By Keith Thomas
Staff writer

After winning the first three games of a four-game series with former-Big Ten leader Illinois, the Boilers had one thing in mind Sunday afternoon — a sweep.

Behind 10 runs, 16 hits and a solid relief performance from Chadd Blasko, the Boilers (28-14, 13-7 Big Ten) accomplished their goal, beating Illinois (27-16, 13-7) by a final score of 10-3 to complete the sweep.

For a handful of the Boiler seniors and co-captains, Sunday’s victory had more meaning than an average sweep of the No. 1 team in the conference.

"The whole time (all) I was thinking about was how … my freshmen year, Illinois won the Big Ten on our field," said senior switch hitter Daryl Hallada, Purdue’s all-time hits leader. "They swept us and they had a dog pile on our field."

Senior left hander David Gassner agreed. He said the feeling of redemption by sweeping the Illini was enjoyable.

"It was kind of cool to sweep them and get back at them for what they did to us," said Gassner.

Aside from the few Boiler co-captains who were savoring the revenge flavor, Purdue’s sweep of the Illini contained other more obvious implications, such as placing in the conference standings.

Coming into Friday’s series opener against Illinois, Purdue was in fourth place in the Big Ten, while the Illini were comfortably in sole possession of first. Four Purdue wins later and the Boilers have put themselves in a tie for third place in the conference with the Illini.

"You can’t downplay the fact that this was a great weekend for us," said Coach Doug Schreiber. "Now, we’ve got to be mature enough to come back and play strong."

One strong performance Sunday came from the arm of Blasko (3-1), who entered the game in the second inning in relief of starter Russ Morgan. Morgan gave up three runs in his lone inning of work. Blasko finished the game for the Boilers, allowing no runs on six hits while striking out two Illini batters.

"I just went out there and threw strikes and let my defense play defense behind me," said Blasko.

For Blasko and the rest of the Purdue pitching staff, it was business as usual, as it slowed a powerful offense. However, unlike other series in which they struggled offensively, the Boilers put together some key hits and scored runs on Sunday.

The Boiler batters, led Sunday by shortstop Mike Duursma’s 2-for-3 performance with three RBIs and a key third-inning double, accumulated 16 hits to produce their 10 runs. Sunday, however, was not the only time the Purdue offense outplayed that of the Illini.

Coming into Friday’s action, Illinois had the second-best offense in the Big Ten. Purdue, who four days ago was fourth in the same category, out hit the Illini 42-23 over the weekend, while outscoring them 30-10. Included in the weekend hit parade was designated hitter Hallada, who struggled earlier this season.

"I knew coming into the series that if I was productive, we were going to win games," said Hallada, who went 8-for-14 with eight RBIs and three doubles in the series.

In Saturday’s first game, the Boilers won 9-2, backed by 3-for-4 performances by Hallada and second baseman David Blomberg, as well as a solid outing from starter David Gassner (5-3).

Saturday’s second game featured a 2-for-3, one-RBI day from first baseman Kris Luce and solid pitching from Jeremy Ballard (6-2) and Ben Kaebisch to help the Boilers to a 7-2 victory.

The Boilers started the weekend on Friday with a 4-3 win, which was fueled by senior Erik Frei’s bat. Frei went 2-for-4 with three RBIs on a double and a home run — his fourth of the season. Starter Ben Quick (5-3) struck out a career-high 12 Illini batters in his 7 2/3 innings of work to earn the win. In the Friday win, Helmer picked up his Big Ten-leading 13th save of the season. Helmer needs one more save to become Purdue’s all-time saves leader.

The Boilers have only a day to savor the series' win. They play IUPUI at 3 p.m. at home on Tuesday before heading to Cincinnati to play Xavier Wednesday.

"I’m excited; we’ve got another tough weekend ahead," said Schreiber. "I mean, we’re not going to skate into anything."