April 16, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue baseball team rapped out a season-high 21 hits, including three doubles, two triples and five home runs, in an 18-7 victory over Penn State at Lambert Field on Friday.
The three-game Big Ten series opening win improved Purdue to 18-14 overall and 3-4 in league contests, while the Nittany Lions dropped to 14-18 for the year and 2-5 in conference competition.
The Boilermaker offense was hitting on a cylinders right from the start as Purdue plated three runs on four hits in the bottom of the first inning.
Tyler Spillner led off the game with a double and was pushed home on an Eric Charles triple in the ensuing at bat. Drew Madia then followed a Barret Arthur sac fly with a solo homer to left, his first of two bombs in the game, to make it 3-0 Purdue.
The Lions tied the game in the top of the second, plating three runs on a solo home run from Ben Heath, an RBI double by Mario Eramo and a sac fly by Michael Glantz, but Madia and the Boilers answered right back in the home half of the frame.
Nick Overmyer led off the bottom of the second with a single and was joined on base by Jon Moore, who was hit by a pitch, and the singling Charles.
With two outs Madia delivered his third career grand slam, depositing PSU starter Steven Hill's offering over the right field fence for a base-clearing homer and a 7-3 Purdue lead. The shot was Madia's fifth of the season and, along with his solo shot in the first, marked the first five-RBI game of the season for any Purdue player.
The Lions and Boilers traded a pair of runs in the third to make it 9-5, with Purdue getting an RBI triple from Moore and a run-scoring single by Spillner.
Aided by six hits and a pair of PSU errors, Purdue broke the game open with six runs in the fourth. Angelo Cianfrocco plated a pair of runs on a double and was rewarded with a trip home on a two-bagger by Cameron Perkins. Overmyer chipped in with an RBI base hit and Moore added a two-run homer to left, his third of the season.
Kevin Plawecki contributed to the run total with a solo homer in the fifth, his team-leading sixth of the year, and Perkins hit a two-run shot later in the frame to make to 18-5 in Purdue's favor.
Penn State added two unearned runs in the top of the ninth to round out the scoring.
Eight of the nine Purdue starters in the lineup finished the contest with at least one hit and run scored. Individually Charles led the charge by going 4 for 6 with a triple, an RBI and three runs scored. Moore, who was mired in an 0 for 10 slump, finished the game 3 for 4 with a triple, the two-run homer, three RBIs and three runs scored.
Spillner finished with three hits, including his 10th double of the season, and Madia (2 for 5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R), Plawecki (2 for 5, HR, RBI, 2 R), Cianfrocco (2 for 4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R), Perkins (2 for 5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R) and Overmyer (2 for 5, RBI, 2 R) all paired hits for Purdue.
Purdue starter Matt Bischoff (5-1) shrugged off PSU's offensive surge in the early going to earn his fifth win of the season. The right-hander allowed five runs on eight hits over six innings of work. He struck out 10 and walked only one.
PSU starter Hill (2-3) was charged with the loss after surrendering 13 runs, nine earned, on 13 hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Purdue and Penn State will play game two of the three-game set on Saturday at 2 p.m. Right-hander Matt Morgan is the scheduled starter for the Boilermakers.