April 2, 2009
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Less than 24 hours after a 17-hit, 22-run assault by IPFW, the Purdue pitching staff buckled downed and tossed a four-hit shutout of visiting Wabash at Lambert Field on Thursday. Starter Jeff Straub and relievers Kevin Cahill, Tyler Calder and Emilio Domondon teamed up hold Wabash scoreless, while striking out six and walking only one in an 11-0 Boilermaker win.
The whitewashing of the Little Giants (6-12) marked Purdue's first shutout victory since blanking Ohio State 8-0 on April 19 last year, snapped a mini two-game losing streak and bumped the Boilers back to .500 for season at 11-11.
Straub (2-0), who was on a limited pitch count in his first career start, recorded his second victory of the season with three scoreless innings of work. The right-hander allowed just two hits and struck out a pair without issuing a walk.
Cahill (1 IP), Calder (3 2/3 IP) and Domondon (1 1/3 IP) teamed up to hold Wabash to just two more hits over the next six innings to preserve the shutout win.
Offensively, the Boilermakers picked up where they left off on Wednesday at IPFW. After rapping out 19 runs on 22 hits against the Mastodons, Purdue posted 18 base knocks, including three doubles and a triple, against the Little Giants to plate 11 runs on Thursday.
The Boilers scored two runs in the first and three in the second to jump out to a 5-0 edge, before adding to the lead with four in the sixth and two more in the seven to win going away.
Individually, true freshman Tyler Spillner led the charge, finishing 3 for 3 with a double and a game-high three runs scored out of the leadoff spot in the batting order.
Redshirt freshmen Eric Charles and sophomore David Blount went 3 for 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored and 2 for 5 with a game-high three RBIs, respectively. Senior Alex Jaffee chipped in with a 3 for 4-day at the plate, and junior Dan Black drove in a pair on a double in the seventh as part of a 2 for 3 outing.
Wabash starter Andy Weeks (1-1) was charged with the loss after surrendering nine runs, only five of which were earned, on 15 hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. The left-hander struck out four and walked five in the loss.
The Boilermakers resume league action on Friday when they host Iowa (10-13, 1-2 Big Ten) for the series opener of a three-game set at Lambert Field. Purdue split a snow-shortened series at Northwestern last weekend to open the conference slate 1-1.
First pitch against the Hawkeyes is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, with right-hander Matt Bischoff the scheduled starter for the Boilers.