April 17, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue's Matt Bischoff tossed his second consecutive complete game, but one misplaced pitch spoiled an otherwise stellar performance for the junior right-hander in a 1-0 loss to Ohio State (27-8, 7-3 Big Ten) on Friday.
The Buckeyes' Ryan Dew hit the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field to lead off the top of the eighth inning to account for the game's lone run. The blast was Dew's fifth home run of the season and one of just five hits surrendered by Bischoff (3-3) on the day.
OSU's Alex Wimmers (7-1), a four-time Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honoree this season, was as impressive as his Boilermaker counterpart on the mound. The Buckeye right-hander scattered three hits and worked around three walks over seven innings to pick up his seventh victory of the year.
Bischoff, who struck out six and did not allow a walk on the day, was charged with the hard-luck loss in his third complete game performance of the season.
The Boilermakers got the tying run into scoring position in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings, but Buckeye closer Jake Hale worked out of both jams to wrap up the game and earn his eighth save of the year.
Jonathan Lilly reached third in the eighth on a walk, a sacrifice bunt by Alex Jaffee and a two-out infield single by Brandon Haveman, but Eric Charles' liner to right was tagged just a tad bit too hard and resulted in the final out in the frame.
In the ninth, true freshman Tyler Spillner hit a two-out double to the gap in right-center, but Hale got Nick Overmyer to ground out to short to end the contest in OSU's favor.
Charles extended his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games with a double in the fourth inning.
With rain forecast for Sunday, Purdue (16-16, 5-4) and Ohio State will conclude the three-game Big Ten series with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch for the first game is still scheduled for noon EDT and game two will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
The Big Ten Network, which was scheduled to televise both the Saturday and Sunday contests live, will still show the first game of the doubleheader live as planned, and will show the second game on a taped basis at noon on Sunday.