April 9, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Right-hander Matt Bischoff dominated the Michigan batting order as the Purdue baseball team knocked off the Wolverines 8-5 in the opener of a three-game Big Ten series at Ray Fisher Field on Friday.
The victory bumped the Boilers to 15-12 for the season and 2-2 in the Big Ten, while Michigan dropped to 16-11 and into a tie with Purdue in the league standings.
Bischoff (4-1), the reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, made a push for back-to-back weekly conference honors after limiting UM to two runs on eight hits, all singles, over eight complete.
The senior, who moved into second place all-time in Purdue history in strikeouts last weekend against Minnesota, struck out nine Wolverine hitters while issuing just a single walk. He retired the side in order in just two of his eight innings of work, but was efficient enough to strand seven Michigan runners on base, including five at first base.
Offensively, Purdue rapped out 11 hits in the contest, including three doubles and a pair of homers, off of two Michigan pitchers.
The Boilers jumped out to an early lead, plating a pair of runs in the first and two more in the second off of Wolverine starter Alan Oakes.
Tyler Spillner, who finished 3 for 4 with two doubles and a run scored, led the early charge with a leadoff a two-bagger to open the game. He advanced to third a deep fly ball by Eric Charles and came home on one of three Michigan wild pitches in the game to open the scoring.
Senior Drew Madia hit an opposite-field solo homer with two outs in the first to push the lead to 2-0. The blast was Madia's second of the year.
A one-out double by Angelo Cianfrocco and a bases-loaded walk to Kevin Plawecki plated two additional runs in the top of the fourth for a four-run edge.
Michigan plated a single run in the third and the two schools swapped runs in the fifth for a 5-2 Boiler lead.
A leadoff walk to Madia in the seventh forced Oakes from the mound in favor of reliever Travis Smith. The Wolverine right-hander retired Cameron Perkins on a sacrifice bunt, but turned around surrendered a two-run homer to right by Barret Arthur to make it 7-2 Purdue. The two-run shot was Arthur's team-leading fifth of the season.
Purdue tacked on another run in the eighth on an RBI single by Perkins before weathering a three-run Michigan ninth to wrap up the series opening victory.
Michigan and Purdue will meet for game two the three-game set on Saturday at 1 p.m. Left-hander Blake Mascarello will make his first weekend start for the Boilermakers. The contest can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.