March 12, 2011
BOCA RATON, Fla. - Heads up baserunning and a seventh-inning rally gave Purdue a 5-4 victory over Middle Tennessee Saturday morning. Trailing 4-2 entering the final stanza, the Boilermakers put together a three-run, four-hit effort to snag the win.
Purdue posted its five runs on nine hits and an error, while allowing MTSU four runs on eight hits and an error. Freshman Andie Varsho went 3-for-4, while junior Molly Garst and sophomore Erika Petruzzi contributed two-hit efforts.
Senior Suzie Rzegocki (11-3) tied the school career wins record with the complete-game effort. Rzegocki struck out five en route to her 71st victory in the Old Gold and Black, which ties her atop the category with Brooke Baker (2004-07). Jordyn Fisherback (3-4) was saddled with the loss for the Blue Raiders.
The Boilermakers threatened in the opening stanza, but could not score. Varsho doubled and went to third on a fly out, but a strikeout kept her from coming home.
The Blue Raiders got on the board with a Kayla Toney home run in the second inning.
Purdue took the lead in the third, combining a pair of hits and an error for two scores. Freshman Lindsey Rains reached on a fielding error by the second baseman and stole second before scoring on a single up the middle by Garst. Garst went to second on the throw home and stole third, setting up an RBI single through the left side by Varsho.
MTSU went up 4-2 with three runs on three hits and an error in the fifth. A single and a steal put a runner on second. A throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt allowed the runner to come home and advanced the batter to third. A grounder to the shortstop brought in the second run. A single just inside the right field line plated the third run.
The Boilermakers pulled out the win with the seventh-inning rally. Petruzzi started the inning with a single through the left side. Pinch runner Aimee Gingerich went to second a sacrifice. Rains drew a two-out walk and Garst followed with a single just out of the reach of the pitcher to fill the bases. Varsho hit a slow roller toward third base and legged out the single. Two runs scored on the play as Gingerich trotted in from third and Rains never slowed down coming around from second. With runners at first and second, freshman Kim McMillan stepped to the plate. The rookie took a head-first dive into first base just beating the throw on the game-winning RBI single towards second base. Garst scurried in from second on the hit to clinch the win.
The Boilermakers (14-4) return to action at 1 p.m. when they take on the Hofstra Pride to wrap up play at the FAU Parents' Weekend Classic. Live statistics will be available via the GameTracker feature on purduesports.com. Hofstra will be providing a live radio broadcast on http://hawc.streamwrhu.net/.