March 28, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue pitching staff continued its dominant performance to this point of the season with a 3-0 shutout of the Northwestern Wildcats in the Big Ten Conference opener at Lambert Field.
The Boilermakers (8-11, 1-0) have recorded shutouts in four of their last six games, all in the span of seven days, and have lowered their conference-leading team earned-run average to 2.97.
Matt Bischoff (1-2) picked up his first win of the season by pitching 7.2 innings against the Wildcats, allowing just four hits while striking out eight batters. Andy Loomis retired the only batter he faced in relief in the eighth inning, and Josh Lindblom notched his second save of the year with a one-hit ninth.
With the starting pitching for both teams putting zeros on the scoreboard in each of the first four innings, the Purdue Nine snapped the scoreless tie with a single run in the fifth inning off Northwestern starter Joe Muraski (1-2).
Jon Moore reached base safely with one out in the fifth on a throwing error by Wildcat shortstop Tommy Finn and swiped second base. With Moore in motion, Nick Overmyer singled to left field to drive home the first run of the contest.
Purdue further threatened in the fifth when Brandon Haveman singled and Ben Walgamot walked to load the bases. Ryne White stepped to the plate and lifted a 1-1 pitch high into the air to right-center, but the ball fell just shy of a grand slam as centerfielder Aaron Newman caught the ball a step shy of the wall at the 385-mark.
With two down in the bottom of the eighth inning, White would get another chance and this time he would not miss, launching a solo blast over the right field wall for his team-leading fourth home run of the season. Purdue tacked on another insurance run when Jordan Comadena reached on a fielding error by Finn and scored from first on Dan Black's double down the left field line.
White and Black picked up two hits each in the contest as Purdue outhit Northwestern 7-5.
Northwestern stranded seven runners on base in the game, but managed to get just two runners to second base against Bischoff and failed to advance a runner to third in the contest.
The win for Purdue was the team's sixth in a row and eighth in its last 10 games. During the six-game win streak the Boilermakers are hitting .384 as a team with 30 extra-base hits while limiting opposing batters to a .173 average.
Purdue and Northwestern return to Lambert Field on Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader. The first game of the twinbill will be broadcast via the internet, while Game Two will be broadcast on WSHY 1410 AM in the Lafayette area as well as on the web.