May 20, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Indiana's Eric Arnett was named the Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Year at the Big Ten Tournament on Tuesday and he showed why in a 9-1 win over Purdue at Huntington Park on Wednesday.
The Hoosier right-hander blanked the Boilers on four hits over seven innings. He struck out ten, walked one and retired Purdue in order in three of his seven innings of work. Arnett also picked off Dan Black at first in the second inning, caught Eric Charles stealing third later in the same frame and stranded runners at third base in both the sixth and seventh innings. Arnett improved to 12-1 on the year in the dominating effort.
The IU offense rapped out 15 hits off of three different pitchers, including a solo home run by Chris Hervey to lead off the game for the Hoosiers and back-to-back-back doubles as part of a game-breaking five-run fifth inning. Indiana, which plated single runs in the first, third and fourth before blowing the game open with the five-run fifth, finished the contest with six doubles by five different players.
The Boilermakers ended the shutout bid in the top of the eighth when Brandon Haveman extended his hitting streak to 18 consecutive games with a leadoff double off of IU reliever Joe Vicini. He advanced to third on a ground out by David Blount and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of John Cummins to stave off what would have been the Boilers' first shutout loss in 36 all-time Big Ten Tournament games.
Black was the lone Boilermaker with multiple hits, finishing the game 2 for 4 with a triple.
Purdue's Matt Bischoff (4-5) was charged with the loss after allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits over four innings. The right-hander struck out three and walked one on the afternoon.
The Boilermakers will next square off against Michigan State in an elimination game at 12:05 p.m. on Thursday. The Spartans dropped a 16-5 decision to Illinois in the first game of the league championship tournament on Wednesday.