March 12, 2010
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Matt Bischoff struck out 11 hitters over eight shutout innings and the Purdue offense finally broke through for three runs on four hits in the seventh inning in a 3-0 whitewashing of Le Moyne at Braun Stadium on Friday. The victory in the opening game of the Dunn Hospitality Classic improved the Boilermakers to 2-6 on the year, while the Dolphins dropped to 5-8.
Bischoff, who fell one strikeout away from matching his career high of 12 set on the same field against Mississippi Valley State last season, dominated the Le Moyne hitters all game. The senior right-hander scattered five hits over the eight innings to go along with his 11 punchouts and no walks.
He retired the side in order in four innings and allowed just a single base runner to reach second in the game, a two-out double in the top of the seventh.
He gave way to southpaw Calvin Gunter in the ninth, who came on and retired the Dolphin side on strikes to nail down his first Boilermaker save.
After collecting just one hit through the first six innings, a one-out single by Eric Charles in the first, the Boilermaker offense finally came to life in the bottom of the seventh.
Charles ignited the three-run rally with a leadoff walk to open the frame. After a failed sacrifice attempt to move him over to second accounted for the first out in the inning, Cameron Perkins hit a first-pitch triple off of Dolphin starter Jeff Tardiff over the head of center fielder Sean Paino to plate Charles all the way from first for a 1-0 Purdue lead.
Barrett Serrato then rewarded Perkins with a trip home in the following at bat with a run-scoring single through the right side of a drawn in Le Moyne infield to make it 2-0 Boilers.
Barret Arthur capped off the scoring in the seventh with an RBI single center after Angelo Cianfrocco pushed Serrato to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run.
Bischoff came out in the eighth and sandwiched strikeouts around a one-out single before giving way to Gunter in the ninth. The pitching duo's 14 combined strikeouts matched the most in a game for the Boilermakers since Drew Wurdack, Matt Morgan, Sean Collins, Connor Sestak and Tyler Calder sat down a season-high 14 against Butler on April 22 last year.
Purdue will return to action in the Dunn Hospitality Classic on Saturday against Morehead State. First pitch is scheduled for noon ET, but with a 50 percent chance of rain forecast for the area, please consult purduesports.com for any weather related delays. Right-hander Morgan is the scheduled starter for the Boilers.