April 27, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Accompanying a tribute to America's Armed Froce, the Purdue Nine knocked off the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Sunday afternoon, claiming a 6-4 win and completing a four-game Big Ten series sweep at Lambert Field.
The sweep is the first for the Boilermakers since sweeping Minnesota at Lambert Field during the 2005 season. Purdue has now won eight consecutive regular-season games against the Golden Gophers.
The afternoon was also a success for the Boilermakers on the auction block. Purdue auctioned off 40 specially-made camouflage jerseys to benefit the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes (CSAH), a non-profit organization that aids the families of veterans who were injured or disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At the conclusion of the auction, all 40 jerseys had been sold to fans in attendance and the amount of $2,265 was raised for the CSAH. An additional six camouflage jerseys will be sold via online auction in the upcoming weeks at PurdueSports.com.
The Sunday victory improves Purdue to 25-17 overall and 16-4 in Big Ten Conference action. The Boilermakers' 16 wins are the most for a Purdue team through 20 conference games, besting for the record of 15-5 through 20 games by the 2001 Purdue squad.
Accompanied by a Michigan loss on Sunday to Indiana, Purdue has closed to within one game of the first-place Wolverines (17-3) with 12 games remaining in the Big Ten season.
In the game freshman Kyle Cook (3-1) went 6.1 innings in the start on the hill, yielding only one run on four hits. Cook walked three and struck out one in the winning effort.
The Boilermakers opened the scoring in the fourth inning with three runs on two hits against Minnesota starter Dustin Brabender. Jordan Comadena walked to open the inning and advanced to third on Dan Black's single to left-center. A wild pitch moved Black to second and allowed Comadena to race home with the game's first run. Black moved to third on a second wild pitch before Jon Moore walked and swiped second. A ground out by Jonathan Lilly drove home Black and Nick Overmyer's double to left played Moore with Purdue's third run.
A single run by the Gophers in the sixth cut the Purdue lead to two, but the Boilermakers responded with two runs in the home half of the sixth. Overmyer drove in his second run of the game with a triple to left-center, plating Moore from second. Brandon Haveman followed with a RBI single to score Overmyer and give the Boilers a 5-1 lead.
An insurance run crossed the plate in the seventh for Purdue a sacrifice fly off the bat of Moore drove in Comadena from third after a one-out double by Comadena and walks to Black and Eric Nielsen.
Minnesota pushed across a run in the eighth and two in the ninth before Alex Jaffee made a catch on a bases-loaded line drive in right field to end the game.
Haveman, Black and Overmyer each collected two hits as Purdue out-hit Minnesota 11-7 in the contest. Overmyer led the offense with two RBI while Comadena and Moore scored twice.
The Boilermakers are now 17-2 at the friendly confines of Lambert Field and are 23-6 in the last 29 games since beginning the season 2-11.
Purdue will travel to Bloomington next weekend to face intrastate rival Indiana in a four-game Big Ten series. The series is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 3, at Sembower Field on the IU campus and will feature doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.