EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Purdue baseball hit two home runs for the second day in a row and Joe Eichmann worked 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game, leading the Boilermakers to a 6-4 win at Michigan State Sunday afternoon.
Purdue (15-33, 2-16 Big Ten) snapped its 16-game Big Ten losing streak, the program's longest in conference play since 1976-77. The Boilermakers also knocked off an MSU team (29-18, 11-7 Big Ten) that had won 17 of its last 20 games overall and nine of the last 10 in Big Ten play.
Kyle Johnson homered to lead off the second inning and Brandon Krieg went deep with Cody Strong aboard in the fifth inning. Both players hit their eighth career long balls. Krieg's opposite-field shot down the right field line gave Purdue the lead back to at 5-4 after the Spartans had scored four times in the bottom of the third. Johnson homered at McLane Stadium for the second time as a Boilermaker.
Three of MSU's four runs came on a three-run homer to right field by Ryan Krill, his third long ball of the series.
Krieg also singled home a run in the third inning to finish the day with his second three-RBI game of the year.
Jack Picchiotti singled home Kyle Wood in the eighth inning in his only at-bat Sunday, plating a key insurance run to finish the series 5-for-8 with 5 RBI. Picchiotti drove in a run in all three games of the weekend.
Eichmann (2-2) worked 1-2-3 frames in the seventh and ninth innings and did not issue a walk in his longest outing of the season. He stranded the potential tying run at third base while finishing off the bottom of the fifth and went on to retire 12 of the 14 batters he faced altogether.
Brett Carlson made a diving catch on a sinking line drive to take away a leadoff single from Ryan Richardson in the ninth inning. Carlson also doubled and walked Sunday, reaching base safely for the 10th consecutive game in which he has started.
Michigan State racked up five doubles over a four-inning stretch from the third through sixth, but only one of those runners came around to score. Richardson doubled with one out in the sixth inning, but was doubled off at second base on a humpback pop up in short center field that Harry Shipley caught.
The Boilermakers caught a break in the bottom of the fourth when a wild pitch by Shane Bryant ricocheted directly back to catcher Shane Bryant and he was able to tag out Brandon Hughes for the final out of the frame. Hughes had opened the inning with a double.
Bryant and Eichmann also pitched over a leadoff double in the fifth inning thanks to a 4-6-3 double play. Krill hit into the twin killing with two on and no outs after taking Bryant deep in his previous at-bat.
Purdue starter Brett Haan retired the first six batters he faced while opening the game with consecutive 1-2-3 frames. But three of the four batters he faced in the third inning reached base safely as the bottom of the MSU lineup ignited the four-run rally.
The Boilermakers strung together five consecutive productive plate appearances in the top of the third, beginning with a walk to Cody Strong and culminating with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Justin Gubser.
Purdue is idle from midweek play this week due to final exams on campus. The upcoming Big Ten series at Nebraska is set for a Saturday through Monday format and begins with a 3 p.m. ET game May 9 in Lincoln, where the Boilers have not played since April 2012.
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