April 23, 2006
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Boilermakers opened with a Neal Gorka two-run home run and closed with a Gorka two-run double, and got a quality start on the hill from Ricky Heines in a 10-5 win over the Michigan Wolverines in Sunday's Big Ten series finale.
The win gives Purdue a 21-14 overall record and an 8-8 mark in the Big Ten Conference, tied for fourth in the league at the midway point in the conference season.
Neal Gorka went 2-4 at the plate with a run scored and four RBI. The senior right fielder has prospered in Big Ten Sunday games this season, batting .412 with three home runs and 14 RBI in four games.
Junior starting pitcher Ricky Heines (4-0) picked up the win, his third during the Big Ten season. Heines went six innings on the hill, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts.
Senior closer Chris Toneguzzi locked up the win with a scoreless ninth inning on the mound, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Toneguzzi has now fanned 32 batters in 21 1/3 innings of work.
Michigan hoped to start the game with a run in the first as Eric Rose reached base to lead off the game with a walk. However, the speedy junior was cut down on the base paths when freshman catcher Eric Nielsen threw Rose out trying to swipe second base. Nielsen, making his first collegiate start, would gun down Rose again in the third for just the seventh time Rose has been thrown out this season against 20 successful steals.
Purdue got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second when Gorka turned on an offering from Michigan starter Andrew Hess and drove it over the left field wall and into the Rankin Track Complex for a two-run home run. Gorka's blast, his team-leading sixth of the season and fourth in eight games, scored John Hunter before him.
In the home half of the third, Purdue picked up an RBI single from Eric Wolfe, which scored his brother Dane Wolfe from third, and a run-scoring single from John Hunter that plated Mitch Hilligoss with Purdue's fourth run of the game.
The four-run lead was cut in half by the Wolverines in the fourth inning. Michigan loaded the bases with no one out against Heines, and then scored their first run of the contest on a walk. A sacrifice fly by designated hitter Adam Abraham made the score 4-2, but the Wolverines would get no closer as Heines coaxed A.J. Scheidt into a 4-6-3 double play.
A response from the Boilermakers was immediate as Purdue plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Dane Wolfe doubled to left-center to score Eric Osborn, who led off the inning with a single. A sacrifice bunt by John Cummins set up Eric Wolfe, whose two-run base hit drove in Hilligoss and Dane Wolfe. Adam Abraham came out of the Michigan bullpen and surrendered a single to Hunter and a base hit to Ryne White, scoring Eric Wolfe and putting Purdue up 8-2.
Michigan struck for three runs off Purdue reliever Trae Dauby in the seventh inning and had the tying run at the plate, by pinch hitter Zach Putnam grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
In the bottom of the eighth, Eric Wolfe walked and White was hit by a pitch, bringing Gorka to the plate with two on and two out. The senior doubled down the line on a 3-2 pitch from Ben Jenzen, scoring both runners and drawing a balls-and-strikes arguement from Wolverine assistant coach Bob Keller, a dispute that ended with the coach's ejection from the game.
Toneguzzi came out of the Purdue pen for the ninth inning, blowing fastballs past Doug Pickens and Derek VanBuskirk for the first two outs, and then getting a grounder to short from Nate Recknagel to end the game.
For the Boilermakers, White and the Wolfe brothers joined Gorka with two-hit performances. Eric Wolfe scored twice and drove in three, with Dane Wolfe crossed the plate two times and drove in one. Hilligoss, the Big Ten's runs-scored leader, scored two more times, his 44th and 45th runs of the season.
Purdue has a full week this upcoming week, beginning with a Tuesday evening game at Notre Dame, a 6:05 p.m.start that will be broadcast on ESPN-U. The Boilermakers return to Lambert Field for a 4 p.m. game vs. Valparaiso on Wednesday, and then travel to Columbus next weekend for four games with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
All six games this week are slated for radio broadcast on AM 1410 WLAS in the Lafayette area, and on the web at www.purduesports.com