May 28, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - A shaky start, an exciting middle and a controversial end made up the last game of the 2004 season as the Purdue baseball team was defeated by the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Big Ten Tournament at Siebert Field, 6-4.
The Boilermakers end their season with a record of 29-28, barely missing the third 30-win season of head coach Doug Schreiber's career at Purdue.
Ohio State scored five runs in the first two innings in Purdue's shaky start in the elimination game. Boilermaker starter Chris Toneguzzi (Thunder Bay, Ontario) retired the first two batters of the game before surrendering four hits and a walk to the next five batters, giving OSU a 4-0 lead.
The Buckeyes made it 5-0 in the second on three singles off Toneguzzi, chasing the Purdue sophomore from the mound.
Purdue fought back with two two-out runs in the third inning to draw to within three. With two down, Mike Coles (Hammond, Ind.) tripled to right past a diving Jacob Howell and was followed by a hit-by-pitch to Mitch Hilligoss (Windsor, Ill.). Back-to-back RBI singles by Simon Klink (Auburn, Ind.) and John Hunter (West Lafayette, Ind.) got the Boilermakers on the scoreboard against Buckeye pitcher Dan DeLucia.
With Dan Sattler (West Lafayette, Ind.) now on the mound for Purdue, OSU stayed quiet from the third inning through the seventh, allowing the Old Gold and Black the opportunity to gain momentum.
In the sixth inning, Klink led off with a base hit to left and Ben Fritz (Minnetonka, Minn.) made the most of his opportunity in his home state by lining a shot over the right-centerfield wall for a two-run homer, his fourth long ball of the season.
OSU got one insurance run in the eighth inning when Paul Faranacci lifted a home run over the centerfield wall, narrowly avoiding the glove of Coles' leap against the outfield wall.
The controversy hit the game in the bottom of the ninth inning when Eric Wolfe (Toronto, Ontario) lined an apparent single in front of OSU left fielder Steve Caravati. However, after looking for help from another member of the umpiring crew and not receiving any, the third base umpire ruled that Caravati had caught the ball and signalled Wolfe out on the play, generating an arguement from head coach Doug Schreiber.
Eric Osborn (Fishers, Ind.) followed the hit-that-wasn't with a single to right-center, but was stranded on first to end the game.
In seven innings of relief work by Sattler, the redshirt freshman allowed just four hits and struck out a career-high ten batters. Toneguzzi (5-4) was hit with the loss while DeLucia (3-3) got the win.
In their final games in the old gold and black, Klink was 2-4 at the plate with a run scored and one driven in, Fritz was 1-4 with the two-run bomb, and Mitch Koester (Effingham, Ill.) was 0-4.
With 29 wins, Purdue ends the 2004 season with the same win total the team had in 2003. Purdue's win on Wednesday afternoon in the opening game of the tournament was the Boilermakers' first tournament victory since 2000.