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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue baseball's situational hitting was lacking for the much of the day while Rutgers excelled in similar situations, allowing the Scarlet Knights to take rubber game of the Big Ten series, 5-2, Sunday afternoon at Alexander Field.
The Boilermakers (9-13, 1-2 Big Ten) had only six hits on a very windy day, but had their fair share of opportunities after Rutgers pitchers issued eight free passes (four walks and four hit batters). Purdue brought the potential tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings, but stranded five runners on base over the final two frames en route to leaving 12 for the day.
Even though they snapped their 10-game losing streaks in rubber games last weekend against Northern Illinois, the Boilers remain winless in Big Ten rubber games since April 2012. Additionally, for the 10th time since the opening weekend of the 2010 Big Ten season, Purdue lost a conference series after winning the opener.
Starter Matt Frawley (1-3) gave up a hit in each of the four innings he worked, surrendering four runs on seven hits and two walks. Each of the Boilers' three starting pitchers this weekend did not make it through the fifth inning.
The Scarlet Knights (5-14, 2-1 Big Ten) scored runs thanks in part to a suicide squeeze bunt, hit and run single and two sacrifice flies.
The wind was blowing in from center field all day and Rutgers starter Gaby Rosa (1-1) was able to induce 11 fly ball outs over six innings of three-hit ball. He did not strike out a batter or have a 1-2-3 inning. But Purdue did not have multiple base runners in an inning until finally getting on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth.
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Harry Shipley reached base safely in all four of his plate appearances, getting hit by a pitch twice to go along with a single and a walk. He was also plunked in the fifth but the home plate umpire ruled he didn't make an effort to get out of the way of the pitch. Rosa walked the freshman two pitches later. Shipley has been hit by a pitch seven times over the last six games and got plunked five times in the series.
Rutgers' eight and nine hitters, Chris Suseck and Milo Freeman, were a combined 7-for-8 Sunday. The rest of the lineup only had four hits, but managed to contribute four RBI.
Kyle Johnson singled twice and drew a walk Sunday, finishing the weekend having reached base safely in eight of his 13 plate appearances. He drove in the Boilers' first run of the day with a two-out single in the fifth inning.
Purdue had its leadoff man reach second base to open the inning in the fourth and sixth, but that runner did not advance any further on both occasions. The Boilers had a lefthanded hitter up next both times, but a pair of ground balls to the left side of the infield did not get the job done. To further frustrate matters, a deep fly ball followed for the second out of both innings. Those would have been sacrifice flies had Purdue been able to advance those leadoff runners past second.
Meanwhile, Rutgers got a two-out single from Freeman with two aboard in the second inning to open the scoring. The following frame, the first three batters reached base safely. After an RBI double over Jordan Lewis' head in right field, R.J. Devish got the bunt down on the first pitch of his at-bat when the Scarlet Knights went for the suicide squeeze.
Mike Lutz and Alex Lyons teamed up for five innings of one-run relief. Lyons retired nine of the 11 batters he faced and both hits he allowed came with two outs in an inning.
Jack Picchiotti came through with an RBI double in the ninth inning to finish the series having hit for the cycle over the course of the weekend. He had been hit by a pitch in the helmet on the first pitch of his at-bat an inning earlier. However, Rutgers reliever Jon Young struck out the next two batters after Picchiotti's double to close out the game.
The Boilermakers return to action Tuesday when they host Kent State at 5:30 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since the 2012 NCAA Regional Purdue hosted in Gary. Kent State is coached by former Purdue assistant Jeff Duncan.
The first set of 2015 Purdue Baseball cards