May 19, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Boilermaker baseball team dropped a pair of game to Northwestern on Saturday, 9-6 and 11-6, at Rocky Miller Park. With the pair of losses, Purdue has dropped a Big Ten series for the fourth time in five weeks.
Purdue (22-31, 11-19) was victimized by big inning after big inning by the Wildcats as Northwestern scored two runs or more in six of the 12 innings the Wildcats batted on the afternoon.
The Boilermakers lost the opener 9-6 after trailing 5-0 through four innings. Purdue received an offensive boost in the fifth when Dan Black connected on a grand slam, cutting the deficit to one run. However, Northwestern answered for two runs in the bottom of the fifth. A two-run inning for the Boilermakers in the sixth was once again answered by Northwestern with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Northwestern responses were the story again in the second game. Purdue took a 1-0 lead in the first only to see it wiped away by three Wildcat runs in the second. A five-run fourth inning for the Boilermakers put Purdue up 6-3, but Northwestern would answer with its own five-run fourth inning to regain the lead. Three more runs in the fifth iced the game and claimed the weekend for the Wildcats.
Purdue and Northwestern complete their weekend series on Sunday with a 2 p.m. ET game, a game that will be broadcast on WLAS 1410 AM in the Lafayette area and on the Web at purduesports.com.