April 12, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Purdue nine evened the Big Ten baseball series with an 8-3 win over Northwestern in the first game of a Saturday twinbill at Rocky Miller Park in Evanston, Ill. The win improved the Boilermakers to 16-13 overall and 5-5 in Big Ten play, while Northwestern slipped to 11-11 and 4-4.
The Boilermakers overcame a one-run deficit with two runs in the sixth inning and three in the seventh to post the win. In the game, Purdue out-hit the Wildcats 12-6 behind clutch hitting and a solid pitching performance by Chris Toneguzzi.
Northwestern grabbed a 2-0 lead after one inning on a two-run single by Dan Pohlman, scoring Eric Roeder and Jon Mikrut with the game's first runs.
Simon Klink and Ben Fritz were recipients of walks to begin the second inning and Brad Kriner singled to right to score Klink and push Fritz to third. Kriner moved to second base on the play when NU first baseman Jason Kryinski mishandled the relay throw from right. John Hunter walked to load the bases for the Boilermakers, but the visitors could not capitalize on the one-out situation, stranding three runners on base.
The Boilermakers gained the lead in the top of the third with two runs on two hits. Nick McIntyre singled on the infield to lead off the inning and Klink drew a one-out base on balls. A passed ball charged to Ken Padgett of Northwestern advanced the Purdue baserunners to second and third. Fritz flared a single into center field that scored McIntyre with the tying run. With runners on first and second, Purdue broke with a double-steal and Padgett's throw to third sailed high into left field, allowing Klink to score to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Old Gold and Black.
Northwestern tied the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning on a solo home run to right field off the bat of Pohlman, his fourth of the season.
Kriner led off the Purdue half of the sixth inning with a single up the middle and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Eric Wolfe. Koester singled through the left side of the infield to push Kriner to third base. After a fielder's choice by Tyler Johnstone erased Koester from the bases, McIntyre singled past third baseman Josh Leiberman to drive home Kriner. Johnstone and McIntyre were successful on a double-steal, and Wildcat hurler J.A. Happ tossed a pitch to the backstop allowing Johnstone to score from third base to give Purdue a 5-3 advantage.
The Boilermakers began the seventh inning with a bunt single by Fritz and a hit-by-pitch to John Manuel from NU reliever Evan Blesoff. After a passed ball moved the runners to second and third, Kriner drew a free pass to load the bases. Wolfe lined a single through the drawn-in infield to score Fritz from third and Koester followed with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right to drive in Manuel with Purdue's seventh run of the game. Kriner scored one batter later when Johnstone lofted a sacrifice fly to right.
With the win, Toneguzzi improved his record to 4-1 on the year. The freshman threw 6.0 innings with six hits and three runs allowed. Toneguzzi walked one batter and struck out two. Dustin Glant hurled the final inning to close the game. Northwestern's J.A. Happ, the reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, was saddled with the loss after yielding five runs in 5.2 innings of work.
Nick McIntyre, the Big Ten Hitter of the Week, went 3-5 at the plate with a run and RBI. Ben Fritz and Brad Kriner each collected two hits in three at-bats.
Purdue and Northwestern will meet once more on Saturday afternoon before concluding the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.