May 4, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Purdue baseball team was defeated with the two-out hit on Sunday as No. 25 Minnesota completed the four-game sweep of the Boilermakers with a 10-0 win at Siebert Field in Minneapolis.
Eight of the 10 runs scored by the Golden Gophers were done so with two outs in the respective innings, and 12 of Minnesota's 16 hits came with two down.
The loss for Purdue dropped the Boilermakers' record to 23-23 and 8-15 in the Big Ten. The Old Gold and Black have lost eight straight games, all Big Ten contests. Minnesota improved to 31-15 and 19-3 in conference play.
For the fourth time in four games, Minnesota scored in the first inning to take the early lead, and for the third time, it was a 2-0 advantage. An RBI double by Scott Welch followed by a run-scoring single by Gary Dick put the Golden Gophers ahead.
The Gophers struck again in the fifth inning on a two-out single up the middle by Dick that scored Welch from third to make the score 3-0. A liner into right field by David Hrncirik went for three bases, pushing home Dick and David Roach followed with an RBI single to run the score to 5-0 Gophers.
The Boilermakers put the lead runner on base in each of the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but failed to score on each occassion, twice stranding the runner on third base.
In the bottom of the seventh, Dick launched a two-run home run just inside the right field foulpole to up the Minnesota lead to 7-0. The advantage grew to 9-0 one inning later on RBI hits by Welch and Luke MacLean. An RBI single by Jon Becker plated the final run for the Golden Gophers.
Daniel Underwood (0-2) was hit with the loss, yielding five runs in 4.2 innings on eight hits. Luke Howard and Jesse Krause tossed the final 3.1 innings, allowing a combined five runs on eight hits.
Purdue totalled seven hits in the game, led by a 2-3 performance by Tyler Johnstone.
The Boilermakers are off during the week, returning to the diamond next weekend in Bloomington with a four-game series against the Indiana Hoosiers. The series will open with a 3 p.m. game on Saturday and will feature a twinbill on Sunday before concluding on Monday afternoon.