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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue baseball struck out 15 Ohio State batters, but the Buckeyes scored five unanswered over the final three innings to take the series finale 5-1 Sunday afternoon at Alexander Field.
Ohio State (28-14-1, 8-7 B1G) swept a series in West Lafayette for the third time since 2009, limiting the Boilermakers (7-34, 2-16 B1G) to just four runs on 18 hits over the course of the three games. The road team has now won 19 of the last 23 regular-season meetings in the series dating to 2007.
Shane Bryant fanned nine of the 20 batters he faced over five scoreless innings. He struck out the side in both the first and fourth innings. But his pitch count elevated quickly and the Boilermakers went to the bullpen to start the sixth inning. Bryant matched his career-high strikeout total as well as the most Ks by a Purdue pitcher this season. The 15 total strikeouts rank as the third most in a game in program history and the Boilermakers' most since also fanning 15 at Western Carolina during the 2015 season-opening weekend.
The Buckeyes took the lead on Troy Montgomery's two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning. Jalen Washington came through with a two-out, two-run single the following frame after a throwing error on a fielder's choice ground ball to third base gave OSU an additional out to work with.
Both teams used six pitchers in the game. Ohio State went to the bullpen to begin the third inning after starter Adam Niemeyer hit three of the 10 batters he faced. Niemeyer was able to escape a bases-loaded jam in the second inning thanks to a pair of pop ups. The OSU bullpen worked seven innings of five-hit ball. Purdue recorded just one hit after Kyle Wood singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
After #Purdue pitchers struck out 15 OSU batters today, it's Ks that dominate the highlights from today's 5-1 loss. https://t.co/k1dxjhUlPZ
-- Purdue Baseball (@PurdueBaseball) May 1, 2016
For the series, the Boilermakers were 3-for-25 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-28 with two outs. Purdue has scored just nine runs in the last six games since winning its series opener at Maryland 7-1 on April 22. Meanwhile, OSU managed to sweep the series while scoring 11 runs over the three games.
Wood reached base safely in each of his first three at-bats, getting hit by a pitch for a Big Ten-leading 14th time (52nd career) in his first plate appearance. Oddly, the first baseman had just one putout on the day. The only defensive assists recorded by Purdue came from catcher James Jewell and the pitchers. That's because OSU's 27 outs in the game were via the strikeout (15), fly out (8), ground out (2) and caught stealing (2). Both of the ground outs were comebackers, one of those being a 1-4 sacrifice bunt.
Kyle Johnson's leadoff single in the third inning led to the Boilermakers' only run. Daniel Sander delivered a sacrifice fly after Wood walked and Brett Carlson executed the first of his two sacrifice bunts.
Purdue caught a bad break in the fourth inning when Nick Dalesandro over slid the second base bag while trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt. Dalesandro had singled to begin the frame and James Jewell doubled to left field on the very next pitch after his teammate was tagged out.
Brian Ghiselli struck out three of the six batters he faced, but was chased by a one-out double off the top of the left field wall by Craig Nennig in the seventh inning. Tanner Schumacher grazed Washington on the elbow with a pitch and both runners scored when Montgomery doubled to left center. Nennig was one of only two OSU players that did not strikeout at least once.
Bryant now has 48 strikeouts in 46 career innings pitched at Alexander Field.
The Boilermakers are idle from midweek play this week due to final exams on campus. They return to action for Friday's series opener at Northwestern. Purdue will be making its first trip to Evanston since April 2012. First pitch Friday is set for 4 p.m. ET.