CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Tanner Andrews retired the leadoff man of every inning until the ninth, striking out eight in his first collegiate complete game and leading Purdue baseball to a 4-0 series-opening win at Southeast Missouri State on Friday.
The Boilermakers (4-4) were victorious on Friday for the third weekend in a row, winning the opening game of their first three weekends of the season for the first time since 2012. Andrews kept pace with Brad Schreiber (2011), who was the last Purdue pitcher to win his first three weekends starts of a season.
Three of the Boilermakers' first four hits were doubles, all leading to runs. Logan Poisall led off the fifth and seventh innings with doubles en route to a three-hit game. Evan Warden doubled home Poisall in the fifth inning to extend his reached base safely streak to eight consecutive games. Nick Dalesandro and John LeGare both delivered an RBI single after the batter in front of them doubled.
Skyler Hunter made the top defensive play of the game, a sprawling catch on the warning track in left center field for the third out of the second inning. The catch came with a runner on second base, taking away at least an RBI double from Chris Caffrey.
Tanner Andrews fanned 5 his 1st time thru SEMO's lineup & finished his CG w/ 8 Ks. Here's strike 3 of all 8. #Filthy https://t.co/hFQSR1Kluo
- Purdue Baseball (@PurdueBaseball) March 4, 2017
Andrews worked the first complete-game shutout by a Boilermaker since Gavin Downs went the distance in his final collegiate start, a series-opening win against Cal State Northridge during the final weekend of 2016. Andrews struck out five his first time through the SEMO (5-3) lineup, but then only recorded one additional strikeout until the ninth inning. He worked five 1-2-3 innings and retired 27 of the 32 batters he faced, a big reason why the game took just over two hours to play. The junior finished off his gem with strikeouts of SEMO's No. 4 and 5 hitters.
Mike Madej and Warden scored from second base on one-out singles through the left side by Dalesandro and LeGare. Madej had doubled down the right field as the second batter of the game.
LeGare made his collegiate debut Friday, becoming the 16th newcomer to see action for Purdue this season. The freshman not only singled home Warden with a two-strike count in the fifth inning, but also took second when the Redhawks were unable to cut off the throw to the plate. After taking third on a grounder to first base, LeGare was able to score on a two-out wild pitch.
Dalesandro's RBI single in the top of the first ended Purdue's consecutive scoreless innings drought at 22. The Boilermakers have scored in the first inning of four of their first eight games. Poisall's leadoff double in the fifth inning ended SEMO starter Clay Chandler's streak of 11 consecutive batters retired. Like Andrews, Chandler did not issue a walk over seven innings.
Andrews dominated the bottom two-thirds of the Redhawks' batting order. The four through nine hitters in the SEMO lineup were a combined 1-for-20 with seven strikeouts.
The series continues Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.