May 4, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Purdue Nine fell twice to rival Indiana on Sunday, losing a tight game in the bottom of the seventh before watching IU explode at the plate in the second game at Sembower Field.
The Hoosiers scored three runs in their final at-bat to clip Purdue in the day's opener 5-4. The Boilermakers hoped to rebound in the nightcap but suffered through a demoralizing first inning en route to an 18-8 defeat.
Purdue is now 26-19 overall and 17-6 in Big Ten play, 2.5 games behind conference-leading Michigan (20-4). Purdue has a four-game advantage over third place Illinois (13-10) heading into Monday's series finale at Indiana, while the Illini play host to Northwestern in the fourth game of that weekend series.
The Boilermakers scored three times in the first inning and once in the second of Game One to build a 4-0 lead. However, IU plated two unearned runs in the fourth to cut the Purdue lead in half, then scored the winning run in the home portion of the seventh to hand Purdue the loss.
The loss for the Boilermakers marked the first time Purdue had lost a conference game in 2008 in which the Boilers had led at any point in the game.
In Game Two, it wasn't as close.
IU scored 11 times in the first inning on 13 hits to build an insurmountable lead. The first 10 Hoosiers to bat in the inning all reached base on base hits, and by the end of the inning the IU offense had chased starter Allan Donato and reliever Tony Sedlmeyer from the mound.
The Boilermakers and Hoosiers would trade offensive shots throughout the remainder of the game, but the first inning offensive was too much for the Purdue bats to overcome.
"You have to tip your cap to them (IU) today," head coach Doug Schreiber said. "They got the big hits when they needed them in Game One, and then used that emotion from the first game to create something special in the second.
"We still hold the success of our season in our own hands," Schreiber added. "We're not the type of team that backs away from a challenge, so I expect our guys to come out swinging on Monday."
Purdue and Indiana conclude the four-game series at Sembower Field on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m.