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ST. LOUIS - Purdue baseball held the lead entering the fifth inning for the second day in a row, but Saint Louis scored six times with two outs during a pair of big innings to rally for 7-3 victory vs. the Boilermakers on Sunday.
Purdue (9-9) lost the final six games of its eight-game spring break trip. The Billikens (11-7) swept their third straight weekend series, completing a 10-0 homestand. They're riding the longest active win streak in the nation.
Freshman Trent Johnson worked four shutout innings of one-hit ball in his second start of the road trip. He issued three walks and hit a batter his first time through the lineup, but managed to strand all four runners. Johnson retired eight of the final nine batters he faced and struck out five. The right-hander surrendered just three hits over eight innings on spring break.
Saint Louis strung together five consecutive two-out hits against Bo Hofstra (1-2) in the fifth inning. Dating back to Purdue's Feb. 23 win vs. SLU in San Antonio, Hofstra retired the first 13 Billikens to bat against him this season. But the heart of the Saint Louis lineup produced the four-run rally that gave the home team the lead for good Sunday. James Morisano's two-run triple on a fly ball into the right field corner was the big blow and final hit of the frame.
The Billikens collected eight of their 10 hits with two outs. Purdue's only two-out hit was an RBI single from Jacson McGowan in the sixth inning.
Like the players, Coach Waz feels he & the coaching staff can also perform better on gameday. #Purdue's current 6-game slide is the longest during his tenure. #Boilermakers are 9-9 returning home from spring break trip. pic.twitter.com/aq8BmlP7xa
-- Purdue Baseball (@PurdueBaseball) March 18, 2018
Ben Nisle contributed a sacrifice fly and leadoff bunt single in the fifth inning. The freshman finished the spring break trip 11-for-31 with four RBI and six runs scored. With a runner on third base and less than two outs, he has plated that run in six of his seven opportunities this year. Nisle's four sacrifice flies are more than the rest of the team combined.
Harry Shipley had two hits Sunday and finished the four games vs. SLU this season 7-for-13 with six runs scored.
Nick Dalesandro scored on Nisle's sacrifice fly after a one-out triple in the second inning. He made it to third base after center fielder Aaron Case came up empty while trying to make a diving catch.
The Boilermakers' leadoff man reached base safely four times from the third through eighth innings, but they were unable to score multiple runs in an inning Sunday. Purdue had runners on the corners with no outs in the top of the eighth, but SLU reliever Sean Frontzak induced a 6-4-3 double play to squash the potential rally.
Drew Reveno (3-1) worked 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball in his first start of the season. The right-hander limited the Boilermakers to three runs on eight hits in 11 innings over two appearances against Purdue this year. Carter Hanford homered for the second day in a row after delivering the go-ahead single in the fifth inning. The Billikens hit five home runs in the series.
With a stretch of five consecutive weekends on the road to begin the season complete, Purdue is slated to play its four games this week in the state of Indiana. Before Lipscomb comes to campus for the home-opening weekend at Alexander Field, the Boilermakers will visit Ball State on Tuesday for their midweek opener. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. ET.