May 21, 2006
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Boilermakers dropped the regular-season finale on Sunday to the Northwestern Wildcats 14-9 at Lambert Field, but all was not lost as the Boilermakers began making plans for the Big Ten Tournament.
Purdue opens play in the tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich., vs. Ohio State on Wednesday.
In Sunday's contest, teh Boilermakers fell behind right away as Northwestern plated three runs in the first inning off starting pitcher Ricky Heines (5-3).
Purdue inched back into the game with two runs in the bottom of the second, making the score 3-2. The Boilermakers loaded the bases with no one out, and a doubleplay ball pushed home the first run. The ensuing at-bat resulted in a throwing error by third baseman Stanley Finch, allowing the second run to corrs the dish.
The tightened game was shirt-lived as Northwestern scored five times in the third to blow the game open. Another run in the fourth advanced the Wildcats' lead to 9-2.
Purdue scored once in the home half of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Spencer Ingaldson and again in the fifth on an RBI grounder from Eric Wolfe following John Hunter's first triple of the season.
With the score 9-4, the Wildcats answered with two runs in the sixth inning to again go up by seven.
A Purdue four-run response would follow in the bottom of the sixth. An RBI single by Mitch Hilligoss, a two-run triple by Ryne White and a run-scoring base hit by Wolfe closed the gap to 11-8.
However, the Boilermakers would get no closer as Northwestern scored a run in the seventh and two in the ninth. A lone Purdue run in the ninth, scored on senior pitcher Brent Coudron's first career hit, closed the scoring.
The Boilermakers will now move to the 2006 Big Ten Tournament and first-round foe Ohio State. The Buckeyes defeated Purdue three times in four games in Columbus earlier this season. Purdue and Ohio State will play in Game Two of the tournament beginning at 3:30 p.m.
All games played by the Boilermakers in the Big Ten Tournament will be broadcast on WLAS AM 1410 in the Lafayette area and on the web at www.purduesports.com.