April 18, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Purdue Nine evened the weekend at Rocky Miller Park with an 11-4 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats in the Big Ten series finale. The Boilermakers are now 6-6 in the conference and 15-17 overall.
Purdue pounded Northwestern pitching for 16 hits in the seven-run victory, including two home runs and three doubles.
The Boilermaker offense wasted little time grabbing a lead, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. Mitch Hilligoss (Windsor, Ill.) drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch by Northwestern starter George Kontos. A single by Ben Fritz (Minnetonka, Minn.) drove home Hilligoss with the game's first run, but the senior catcher was thrown out at second trying to extend his base hit into a two-bagger. John Hunter (West Lafayette, Ind.) destroyed the first pitch he saw from Kontos, connecting on an estimated 430-foot home run to left. Eric Wolfe (Toronto, Ontario) singled through the right side of the infield and advnaced 90-feet on a wild pitch. Back-to-back doubles by Simon Klink (Auburn, Ind.) and Eric Osborn (Fishers, Ind.) drove home runs in the persons of Wolfe and Klink, respectively, to cap the inning's scoring.
Purdue scored a single run in the second when Mitch Koester (Effingham, Ill.) scored from third on a wild pitch, the third of the afternoon by Kontos.
In the top of the third inning, Koester doubled down the left field line, driving home Osborn from third and Andy Dahl (Fair Oaks, Calif.) from first, forcing Kontos from the mound. Osborn reached base after being hit by a pitch, and Dahl was at first after coaxing a walk.
With a 7-0 lead, the Old Gold and Black scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Hunter led off with a hit-by-pitch and went to second on a single by Wolfe. Both runners moved up a base on a passed ball, and a wild pitch by Julio Siberio allowed Hunter to score from third. Singles by Koester and Hilligoss in the fifth resulted in the ninth Purdue run, as Hilligoss' base hit pushed home Koester from second.
The Wildcats broke through Purdue starter Chris Toneguzzi (Thunder Bay, Ontario) for an unearned run in the fifth inning. Two Boilermaker errors and a sacrifice fly allowed Caleb Fields to score Northwestern's first run. Toneguzzi (2-2) pitched 7.0 innings in the game, striking out a career-high eight batters.
Northwestern scored three times in the home half of the eighth inning on a walk and four consecutive singles. RBI singles by Jon Mikrut and Mark Ori and a sacrifice fly by Anthony Wycklendt made the score 9-4 in favor of the Boilermakers.
Purdue got a run back in the top of the ninth on a solo home run off the bat of Osborn, his third round tripper of the season. Dahl followed with a single, stole second, and scored the Boilermakers' 11th run on a single to right-center by Koester.
Koester led the offensive attack of the Boilermakers with four hits, including one double, while scoring two runs and driving in three. Wolfe added three hits in the effort, while Fritz and Osborn chipped in two hits each.
With the victory, the Boilermakers remain two games behind Big Ten leader Ohio State. The Buckeyes are 8-4 in conference play, while four teams are log-jammed in second place with 7-5 marks, including Michigan State, who comes to Lambert Field next weekend.
Purdue returns to nonconference action with a trip to South Bend on Tuesday for a 5PM game with Notre Dame, then takes to Lambert Field on Wednesday at 3PM vs. Indiana State.