April 18, 2007
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - A pair of two-out hits in the 10th inning propelled Notre Dame to a 1-0 defeat of the Purdue Boilermakers at Frank Eck Stadium, dampening a masterful performance on the mound by Purdue freshman Matt Bischoff.
Danny Dressman's single to left field drove home Matt Weglarz with the contest's only run in a game dominated by the starting pitchers.
Bischoff and Notre Dame's Sam Elam each went nine strong innings, allowing one hit a piece.
Bischoff, a freshman from Decatur, Ind., was perfect through eight innings before allowing a leadoff single in the ninth inning. In nine innings of work, Bischoff faced 28 batters, striking out seven batters against zero walks.
Elam was nearly as good, striking out nine Boilermakers over nine innings with six walks.
Purdue's biggest threat to score game in the sixth inning when Spencer Ingaldson led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and to third on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Jaffee. However, two groundouts surrounding another walk left the Boilermakers with two runners in scoring position without a run.
The Irish (19-17) went to the bullpen and Tony Langford in the 10th inning. Langford allowed a leadoff single to Eric Nielsen but got out of the extra frame unscathed, setting up Dressman's heroics.
With Matt Jansen on the mound for Purdue (16-14), Notre Dame quickly had two down before Weglarz doubled on a ground ball down the third base line, just beyond the reaching of a diving Dan Black. A wild pitch moved Weglarz to third and, following a walk, Dressman lined a single just in front of a charging Ingaldson in left for the winning run.
In two starts this season - vs. UAB on March 14 and vs. Notre Dame - Bischoff has pitched 16.0 innings without allowing a run. In those two outings, the freshman has yielded only six hits and two walks while striking out 18.
Purdue returns to the road within the Big Ten Conference when the Boilermakers take on league-leading Michigan in Ann Arbor this upcoming weekend. The Boilermakers are 6-5 in Big Ten play, while the Wolverines sit atop the standings at a perfect 8-0.