March 16, 2005
BEAUMONT, Texas - Purdue chased Lamar starter John Ross Ramirez from the game after three innings, but four relievers held the Boilermakers scoreless the rest of the way in the Cardinals' 7-2 win at Vincent-Beck Stadium. Purdue was limited to five hits in the game, two of which came off the bat of shortstop Mitch Hilligoss.
Purdue jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. With one out, Andy Dahl dropped a bunt down the third base line which he beat out for a single. Hilligoss followed by driving the first pitch he saw to the wall in left-center field for an RBI double. Hilligoss, who went 2-for-2 and drew a pair of walks, has hit safely in all 11 games this season.
Lamar took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the second. Jo Jo Haney drove home the Cardinals' first run with a single to right field, and Matt Lambeth doubled down the line in left to make it 2-1. Lamar's third run of the inning came home on a passed ball.
In the top half of the third, Purdue cut Lamar's lead to one after Hilligoss drew a four-pitch walk, stole second base, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Eric Osborn then connected for a double driving Hilligoss home.
Purdue starter Jay Buente silenced the Cardinal bats over the next four innings of the game, allowing just one more hit until surrendering solo home runs to Will Henderson and Jeremy Gray in the seventh. The home runs made the score 5-2 in favor of Lamar. The Cardinals added two more runs in the seventh, pushing the score to 7-2.
Buente (0-2) totaled a career-high 6+ innings, yielding four earned runs on eight hits. The junior hurler recorded seven stikeouts and allowed just one walk. Brian Shallock (1-0) earned the win in relief for Lamar by throwing two innings in which he allowed one hit, struck out one, and walked none.
With the victory, Lamar improved its record to 15-7. Purdue, now 1-10, will look to snap its eight-game skid this weekend against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. In a change from the weekend's original schedule, the Boilermakers and Islanders will play a single game on Friday and conclude their series with a double header on Saturday. All games will be played at Fairgrounds Field in Robstown, Texas.