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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- East Tennessee State scored eight unanswered runs over its final three innings, taking the lead on a pinch-hit three-run homer and defeating Purdue baseball 8-2 Sunday afternoon in the finale of the four-game series.
Mike Lutz pitched well in his second career weekend start, facing only 16 batters through five innings as the Boilermakers (2-8) opened up a 2-0 lead. Lutz surrendered only three hits over 5 2/3 innings, but two came in the sixth inning and both led to runs.
The bottom third of the ETSU lineup burned Purdue on Sunday. Led by Christian Bailey's three-hit game in the eight hole, the Bucs' 7-8-9 spots in the order were a combined 6-for-11 with five RBI and three runs scored. Bailey led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run and walked in front of Andrew Lasure's two-out, pinch-hit homer that broke a 2-2 tie the following frame.
The Boilermakers not only led ETSU 2-0 entering the bottom of the sixth but also had a 6-1 advantage in the hit column at that point. A caught stealing and 4-6-3 double play helped Lutz erase the two walks he issued. But beginning with Bailey's home run, the Bucs pounced out nine hits over the final three innings. Saturday night, ETSU scored six runs over the final three innings and won the game on a three-run homer in the ninth.
Purdue had runners on first and second base with one out in the both the top of the sixth and seventh, but hit into a pair of inning-ending 6-4-3 double plays against lefty reliever Jamin McCann (1-0).
Brett Carlson and Nick Dalesandro drove in the Boilermakers' runs. Carlson delivered a two-out RBI single in the top of the second to plate Kyle Wood, who doubled for the first hit of the game. Jacson McGowan led off the fourth inning with a single, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Dalesandro's opposite-field double. Dalesandro and McGowan also teamed up on a cutoff sequence to throw a runner out at the plate on a base hit to left field in the eighth inning.
Dalesandro (6-for-17, 3 RBI at ETSU) has hit safely in eight straight games. Kyle Johnson (8-for-19, 8 RBI) and McGowan (4-for-15, 4 RBI) also hit safely in all four games this weekend. James Jewell had a pair of singles Sunday in his first start of the season.
There were two outs with the bases empty when ETSU extended both the sixth and seventh innings to plate the tying and go-ahead runs, respectively. A sixth-inning double by Trey York chased Lutz and Alex Lyons (0-1) was greeted by a game-tying single from Hagen Owenby. Lyons retired the first two batters of the bottom of the seventh, but a single and a walk kept the inning alive. ETSU pinch hit for its nine-hole hitter that had struck out in his first two at-bats with Lasure. The left-handed hitter connected for the opposite-field homer to left, giving the Bucs their first lead of the day.
There were a combined 11 home runs hit in the four-game series.
Purdue returns to action Friday when it opens play at the Millard Management Classic hosted by the University of Kansas. The Boilermakers will take on Saint Louis, North Dakota and the host Jayhawks in Lawrence. First pitch Friday vs. SLU is set for noon ET.