March 27, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team could not get on the winning end of a hitfest on Friday, so the Boilermakers turned to the pitcher's mound to guide them to a 1-0 win over Cleveland State at Lambert Field on Saturday afternoon.
The win improves Purdue to 8-9 on the season and 2-1 during its five-game homestand. With the loss, Cleveland State drops to 2-10.
Senior starting pitcher Brian Karpel (Lakewood, Ohio) and sophomore hurler Chris Toneguzzi (Thunder Bay, Ontario) combined on a three-hit shutout, the third time Purdue has blanked an opponent this season. Karpel yielded two hits in 6.0 innings for the win, evening his record at 1-1. Toneguzzi recorded his first career save by pitching the final three innings, allowing one hit while striking out four.
Although Cleveland State pitchers were able to limit the Boilermakers to five hits, Purdue was able to group three of those hits together in the first inning to plate one run, the only run of the game.
Junior center fielder Mike Coles (Hammond, Ind.) led off the game for the Boilermakers with a single to left and moved to second when senior backstop Ben Fritz (Minnetonka, Minn.) drew a walk. After Coles was picked off second base by CSU pitcher Dave Boyza, senior third baseman Simon Klink grounded a single through the left side of the infield to advance Fritz to second. Following a failed double steal that saw Fritz get thrown out at third, freshman second baseman Eric Osborn (Fishers, Ind.) connected for his seventh double of the season, lacing the ball down the right field line to drive home Klink from second and give Purdue the 1-0 lead.
The would be all the run support the Boilermaker pitchers would need, as Karpel issued singles in the fourth and sixth innings, but had the base runners removed from the bases via double plays. Toneguzzi would also benefit from a twin killing as the only base runner he allowed, a single in the seventh, would fall victim to a 5-4-3 double play.
In action earlier in the day at Lambert Field, Western Michigan defeated Cleveland State by a 3-1 score.
The weekend concludes on Sunday with two games at Lambert Field. Western Michigan and Cleveland State will meet again beginning at 11AM, and will be followed by a contest between Purdue and WMU. The Purdue game will begin approximately 30 minutes after the completion of the early game.