SUGAR LAND, Texas – Purdue Baseball batted around twice in the first three innings – hitting for the cycle in a five-run bottom of the first – and rode the early lead to a 16-12 victory vs. Stephen F. Austin on Sunday to complete a four-game series sweep.
The Boilermakers opened the season 4-0 for the second time in the last four years. They're now 14-2 at Constellation Field while playing at Triple-A stadium near Houston for the opening weekend of each of the last four seasons.
Purdue carried a 12-1 lead into the fourth inning, but SFA did not quietly – outscoring the Boilermakers 11-4 over the final six innings. The Lumberjacks brought the tying run to the plate while loading the bases with two outs in the ninth inning.
Purdue's 2024 regular-season finale vs. Illinois also featured a combined 28 runs. Sunday's game represented the highest combined run total in a Boilermaker victory since a 16-15 final vs. Indiana in April 2022. Coincidentally, Friday's season-opening doubleheader featured only a combined 11 runs.
Logan Sutter connected for RBI doubles in the first, second and eighth innings. It marked the third year in a row a Boilermaker has posted a three-double game, the last two coming at Constellation Field. Sutter hit safely and drove in a run in all four games of the series. Over the last two seasons at Constellation Field, he's 17-for-31 (.548) with nine doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI.
Keenan Spence and Brandon Anderson both connected for a home run over the first three innings as the Boilermakers built their 12-1 lead. Spence hit a towering blast – a three-run shot – to left field on a Sunday in Sugar Land for the second year in a row. Anderson pulled a no-doubter past the right field foul pole and onto the roof of the bullpen in the third inning for his first home run as a Boilermaker.
Lukas Cook had two extra-base hits for the second day in a row, connecting for an RBI triple in the first inning and leading off the eighth inning with a double. Purdue went on to score twice in the eighth and it helped make the top of the ninth a bit less nerve-wracking after SFA mounted its rally.
The Boilermakers' team cycle in the first inning featured Sutter's first double, Cook's triple, Spence's home run and a single from CJ Richmond.
Brayden Olson went six-up, six-down over the first two innings in his first start as a Boilermaker. But he did not fare as well when he was forced to pitch from the stretch after SFA recorded inning-opening hits the next two frames.
Olson was the first of nine Purdue pitchers to take the mound. Enas Hayden was the only one not to allow a base runner, working a 1-2-3 fifth inning. Avery Cook closed out a win for the third time in the series after earning saves in both games of Friday's doubleheader. The Lumberjacks registered a pair of singles against Cook to plate an inherited runner while loading the bases. Both outs Cook recorded Sunday came via strikeouts.
The Boilermakers are back in action Friday when they open a four-game series vs. Niagara, a 2024 NCAA Regional qualifier as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament champion, at Ting Stadium in Holly Springs, N.C.
The Boilermakers opened the season 4-0 for the second time in the last four years. They're now 14-2 at Constellation Field while playing at Triple-A stadium near Houston for the opening weekend of each of the last four seasons.
Purdue carried a 12-1 lead into the fourth inning, but SFA did not quietly – outscoring the Boilermakers 11-4 over the final six innings. The Lumberjacks brought the tying run to the plate while loading the bases with two outs in the ninth inning.
Purdue's 2024 regular-season finale vs. Illinois also featured a combined 28 runs. Sunday's game represented the highest combined run total in a Boilermaker victory since a 16-15 final vs. Indiana in April 2022. Coincidentally, Friday's season-opening doubleheader featured only a combined 11 runs.
| TEAM LEADERS | |
| SUNDAY Logan Sutter: 3-for-4, 3 2B, 3 RBI, BB, HBP, R CJ Richmond: 3-for-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 3 R, SB Brandon Anderson: 2-for-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R Ty Gill: 3-for-5, RBI, 2 R Keenan Spence: 3-Run HR |
SERIES Logan Sutter: 8-for-14, 3 2B, HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 6 R, 2 SB Ty Gill: 6-for-12, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, HBP, 4 R Lukas Cook: 5-for-10, 3 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, 3 R Sergio DeCello: 5-for-13, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 5 R Brandon Anderson: 4-for-12, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 3 R, BB |
Logan Sutter connected for RBI doubles in the first, second and eighth innings. It marked the third year in a row a Boilermaker has posted a three-double game, the last two coming at Constellation Field. Sutter hit safely and drove in a run in all four games of the series. Over the last two seasons at Constellation Field, he's 17-for-31 (.548) with nine doubles, two home runs and 15 RBI.
Keenan Spence and Brandon Anderson both connected for a home run over the first three innings as the Boilermakers built their 12-1 lead. Spence hit a towering blast – a three-run shot – to left field on a Sunday in Sugar Land for the second year in a row. Anderson pulled a no-doubter past the right field foul pole and onto the roof of the bullpen in the third inning for his first home run as a Boilermaker.
Lukas Cook had two extra-base hits for the second day in a row, connecting for an RBI triple in the first inning and leading off the eighth inning with a double. Purdue went on to score twice in the eighth and it helped make the top of the ninth a bit less nerve-wracking after SFA mounted its rally.
The Boilermakers' team cycle in the first inning featured Sutter's first double, Cook's triple, Spence's home run and a single from CJ Richmond.
Brayden Olson went six-up, six-down over the first two innings in his first start as a Boilermaker. But he did not fare as well when he was forced to pitch from the stretch after SFA recorded inning-opening hits the next two frames.
Olson was the first of nine Purdue pitchers to take the mound. Enas Hayden was the only one not to allow a base runner, working a 1-2-3 fifth inning. Avery Cook closed out a win for the third time in the series after earning saves in both games of Friday's doubleheader. The Lumberjacks registered a pair of singles against Cook to plate an inherited runner while loading the bases. Both outs Cook recorded Sunday came via strikeouts.
The Boilermakers are back in action Friday when they open a four-game series vs. Niagara, a 2024 NCAA Regional qualifier as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament champion, at Ting Stadium in Holly Springs, N.C.