May 22, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Mitch Koester ripped the game-winning hit in the seventh and Chris Toneguzzi pitched a complete, boosting Purdue to a 2-1 win over Indiana at Lambert Field on Saturday to secure a spot in the 2004 Big Ten Tournament.
Toneguzzi (Thunder Bay, Ontario) struck out six batters and limited the Hoosiers to four hits in his first complete-game effort of the season. Normally the Game Four starter during a Big Ten weekend, the sophomore righthander got the call on Saturday and responded with his second career complete game and retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced.
With the score knotted at 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Koester (Effingham, Ill.) turned on a 3-1 offering from IU's Adam Pegg and placed in within two feet of the left field line to score Eric Wolfe (Toronto, Ontario) from third with the winning run. The RBI was Koester's 35th of the season, taking over the team lead in that category.
Wolfe opened the seventh with a single through the right side of the Hoosier infield, just out of the reach of a diving Jay Brant. A sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher by Andy Dahl (Fair Oaks, Calif.) moved Wolfe to second and a wild pitch allowed the Boilermaker first baseman to advance to third, setting up Koester's game-winning knock.
Purdue took an early lead with a run in the third inning on a single between third and short by Ben Fritz (Minnetonka, Minn.), scoring Mike Coles (Hammond, Ind.) from third. Coles led off the frame with a walk and moved to third on consecutive wild pitches from Indiana starter Chris Behrens.
The Hoosiers tied the score the following inning on an unearned run as Kevin Mahar's sacrifice fly to deep center pushed Seth Bynum home from third. Bynum had reached base on a error and moved around the base paths on double to left by Joe Kemp.
The win improved Toneguzzi to 5-3 on the season, and moved Purdue 27-26 overall and 16-14 in the Big Ten. Indiana fell to 25-29 on the year, 9-21 in conference, and dropped Pegg to 3-4.
The 2004 Big Ten Tournament site is still to be determined, as Minnesota and Ohio State are playing this weekend for the regular season championships. Should Minnesota win one of the remaining three games in the series, the Golden Gophers will play host to the tournament. Ohio State can win the conference title and move the Big Ten Tournament to Columbus if the Buckeyes win all three remaining games.