April 4, 2004
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Boilermaker baseball opened the flood gates on Sunday and Penn State pitching was unable to stop the flow of runs as Purdue dominated the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten series finale, 18-2, at Beaver Field. Purdue pounded out 19 hits, including three home runs and seven doubles, en route to a season-high run total.
The Boilermakers evened their conference reocrd at 2-2 with the win and are now 11-12 overall. Penn State is now 12-11 after the loss.
Sophomore pitcher Trae Dauby (Dale, Ind.) recorded his second win, pitching 5.1 innings of relief without yielding a hit. Dauby (2-0) struck out four batters and walked three. Freshman reliever Andrew Groves (North Liberty, Ind.) picked up his first collegiate save, tossing the final 3.0 innings without allowing a base hit.
Purdue opened the game with a two-run first inning on three hits. Junior outfielder Mike Coles (Hammond, Ind.) led off the game with a double down the left field line and moved to third on a ground out. Senior catcher Ben Fritz (Minnetonka, Minn.) put the Boilermakers on the scoreboard with a home run to center, his third homer of the season.
The Nittany Lions wasted little time to respond, plating two runs in the home half of the first off Purdue starter Chris Toneguzzi (So., Thunder Bay, Ontario). Two singles, a walk and a wild pitch resulted in Penn State's two spot and removed Toneguzzi from the mound in favor of Dauby.
Purdue unleashed its barage of runs in the third with five runs on four hits. Coles led off with a single and was followed by a base hit by freshman Mitch Hilligoss (Windsor, Ill.) and a walk to Fritz that loaded the bases. Sophomore John Hunter (DH, West Lafayette, Ind.) laced a doubled into right center for two runs and sophomore first baseman Eric Wolfe (Toronto, Ontario) lofted a sacrifice fly to left to score Fritz with the third run of the inning. After Hunter moved to third on a fly ball, freshman second baseman Eric Osborn (Fishers, Ind.) walked to force PSU starter John Palm from the game. Osborn greeted new hurler stole second to set up a two-RBI single by junior outfielder Andy Dahl (Fair Oaks, Calif.).
The Boilermakers blew the game open in the fifth, scoring nine runs to build a commanding 16-2 lead. Wolfe drilled a shot to deep center that was misplayed for a three-base error and scored when senior third baseman Simon Klink (Auburn, Ind.) doubled to left. Klink was pushed home by a single from Osborn, and Dahl followed with a base hit that forced a pitching change, the third PSU hurler of the day. Koester welcomed Alan Stidfole to the game by drilling the first pitcher from the southpaw over the left field wall for his third home run of the season and second of the weekend, a three-run blast. With five runs in during the frame, Coles got the Boilermakers started again with a single and Fritz walked to bring Hunter to the plate. Hunter promptly deposited a 1-0 offering into the parking lot beyond left field, a shot that traveled some 450+ feet. The inning did not stop there, as Wolfe doubled to left and Klink and Osborn walked to load the bases for Dahl. Dahl coaxed an RBI base on balls from Aaron Markowitz, Penn State's third pitcher of the inning, to complete the inning's scoring.
Leading 16-2, Purdue added a single run in the sixth and another in the eighth to cap the afternoon's scoring effort. In the sixth, Hilligoss' sacrifice fly scored Coles from third after Coles led off the inning with a two-base hit and advanced 90-feet on a wild pitch. The eighth inning opened in a familiar fashion as Coles doubled for the third time of the game. After moving to third on a Hilligoss fly ball, Coles scored when Frtiz' grounder to third was thrown away.
The 18-2 win marked the most runs scored in a game by the Boilermakers since defeating Indiana 20-4 last May, and the 16-run margin of victory tied the 20-4 win over Indiana as the most lopsided victory since Purdue defeated IUPUI on April 25, 2000, by 22 runs (27-5).
Coles ruled at the plate, batting 5-for-7 with five runs scored at three doubles. Wolfe added two doubles in his 3-for-4 performance, while Hunter clipped five RBI and Dahl and Koester added three RBI each.
Purdue returns to Lambert Field next weekend for a four-game Big Ten series against defending conference tournament champion Ohio State beginning with a 3PM game on Friday, April 9. The Buckeyes opened Big Ten action by winning three out of four games at home against Illinois.