EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern scored five times with two outs over the first two innings and rode the early lead to a 7-3 series-opening victory vs. Purdue baseball Friday afternoon.
The Wildcats (11-34, 3-16 B1G) snapped their seven-game losing streak while the Boilermakers' current losing skid was extended to seven. Purdue (10-32, 2-17 B1G) has not scored more than three runs in any of its last seven games.
Kyle Wood hit his 11th home run of the season to reclaim a share of the Big Ten lead. But the Boilermakers already trailed 6-1 when Wood connected for his opposite-field shot in the third inning. It was his first homer since April 8. He reached base safely three times in the loss.
Purdue enjoyed a 10-9 edge in the hit column but was 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position while leaving nine men on base.
After putting together back-to-back quality starts and working a combined 15 innings of four-run ball over his last two outings, Gavin Downs (1-5) only retired four of the 13 batters he faced. A bases-loaded walk to Willie Bourbon and two-out, two-run single from Jake Schieber gave Northwestern a three-run first inning. A two-run homer by Joe Hoscheit chased Downs the following frame.
Brian Ghiselli surrendered only two hits over five innings of relief, matching the longest outing of his collegiate career. The only run he was charged with scored after he left the mound in the seventh inning. But yet another quality long relief outing by a Boilermaker was a byproduct of the starting pitcher not making it through the third inning for the ninth time in Purdue's 35 weekend games this season.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats received a quality start from Reed Mason (3-6). The southpaw worked only one true 1-2-3 inning, but surrendered just two runs over seven innings. He struck out seven, including the side in the fifth inning.
Nick Dalesandro's RBI triple plated Wood in the eighth inning as the Boilermakers greeted reliever Jake Stolley with back-to-back hits. But Stolley went on to retire six of the next seven batters while closing out the win.
Alec Olund, Jacson McGowan and Dalesandro each had a pair of hits. Olund scored on a passed ball in the first inning after opening the game with a single. McGowan led off a pair of innings with singles, but Purdue failed to capitalize on the rally chances.
Ghiselli retired 10 consecutive batters from the fourth through seventh innings, working a pair of 1-2-3 frames in the process. James Jewell threw out a pair of base stealers and has now cut down 10-of-16 runners for the season.
The series continues Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will be televised live by the Big Ten Network.