March 17, 2006
SAINT LOUIS, Mo. - The Boilermaker offense knocked out a season-best 18 hits on Friday afternoon in a 7-1 win over the Billikens of Saint Louis at the Billikens Sports Center.
All nine offensive starters collected at least one hit, and six of the nine had multi-hit performances. Eric Wolfe, John Hunter and Ryne White led the Purdue attack with three hits each.
White was 3-5, his first collegiate three-hit game. The game was also the first three-hit game of the season for Wolfe and Hunter.
Jay Buente won for the third time in four starts on the mound, improving to 3-0. Buente pitched 7.0 innings, allowed one run, scattered seven hits, and struck out six. In four starts, Buente has yielded only four earned runs in 30 innings.
Andrew Groves pitched the final two innings of the game, striking out four.
Mitch Hilligoss opened the game by reaching first on an error by SLU shortstop Ziggy Moore and advanced to third on a single by Spencer Ingaldson. A line-drive doubleplay clipped Ingaldson from the base paths before Hunter singled through the left side of the infield for an RBI base hit.
The Billikens tied the score in the bottom of the first three straight two-out singles, the third one being an RBI shot by Tim Landry.
The game didn't remain tied for long as the Boilermakers plated two runs in the visitor's half of the second. Neal Gorka doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning and moved to third on a fly ball to right. John Cummins drove in his first collegiate run with a sacrifice fly, making the score 2-1 Purdue. Dane Wolfe was hit by a pitch and Hilligoss singled to give the Boilermakers two more runners on base in the inning. A base hit by Ingaldson loaded the bases, and Eric Wolfe's single scored his brother, Dane, from third base.
In the fifth inning, White doubled to left-center leading off the inning and moved up 90 feet on a single by Gorka. A fielder's choice off the bat of Cummins forced out Gorka at second, but score White to give Purdue a 4-1 lead.
The Boilermakers extended their lead to 5-1 in the sixth when Eric Wolfe doubled to right with two down and Hunter drove him in with a single.
The hits, and runs, kept coming for Purdue in the seventh inning as White led off the inning with a single to center and advanced to second on a base hit by Eric Osborn. A grounder by Cummins moved both baserunners into scoring position for Dane Wolfe, who singled to center and picked up two RBI.
The win is the fourth in a row for the Boilermakers (7-4). The 7-4 start equals the second-best start for a Doug Schreiber-coached Purdue squad, matching the start of the 2003 season. The best start to seven wins for a Schreiber club came in 2000 when the Boilermakers opened 7-1.
Purdue will look for it's fifth-straight win on Saturday, returning to the Billikens Sports Center to take on Saint Louis at 1:00 PM Central.