Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- In what played out as one of the most exciting day in Purdue baseball's recent history, the Boilermakers rallied in their final at-bats for a pair of comeback wins to sweep a doubleheader against Sam Houston State, 4-3 and 9-7, Saturday afternoon at the Kleberg Bank College Classic.
Purdue (3-3) scored twice in the bottom of the 12th inning of game one to overcome a one-run deficit. In the nightcap, the Boilers rallied back from down 3-0 and 7-2, scoring three times in the top of the ninth. Of the 21 innings played in the doubleheader Saturday, Purdue only held the lead in the final inning of both games.
Michael Vilardo drove in the go-ahead in both games with a sacrifice fly. Alec Olund slid home head first as the game-winning run to punctuate the walk-off victory in game one. After singling home the game-tying run in the ninth inning of the nightcap, Jack Picchoitti scored the deciding tally on Vilardo's fly ball to center field.
Cody Strong led off both last at-bat rallies with a single. Over the two games, the Boilermakers scored five times with SHSU closer Ryan Brinley (0-2) on the mound. Entering the day, the senior had not allowed a run in his 27 innings of relief as a Bearkat dating back to last season.
Matt Gibbs (2-0) earned the victory in both games. For the day, he retired seven of the nine batters he faced while surrendering just one hit. After giving up a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth of the nightcap, he closed out the win by not only inducing by also starting a game-ending 1-6-3 double play.
Video of 12th Walk-off and Saturday Recap with Picchiotti & Vilardo
Brandon Krieg finished the day 4-for-10 to extend his reached base safely streak to 25 consecutive games dating back to last season. It ranks as the longest career streak of its kind for all active Purdue players.
Sam Houston State (3-4) batted out of order in the bottom of the ninth inning of game two, but the Boilers finished off the win before the Purdue coaching could alert the umpires to the violation.
The walk-off win was the Boilers' third in a span of 24 games dating back to mid-April of last season. The five-run deficit (7-2) Purdue overcame in game two marked its largest comeback since scoring 10 times in the ninth inning at UCLA in May 2012 to rally back from a 10-5 hole entering the frame. A May 2005 doubleheader sweep of Iowa at Lambert Field is believed to be the last time the Boilers won two games on the same day in their final at-bat.
Purdue had not swept a doubleheader since April 2012 vs. Illinois. Missouri, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Purdue will all enter the final day of the tournament Sunday with 2-1 records in the event. The Boilers will take on Mizzou at noon ET and the winner is guaranteed of at least a share of the tourney title.
Game One Recap
The only out Brinley and SHSU recorded in the 12th inning came on the sacrifice fly to right center that plated the game-winning run. A perfectly executed hit-and-run single with Strong in motion and Kyle Wood at the plate gave Purdue runners on the corners with no outs in the inning. Daniel Sander knocked in the game-tying run with a pinch hit double to left center, his first hit as a Boilermaker. In the seventh inning, Jack Picchiotti had tied the game with a two-out, pinch-hit RBI single.
After Sander's double, Purdue had the winning run on third with no outs in the 12th. The Bearkats opted to intentionally walk Harry Shipley for the second time in the game, loading the bases for Vilardo. An outfielder was brought in to form a five-man infield behind the pitcher, but Vilardo made it a moot point when he hit a fly ball into right center that scored Olund as the pinch runner for Wood.
Sam Houston State took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 12th on a leadoff homer from Hunter Courson. An inning earlier, the Bearcats strung together three straight two-out singles, but didn't score after Strong made a diving stop behind second base to keep the ball in the infield. The final out of the frame was made on the base paths when pinch runner Wyatt Powell unwisely tried to score from second base on the play and was uncaught in a run down before he could even get halfway to home plate.
Shipley had made a similar diving play at shortstop to save a run in the first inning.
Purdue starter Brett Haan went on escape a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first. He struck out the final batter of the frame and it turned out to be the first of 10 consecutive hitters retired by the senior as he strung together three consecutive 1-2-3 innings. Sam Houston State didn't score until he left the mound in the sixth inning, taking advantage of three singles and a hit batter to score twice in the frame.
Tim McElroy retired nine of the 10 batters he faced over three innings of scoreless relief to get the game to extra innings.
A leadoff walk to Shipley and a double from Vilardo setup Kyle Johnson's sacrifice fly to get Purdue on the board in the sixth. An inning later, Brett Carlson doubled with one out and scored on Picchiotti's clutch pinch-hit single.
Sam Houston State sidearmer Alex Bisacca gave up a single to Vilardo as the first batter he faced, but then reeled off four straight 1-2-3 frames while retiring 13 batters in a row from seventh through 11th innings.
Game Two Recap
After playing a very clean game defensively and surrendering only two free passes in the first game, Purdue committed four errors and issued seven free passes in the nightcap. The Bearkats capitalized on the freebies and miscues while scoring in each of the first four innings. But it was the Boilermakers that scored the final seven runs of the game.
Johnson dropped a fly ball in center field with two on and two outs in the third inning, giving SHSU a 6-2 lead after Purdue had made it a one-run game with a pair of runs in top of the frame. Johnson later connected for a solo home run to lead off the fifth inning and it marked the beginning of the Boilers' comeback. Olund delivered a two-out, two-run single later in the frame to cut Purdue's deficit in half at 7-5. It was the freshman's first collegiate hit.
Carlson came through with a two-out RBI single in sixth to make it a one-run game, but the Boilers left the bases loaded in the eighth.
Strong was replaced by pinch runner Ted Snidanko after singling off Brinley, who played the first eight innings of the nightcap at third base, to begin the top of the ninth. Brinley gave Snidanko second base when he threw the ball into the front row on a failed pickoff attempt. Picchiotti was down in the count 1-2 when he slapped a pitch through the left side to plate Snidanko as the game-tying run.
After a sacrifice bunt, Shipley hit a line drive to left field that Bryce Johnson failed to catch. However, Picchiotti thought the catch was going to be made and slid back into second base as the ball rolled deep into left field. He had to stop at third base, setting up second and third with one out for Vilardo. A fly ball into center field was deep enough to plate Picchiotti as the go-ahead run. Shipley scored on the play as well when the catcher spiked the ball in anger and it rolled into no man's land, thinking that Purdue had won in walk-off fashion again when in fact SHSU was the home team and had the last at-bat in the nightcap.
The Bearcats were scheduled to have their 3-4-5 hitters due up in the bottom of the ninth and had lost the DH when Brinley took the mound. Nate VanDyke had replaced Brinley at third base and was scheduled to bat second in the inning. Dylan Ebbs pinch hit for Johnson to begin the bottom of the ninth. But instead of VanDyke coming to the plate, No. 5 hitter Spence Rahm came to the plate and struck out against Gibbs. Brinley hit into the game-ending 1-6-3 double play moments later.
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