March 30, 2013
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Sean McHugh delivered a two-out RBI single to knock in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, lifting Purdue baseball to a 5-4 victory at Penn State Saturday afternoon that clinched a weekend series win for the Boilermakers.Purdue (9-14, 2-3 Big Ten) won its sixth straight series against the Nittany Lions (5-17, 0-5 Big Ten) dating back to 2008. The Boilermakers have won 16 of the 21 games during that stretch.
Sunday's series finale has been moved up to an 11 a.m. first pitch due to rain in the forecast. Purdue will be in search of its first series sweep of the season.
Robert Ramer gave the Boilers another quality start on the mound, working seven innings of two-run ball. Penn State tied the game with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-run pinch hit single from Luis Montesinos. Pinch runner Alex Farkes scored the tying run on a very close play at the plate. The late rally denied Ramer his third victory of the season and 16th career.
Penn State reliever David Walkling (0-1) retired the first two batters of the top of the 10th on two pitches. But the inning stayed alive after Jake Hansen drew a four-pitch walk and Stephen Talbott was hit by a pitch. McHugh had struck out against Walkling with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, but this time McHugh worked the count full and delivered a base hit through the left side to score Hansen from second base.
The Boilermakers won the game despite stranding 13 runners on base. The Nittany Lions also helped Purdue score twice in the top of the fifth without registering a timely hit. McHugh and Kyle Wood were both able to score on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and two outs. Wood scored from second after the throw home trying to retire McHugh got away and rolled into the middle of the diamond.
Wood led the way with three hits for the Boilers, including a hit-and-run single with McHugh aboard in the fifth inning. Angelo Cianfrocco walked in three consecutive plate appearances and scored the game's first run on an RBI double from Kyle Johnson in the fourth inning. Conner Hudnall also delivered an RBI single to plate Jack Picchoitti in the top of the fourth.
Brett Andrzejewski (1-0) gave up the pinch hit single to Montesinos in the ninth that allowed a pair of inherited runners to score, but the sidearmer retired the other six batters he faced in his two innings of relief. The senior worked a 1-2-3 frame versus Penn State's 3-4-5 hitters in the bottom of the 10th to close out the victory.
Ramer recorded a pair of 1-2-3 innings and induced a pair of inning-ending double plays. A 1-4-3 twin killing erased back-to-back one-out singles in the bottom of the second. Purdue also turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the sixth. Ramer recorded 12 ground ball outs.
Penn State scored runs in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings after the leadoff man of the frame reached base safely on all three occasions. Patrick Kenney got the call to take the mound to begin the ninth, but Andrejewski replaced the freshman after a leadoff single and walk setup PSU's scoring opportunity.
Purdue played its first extra-inning game since defeating Indiana State in 10 innings in the 2012 home finale, which was also the final game at Lambert Field. McHugh was also a hero that day with a two-out pinch hit home run in the bottom of the ninth. Penn State fell to 0-2 in extra innings games this year.
Brad Schreiber is slated to start on the mound for Sunday's series finale. Meldar Field was the site where Schreiber suffered a season-ending elbow injury in 2011.