May 10, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Michigan State scored five runs with two outs in the fifth inning and held on for a 5-4 victory over Purdue at Lambert Field on Monday. The one-run loss prevented the Boilermakers from owning sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, and dropped them to 28-18 for the year and into a four-way tie with Michigan, Minnesota and Northwestern for the conference lead at 10-8.
The Spartan rally started with a two-out walk to Seth Williams from Boilermaker starter Drew Wurdack. Leadoff hitter Ryan Jones followed with a single to right-center to push Williams to third. Wurdack, who had allowed just one hit through the first four innings, surrendered back-to-back run-scoring singles to Torsten Boss and Jonathan Roof to cut the Boilermaker lead in half at 4-2.
A walk to Jeff Holm loaded the bases for MSU and ended Wurdack's day on the mound in favor of senior classmate Kevin Cahill. A soft infield single to short by Chris Roberts plated another run for the Spartans and a five-pitch walk to Eli Boike tied the game at 4-4.
A passed ball in Brandon Eckerle's inning-ending strikeout at bat allowed the go-ahead run to come home and hand MSU a 5-4 edge.
Spartan starter Tony Bucciferro (7-4), who was on the ropes early after allowing four runs in the first three innings, settled down to blank the Purdue offense through the middle innings and into seventh before giving way to closer Kurtis Frymier in the eighth.
Frymier tossed two shutout innings to earn his sixth save of the year. He struck out one and walked one.
Wurdack (4-2) was charged with the loss after allowing all five runs, four earned, on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked three.
The Boilers jumped out to the ill-fated 4-0 lead with a pair of runs in the first on RBI singles from Ryan Bridges and Kevin Plawecki, and single runs in the second and third on a MSU error and a Cameron Perkins run-scoring base hit.
Purdue will play its penultimate nonconference game of the regular season when it heads to Muncie, Ind., on Tuesday for a matchup with Ball State. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.