May 22, 2010
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Purdue baseball team's rally from a five-run deficit came up just shy in a series-sweeping 12-9 loss at Iowa on Saturday. Despite the sweep, the Boilermakers qualified for the Big Ten Tournament to be played next Wednesday-Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State. It appears the Boilermakers will face the very same Iowa Hawkeye team that just swept them, but please check bigten.org for the tournament seeding, as well as ticket information.
Brad Schreiber and Payton Bieker hit pinch hit home runs, Schreiber's a two-run shot in the seventh and Bieker's a solo blast in the eighth, to pull Purdue within one run at 10-9, but Iowa got two-run homer from Kurtis Muller in the bottom of the eight to push the lead back to three.
UI closer Kevin Lee tossed 1 2/3 shout innings the rest of the way to seal the victory and pick up his 11th save of the season.
Iowa plated a pair of runs in the first and answered a five-run Purdue second with four in the bottom of the frame and three more in the third for a 9-5 edge.
Trailing 10-5 after five complete, the Boilers chipped away at the Hawkeye lead with a lone run in the sixth, two on Schreiber's blast in the seventh and Bieker's solo shot in the eight, but ran out of gas on a windy day.
IU's Zach Kenyon (2-3) picked up his second win of the season after allowing just one run on four hits in 4 1/3 innings of relief of starter Phil Schreiber.
Purdue starter Drew Wurdack (5-3) was charged with the loss after allowing six runs on six hits in two innings.
Offensively, Kevin Plawecki led the way for Purdue in the loss finishing 3 for 5 with a run scored. Ryan Bridges added two hits and pair of RBIs and Eric Charles chipped in with two runs batted in for Purdue.
Please check back with purduesports.com and bigten.org for Big Ten Tournament information.