May 12, 2003
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team could not build on the momentum from Sunday's 30-run outburst in two games, dropping the second game of Monday's double header 4-2 to Indiana at Sembower Field. The Boilermakers lost the day's opener 14-5.
With the defeat, Purdue falls to 25-25 overall and 10-17 in Big Ten play, while the Hoosiers improved to 31-19 and 14-14 in league action.
For the fourth time in the four game series, the Boilermakers opened the scoring with a run in the first inning. Tyler Johnstone began the game with a single and Andy Rempel doubled to left-center to move Johnstone to third. An RBI groundout by Daniel Underwood drove him Johnstone with the game's first run.
The 1-0 advantage was short-lived as Indiana answered with three runs in the home half of the first. With the bases loaded on a single and two hit-by-pitches, Nick Evans doubled to left-center to score all three baserunners and give the Hoosiers a 3-1 lead.
Purdue pulled to within one run in the third, scoring a single run to make the score 3-2 Indiana. Rempel led off the frame with his second hit of the game, a single up the middle. After a single to right by Simon Klink moved Rempel to third, Ben Fritz hit into a fielder's choice to plate Rempel with the Boilermakers' second run of the game.
The Hoosiers again responded to the Boilermaker offense, scoring a run in the bottom of the third to rebuild their two-run lead. An RBI double by Seth Bynum drove home Evans, who reached base with a one-out single.
With the score 4-2 Indiana, the series saw something that it had not seen in the previous three games - a string of zeroes on the scoreboard for both teams. After the third inning, Purdue did not score over its final four at-bats, while Indiana went without a run over their final three.
Luke Howard (3-3) was hit with the loss after surrendering four runs through 4.0 innings of work. Dustin Glant pitched the final two innings of scoreless ball for the Boilermakers.
Andy Rempel and Mitch Koester each had two-hit performances, Rempel going 2-4 at the plate with a run while Koester was 2-3.
The loss dropped Purdue back to 3.5 games behind the Hoosiers for the final spot in the Big Ten Tournament. In order for the Boilermakers to reach postseason play, they need to sweep the four-game series against Michigan in West Lafayette next weekend and have Northwestern sweep four games from Indiana in Bloomington.
Purdue is back in action at home on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in the non-conference regular season game of the year, playing host to Eastern Illinois.