Baseball team wins three
of four at Illinois
After dropping the opening game of its series to
Illinois, Purdue came back to win the last three and keep its hold on
first place in the conference.
In Sunday's series finale, the Illini (20-22, 8-11
Big Ten) took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, but the
Boilers (23-16, 14-4) came through in the ninth with a three-run home
run and the Boilers walked away with a 9-8 win.
Billy Lester (3-1) took the win, throwing 1 1/3
innings and allowing one run on one hit after loading the bases in the
ninth. He walked three and struck out one.
Illinois closer Jeff Gertz (0-2) took the loss
after throwing one inning of relief and allowing three runs on two hits.
Purdue had a 4-1 lead after three innings on Illini.
That included three solo home runs — two off the bat of second
baseman David Blomberg.
The day before, Blomberg, Daniel Underwood, McIntyre,
John Gusich and Mike Duursma had two hits each as Purdue beat Illinois
16-2 to sweep a doubleheader.
Freshman Simon Klink went 3-for-3 to lead the 16-hit
attack.
David Gassner pitched his fourth complete game
in his last five outings for the win.
Purdue had four home runs in the game. David Harrell
hit his fifth of the year to give the Boilermakers a 3-0 lead in the
first inning.
After Gassner retired the side in the first, Gusich
led off the second inning with a blast to left field, his third home
run of the year. Underwood hit a two-run homer to center field later
in the inning. Three of the first four hits for the Boilermakers were
home runs. It was Underwood's second home run of the year.
He added his third on a grand slam — the first
of his career — in the third inning. Purdue led 14-0 after four
and a half innings and cruised.
Gassner retired the first five batters he faced,
striking out three of those five. He had eight strikeouts in the first
four innings. In his last two starts, Gassner has 14 innings pitched,
three earned runs (1.93 ERA), 19 strikeouts and just four walks.
Purdue won the first game of the doubleheader 5-2
as Chadd Blasko pitched his second consecutive complete game and Duursma
and Blomberg each added two hits to spark the Boilermaker offense.
After giving up a leadoff home run to Brady Ballard
and letting the next two batters on base, Blasko struck out Luke Simmons,
then stopped a Rob Fischer ground ball, throwing out Andy Schutzenhofer
at second. He ended the inning forcing a fly out.
A two-run double by Duursma in the second gave
Purdue a 2-0 lead.
Purdue led 3-2 after three innings.
After Illinois' second run, Blasko retired the
next 12 batters in a row before giving up a single to Kris Kapriva.
In his last two outings, Blasko has two complete
games including 16 innings pitched, four earned runs (2.25 ERA), 12
strikeouts and two walks. His five victories now lead the team.
In the top of the fifth, on the very first pitch,
Duursma drilled his first home run of the season to left field, increasing
Purdue's lead to 4-2.
In the sixth inning, Gusich was able to score from
second on a throwing error as Purdue increased its lead to 5-2, closing
the scoring for both teams.
Illinois took the first game of the series 11-4
on Friday night.
Andy Dickinson (8-1) got the win for Illinois,
while Ben Quick (4-4) lost his first decision in his last four.
The Illini used a three-run first inning and a
four-run eighth inning to put the game out of reach.
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