, a third errant pitch allowed Koester to come home with the winning run.
Chris Toneguzzi (3-1) hurled Purdue's first complete game of the season, tossing seven innings and allowing seven hits. The freshman struck out five batters and walked three.
On the afternoon, Ben Fritz was 4-5 at the plate with two runs scored, two runs batted in and two walks. Eric Wolfe collected three hits in the doubleheader, as did Tyler Johnstone.
Purdue stays at home for a Tuesday afternoon game against IPFW at 3 p.m. The Mastadons will come to West Lafayette with an 11-13-1 record, having swept a four-game series against Chicago State on the efforts of four shutouts.