May 22, 2004
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - In a season filled with nerve-wrenching contests and thrilling victories, Andy Dahl provided the thrill in the bottom of the seventh to give the Purdue Boilermakers a 2-1 victory over rival Indiana at Lambert Field in Saturday's double header nightcap.
The game was tied in the home half of the seventh with two outs, in a contest that saw a total of six hits, and Dahl (Fair Oaks, Calif.) stepped to the plate against IU's Steve Nielsen and blasted a 1-2 pitch into the netting above the left field wall for a game-winning walkoff home run. Indiana out-hit Purdue for the game, 4-3.
Dahl's blast gave Boilermaker starting pitcher Brian Karpel (Lakewood, Ohio) a complete-game victory, the second complete game tossed by Purdue hurlers on the afternoon. Karpel allowed only an unearned run on four hits, striking out six Hoosier hitters.
Purdue's victory over the Hoosiers locks up a championship in the Titan Series, the year-long athletics competition between Purdue and Indiana. With each sport awarded one point for a series win, the Boilermakers' guaranteed at least one-half point in baseball. Purdue entered the weekend with a one-point advantage in the overall Titan Series standings.
The Boilermaker runs were bookends for the game as Purdue grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning. With one down, Mitch Hilligoss (Windsor, Ill.) singled through the right side of the infield and moved around the bases back to home on a hit-by-pitch to Simon Klink (Auburn, Ind.), a walk to Eric Wolfe (Toronto, Ontario), and an RBI free pass drawn by Spencer Ingaldson (Rapid City, S.D.).
Indiana answered the first Purdue run with a score in the second inning. With Corby Heckman on first and Joe Kemp standing on second, a passed ball allowed each runner to move up 90 feet. Ryan Parker followed with a ground ball to second that brought Kemp home with the unearned run. It would be the only run surrendered by Karpel.
After the second inning, Karpel allowed only one Hoosier to reach second base for the remainder of the game, giving Dahl his opportunity to bring the Purdue crowd to its collective feet.
The win was the second 2-1 victory for Purdue over Indiana on the afternoon, with both games being won in the Boilermakers' final at-bat.
With a 7-2 Minnesota win over Ohio State on Saturday, Purdue knows it will be travelling to Minneapolis next week to compete in the 2004 Big Ten Tournament. However, before the Boilermakers load the bus for the trek to Minnesota, they will take the field at Lambert for one final game against the Indiana Hoosiers. First pitch for the series finale is slated for 1 p.m.