March 24, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Boilermaker nine scored a 7-6 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats in Purdue's 2004 home opener on Wednesday afternoon at Lambert Field. The win is Purdue's third consecutive in home openers, and the fifth in six seasons under head coach Doug Schreiber.
Purdue draws to 7-8 with the victory while Cincinnati falls to 3-17, losing for the sixth straight game. Purdue is now 8-6 all-time against the Bearcats and has won the last two meetings.
The Bearcats opened the scoring in the top of the first when catcher Steve Pickerell connected for his second home run of the season, a two-run shot off of Purdue starter Jesse Krause (So., Columbia City, Ind.). Purdue didn't wait long to get on the scoreboard, taking the lead with a four-run second inning.
Third baseman Simon Klink (Sr., Auburn, Ind.) singled up the middle to lead off the second and was followed by base hits from right fielder Matt Bush (Jr., Indianapolis, Ind.) and second baseman Eric Osborn (Fr., Fishers, Ind.). Shortstop Mitch Koester (Sr., Effingham, Ill.) plated the first Boilermaker run with a sacrfce fly to right to plate Klink and move Bush to third. A groundout advanced Osborn into scoring position and a single to left by left fielder Mitch Hilligoss (Fr., Windsor, Ill.) drove in two runs. After Hilligoss had moved to second on a throw home following his single, the freshman stole third and scored the fourth run of the inning on a base hit through the left side of the infield by catcher Ben Fritz (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.).
Cincinnati drew closer with a run in the third and tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth, both runs coming on solo home runs. The first was hit by first baseman Jack Nelson, and the second was off the bat of designated hitter Aaron Moll.
The Boilermakers reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the sixth on a safety squeeze by Hiiligoss which scored Koester. Koester had led off the inning with a double to left center and advanced 90-feet on a single by center fielder Mike Coles (Jr., Hammond, Ind.).
The Bearcats jumped ahead with two rus in the seventh on an RBI single by Pickerell and a bases-loaded walk drawn by shortstop Drew Saylor.
The home half of the seventh would produce the final scoring of the game as the Boilermakers brought home two runs to get the win. First baseman Eric Wolfe (So., Toronto, Ontario) doubled down the right field line and went to third on a bunt by Klink. Bush picked up his second single of the game, driving hom Wolfe with the tying run. With two out, Bush stole second base, Koester was hit by a pitch and Coles singled to score Bush with the winning run.
Senior pitcher Jason Driscoll pitched the final 2.1 innings to pick up his first win of the season. Driscoll relieved Krause, who pitched 5.0 innings and allowed three runs, and freshman Andrew Groves, who threw 1.2 innings of relief and yielded three runs.
The loss went to Cincinnati reliever Brad Hunt, who surrendered three runs on five hits in 2.0 innings. Kyle Markle had started on the mound for the Bearcats and was removed after 1.2 innings on the hill, allowing four runs.
Purdue stays at home this weekend with two games against Western Michigan and one vs. Cleveland State. The weekend begins agains the WMU Broncos on Friday at 3 p.m.