April 20, 2011
CHICAGO - Purdue baseball scored 15 times over the course of three innings early in the game and the three extended rallies propelled the Boilermakers to a 17-3 victory at Illinois-Chicago Wednesday evening.Purdue (25-12) scored five times in the second inning, six times in the third and tacked on four more runs in the fourth. Twenty-eight batters came to the plate during the prolific offensive stretch.
The Boilermakers won for the eighth time in their last 10 games and improved to 5-1 during their current 10-game road stretch.
Eight of the nine starters in the Boilers' initial lineup recorded at least one RBI. Angelo Cianfrocco and Stephen Talbott both went 3-for-4 with an RBI double. Cianfrocco, Talbott and David Miller each scored in the second, third and fourth innings and combined accounted for 10 of the 17 runs scored.
Payton Bieker posted his second career three-RBI effort. He was one of six Purdue players to collect multiple RBIs.
Cameron Perkins singled in the sixth inning to extend his career-best hitting streak to 19 consecutive games. He had drawn a bases-loaded walk and contributed a sacrifice fly to center field in his two previous plate appearances.
Barrett Serrato reached base safely to ignite the second- and third-inning rallies. He had two hits in the six-run third thanks to a two-run double into the right field corner his second time up. Eric Charles and Bieker also connected for a two-run double.
Robert Ramer (4-0), Pat Gannon and Mike Sudbury each pitched three innings. The trio gave up a combined seven doubles but left 12 men on base. Sudbury surrendered only one hit over three scoreless innings while striking out three.
Cianfrocco hit safely in each of his first three at-bats, driving in the first run of both the second and third innings. With runners on the corners and one out in the second inning, Miller beat out a squeeze bunt up the first base line. Tyler Spillner and Charles turned it into a true big inning with two-out, run-scoring hits. Spillner singled home Talbott and Charles followed with a two-run double down the left field line.
The Boilermakers took advantage of a UIC (16-16) error and four walks in their six-run third inning. Bieker drew a bases-loaded walk against new reliever Tim Suminski to force home Cianfrocco. After Talbott scored on a wild pitch and Charles also walked, a free pass to Perkins forced in another run. Serrato followed with the two-run double into right field.
Bieker's two run-double into left center highlighted the four-run fourth inning, which featured the first five hitters of the frame reaching safely and all three outs being recorded by UIC center fielder Nick Addison.
The Purdue leadoff man reached base safely and scored in each of the Boilers' four consecutive innings with multiple runs. That stretch was capped when Kevin Plawecki singled to open the fifth. He scored from first on a double to left center by Talbott.
The 17 runs were one shy of a season high (Feb. 27 at Morehead State). Purdue has now scored 32 runs in its last two games after defeating Penn State, 15-4, in the nightcap of Sunday's doubleheader. The Boilermakers have scored four or more times in an inning11 times in their last 10 games.
Purdue returns to the Chicagoland area for this weekend's Big Ten series with Northwestern. The series opener in Evanston Friday is slated for 4 p.m. (EDT).