March 25, 2011
PEORIA, Ill. - The Purdue baseball team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but five errors, timely two-out hitting and a four-run seventh led to a 9-4 loss to Bradley in the opener of a three-game series at O'Brien Field on Friday. The loss dropped the Boilermakers to 14-8 on the year, while the Braves, playing at home for the first time in 2011, improved to 14-6.
After rallying to tie the game 4-4 in the top of the seventh on a Stephen Talbott single, the Boilermaker bullpen allowed four runs on three hits and a catcher's interference in the bottom of the frame. Bradley's Brad Kimball and Jarrod Eigsti drove in two runs apiece on a base-loaded double and two-run single, respectively, in back-to-back at bats in the inning.
The Braves tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth on two errors by Tyler Spillner on the same play to win going away.
Purdue opened the game with a pair of runs in the top of the first, getting RBIs from Kevin Plawecki on sacrifice fly and Ryan Bridges on an infield single, and pushed the edge to 3-0 in the top of the third on a sac-fly by Barrett Serrato.
Bradley's Brian Martin answered in the bottom of the third, capitalizing on the first Boiler defensive miscue to plate teammate Derek Sprout on a ground out to cut the Purdue lead to 3-1.
The Braves used timely hitting in the home half of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead on back-to-back two-out doubles by Jason Leblebijian and Derek Sprout and a run-scoring single by Austin Jarvis.
Bradley starter Joe Bircher (3-2) settled down after the rough start to pick up his third win of the season. The left-hander allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits over seven innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Purdue's Blake Mascarello (0-3) was charged with the loss after allowing the tie-breaking run in the bottom of the seventh. Starter Robert Ramer was saddled with a no-decision despite allowing only three earned runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Payton Bieker was the lone Boilermaker with multiple hits on the day, finishing 2 for 3 with a run scored.
Purdue and Bradley will meet up again at O'Brien Field on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.