May 16, 2004
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Boilermaker baseball team needed a win on Sunday against Iowa and senior Mitch Koester answered the call as Purdue defeated the Hawkeyes 11-7 at Duane Banks Field. With the win, the Boilermakers are 26-25 on the season and 15-13 in the Big Ten, three games ahead of Northwestern for the final spot in the conference tournament.
Koester (Effingham, Ill.) had a career-best afternoon, driving in five runs and scoring three on five hits, all career highs. The five-hit afternoon one-ups his previous best of four done twice before. His five RBI tops a four RBI performance against Middle Tennesse State last season, and the three runs better 21 prior two-run days.
Koester took a hanging curve from Hanson and launched it approximately 350 feet to left for a three-run home run, scoring Eric Osborn (Fishers, Ind.), who walked, and Andy Dahl (Fair Oaks, Calif.), who hopped a double on the chalk down the left field line.
Koester missed a second home run of the game in the fifth inning, doubling midway up the left field wall and scoring Dahl from third base. Dahl drew a two-out free pass, stole second and continued to third base when Iowa second baseman Andy Lytle could not handle the throw on the steal.
The Boilermaker shortstop picked up his career-best fifth RBI in the seventh with a single to center, scoring Osborn from second base. A base hit off the bat of Mike Coles (Hammond, Ind.) followed Koester's RBI with a ribbie of his own as Dahl scampered in from third. Simon Klink (Auburn, Ind.) added to the offensive output in the seventh with a run-scoring single to right that brought Koester in from third with Purdue's 10th run of the game.
Purdue had grabbed the initial lead with a run in the first on a double to left by Klink, plating Coles from second. Coles led off the contest with a single up the middle and moved to second on a ground ball by Mitch Hilligoss (Windsor, Ill.).
The Boilermakers struck again in the fourth inning for two runs. Singles by Koester and Coles and a hit-by-pitch to Hilligoss juiced the bases and Klink charged a into left for a sacrifice fly, scoring Koester. Adouble steal put runners at second and third, and John Hunter (West Lafayette, Ind.) pushed an RBI grounder at shortstop, giving Purdue a 6-1 advantage.
A late push by Iowa gave the Hawkeyes three runs in the eighth inning and three in the ninth to make the score close, but it was too little far too late in the game.
Chris Toneguzzi (Thunder Bay, Ontario) pitched into the seventh inning despite a blister on his pitching hand, picking up his fourth win of the season. The sophomore hurler yielded just one run on four hits in the outting, allowing only two runners to reach second base. Jay Buente (Evansville, Ind.) and Jason Driscoll (Mishawaka, Ind.) finished the game on the hill for Purdue.
Purdue meets rival Indiana next weekend at Lambert Field for the final four-game series of the Big Ten season. First pitch of the series opener is slated for 3 p.m. on Friday.