Xavier comes from behind
to beat Boilers
By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor
The first two outs came with ease for the Purdue
baseball team. It was that third out that often troubled the Boilers
in their 6-5 loss to Xavier Wednesday at Lambert Field.
The Musketeers (18-26) rallied to score with two
outs in the sixth and eighth innings to come from behind for the win.
With the score tied at five in the top of the eighth
and a runner on second, Purdue's Billy Lester faced Xavier first baseman
Andres Mark.
"When the guy got on and they bunted him over,
there was a base open and I tried to pitch around him a little bit,"
Lester said. "I got up on him 1-2 and then I let 'em fall and walked
him."
A few pitches later, Lester (3-2) gave up an RBI
single to Xavier sophomore Jarret Sues. That run proved to be the game-winner.
Purdue coach Doug Schreiber thinks the two-out
rallies were signs that people were getting complacent before finishing
their job.
"Physically, Xavier beat us, but mentally we beat
ourselves today," he said. "I'm sure our guys overlooked this team and
they didn't come hungry; they didn't come focused. I'm not talking about
the whole team, but there were certain individuals."
Purdue (27-14) led 5-1 after five innings. In the
fifth, left fielder Nick McIntyre hit a two-run single to score Daniel
Underwood and David Blomberg. Underwood had doubled earlier to make
the score 3-1 in favor of Purdue.
McIntyre's home run in the third inning —
his second of the year — gave Purdue its first lead at 2-1.
But Purdue's lead didn't stand for long. In the
top of the sixth, after pitcher Ben Kaebisch got the first two Musketeers
out, a walk and four consecutive singles led to four Xavier runs and
a 5-all tie.
"Once you've got two outs, as a pitcher, you've
got to get tougher than you were the first and second outs," Blomberg
said. "I don't think there was much of a sense of urgency to keep going
when we got that four-run lead. We relaxed a little bit instead of trying
to keep adding on to our lead."
Blomberg tried to add to the lead when he extended
his hitting streak to 19 games with a double in the seventh.
In the bottom of the ninth, he was on deck with
the tying run, designated hitter John Badylak, who had reached on a
base hit, on first base. But Daniel Underwood grounded out to the pitcher
to end the game.
"We didn't get the timely hits late in the game,"
Blomberg said. "But we've got to find a way to make the play in that
situation.
"We had nine hits. I mean, we really should have
had a little more than that."
Purdue had won all five midweek nonconference games
it had played since Big Ten competition began on March 23 against Minnesota.
The Boilers beat Valparaiso 13-6 Tuesday in Valparaiso, Ind. But Schreiber
didn't mind that the streak of wins over nonconference opponents was
over.
"I'd rather have this loss midweek than on the
weekend if there's a lesson to learn, but we'll see if our guys are
willing to learn from it or if they're going to be hardheaded like they
were today," Schreiber said.
Purdue was hardheaded and hardhanded in making
two errors in the first as Xavier took a 1-0 lead on starter Dustin
Glant. Base-running mistakes cost Purdue an extra run in the third as
Blomberg got picked off just before McIntyre's homer.
"Offensively, defensively, pitching, we've got
experienced guys that made inexperienced mistakes," Schreiber said.
"This deep into the season and this deep into their careers, that shouldn't
happen. When it does happen, you should expect to get beat."
|
