OMAHA, Neb. – Rutgers blew open a game that was tied 3-3 through six innings by plating six runners that reached base via walks over its final two frames, defeating Purdue baseball 10-3 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
The Boilermakers (29-20) will face No. 3 seed Iowa on Friday at 10 a.m. ET in the first elimination game of the eight-team event. Purdue has not played the Hawkeyes at the Big Ten Tournament since 2010. Rutgers (42-14) plays Penn State on Friday at 2 p.m. ET and the loser gets the winner of the Purdue-Iowa game in another elimination contest Saturday morning.
Cam Thompson hit his team-leading 13th home run of the season in his first career at-bat at the Big Ten Tournament, matching Jacson McGowan for the most long balls by a Boilermaker in the BBCOR bat era (2011-present). Thompson has moved into ninth place in team history with his 55 RBI, the most by a Boilermaker since McGowan (59) in 2018.
Purdue connected for four doubles over its first 12 at-bats of the game. Troy Viola, Evan Albrecht, Jake Jarvis and CJ Valdez all ripped doubles to left field over the second and third innings. Viola was aboard when Thompson went deep and Albrecht scored on an RBI ground out from Steve Ramirez.
After not issuing a free pass over the first seven frames, Purdue walked four of the first five batters in Rutgers' five-run seventh inning. Three consecutive batters walked on a full-count pitch. The Scarlet Knights did not hit the ball out of the infield until Josh Kuroda-Grauer delivered a two-out, two-run single as the eighth batter of the frame.
The go-ahead run scored on a bases-loaded walk to Evan Sleight as Khal Stephen, the Boilermakers' third pitcher of the day, just missed the outside corner on the sixth pitch of the at-bat. An infield single followed and plated another run. Stephen induced a comebacker off the bat of Richie Schiekofer but he was unable to field it cleanly and had to settle for an out at first instead of a potential inning-ending 1-2-3 double play. Kuroda-Grauer followed with his two-run single to left field.
Purdue had the middle of the order up in the third inning after Curtis Washington Jr. singled and Valdez doubled to open the third inning. But the golden opportunity went by the board after a pair of strikeouts and a foul pop up. Rutgers went to the bullpen for a sidearmer with one out in the frame.
Jarvis and Ramirez connected for consecutive singles around a pitching change in the sixth inning, giving the Boilermakers two aboard with no outs for the top of the lineup. But RU again struck out the next two batters and squashed the threat.
The 12 men left on base were Purdue's most in a loss since stranding a season-high 17 runners April 24 vs. Belmont.
Wyatt Wendell struck out Rutgers' 3-4-5 hitters in order in the first inning after giving up a leadoff home run to Ryan Lasko. Nine-hole hitter Mike Nyisztor connected for a two-run double to tie the game in the bottom of the second. Wendell retired eight of 10 batters from the second through the fourth innings, but was lifted to begin the bottom of the fifth before a third trip through the lineup. He struck out five and did not issue a walk while throwing 60 pitches over four innings.
Viola connected for his sixth double in the last six games and now has a team-high 19 for the season. One more two-bagger would make Viola just the eighth Boilermaker, and first since 2012, with 20 doubles.
Washington singled twice to extend his hit streak to seven consecutive games. Mike Bolton Jr. singled to extend his on-base streak to nine straight games. Bolton also stole his 28th base to take over sole possession of fourth place on Purdue's single-season list.
Purdue will be the designated home team Friday morning vs. Iowa.
The Boilermakers (29-20) will face No. 3 seed Iowa on Friday at 10 a.m. ET in the first elimination game of the eight-team event. Purdue has not played the Hawkeyes at the Big Ten Tournament since 2010. Rutgers (42-14) plays Penn State on Friday at 2 p.m. ET and the loser gets the winner of the Purdue-Iowa game in another elimination contest Saturday morning.
Cam Thompson hit his team-leading 13th home run of the season in his first career at-bat at the Big Ten Tournament, matching Jacson McGowan for the most long balls by a Boilermaker in the BBCOR bat era (2011-present). Thompson has moved into ninth place in team history with his 55 RBI, the most by a Boilermaker since McGowan (59) in 2018.
Purdue connected for four doubles over its first 12 at-bats of the game. Troy Viola, Evan Albrecht, Jake Jarvis and CJ Valdez all ripped doubles to left field over the second and third innings. Viola was aboard when Thompson went deep and Albrecht scored on an RBI ground out from Steve Ramirez.
But the Boilermakers left 12 men on base, stranding multiple runners in the third, fifth, sixth and ninth innings. They had two on with no outs in the third and sixth innings but were unable to break the 3-3 tie.#Purdue OF Cam Thompson with the 2 run bomb to send the boilermakers up 2-1 against Rutgers! #BigTenTournament pic.twitter.com/JAg0EXkBYO
— mac johnson 📸 (@macjohnsonmedia) May 26, 2022
After not issuing a free pass over the first seven frames, Purdue walked four of the first five batters in Rutgers' five-run seventh inning. Three consecutive batters walked on a full-count pitch. The Scarlet Knights did not hit the ball out of the infield until Josh Kuroda-Grauer delivered a two-out, two-run single as the eighth batter of the frame.
The go-ahead run scored on a bases-loaded walk to Evan Sleight as Khal Stephen, the Boilermakers' third pitcher of the day, just missed the outside corner on the sixth pitch of the at-bat. An infield single followed and plated another run. Stephen induced a comebacker off the bat of Richie Schiekofer but he was unable to field it cleanly and had to settle for an out at first instead of a potential inning-ending 1-2-3 double play. Kuroda-Grauer followed with his two-run single to left field.
Purdue had the middle of the order up in the third inning after Curtis Washington Jr. singled and Valdez doubled to open the third inning. But the golden opportunity went by the board after a pair of strikeouts and a foul pop up. Rutgers went to the bullpen for a sidearmer with one out in the frame.
Jarvis and Ramirez connected for consecutive singles around a pitching change in the sixth inning, giving the Boilermakers two aboard with no outs for the top of the lineup. But RU again struck out the next two batters and squashed the threat.
The 12 men left on base were Purdue's most in a loss since stranding a season-high 17 runners April 24 vs. Belmont.
Wyatt Wendell struck out Rutgers' 3-4-5 hitters in order in the first inning after giving up a leadoff home run to Ryan Lasko. Nine-hole hitter Mike Nyisztor connected for a two-run double to tie the game in the bottom of the second. Wendell retired eight of 10 batters from the second through the fourth innings, but was lifted to begin the bottom of the fifth before a third trip through the lineup. He struck out five and did not issue a walk while throwing 60 pitches over four innings.
Viola connected for his sixth double in the last six games and now has a team-high 19 for the season. One more two-bagger would make Viola just the eighth Boilermaker, and first since 2012, with 20 doubles.
Washington singled twice to extend his hit streak to seven consecutive games. Mike Bolton Jr. singled to extend his on-base streak to nine straight games. Bolton also stole his 28th base to take over sole possession of fourth place on Purdue's single-season list.
Purdue will be the designated home team Friday morning vs. Iowa.
🍪 A Hanger & A Banger!! @Cameront4224 tattoos it #BoilerUp 🚀 pic.twitter.com/qqsiLSt12v
— Purdue Baseball (@PurdueBaseball) May 26, 2022