May 16, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The hopes of postseason play were wiped away on Friday at Lambert Field as the Purdue Boilermaker baseball team fell to Michigan 3-2. The loss, along with a win by Indiana over Northwestern, mathematically eliminated the Boilermakers from the Big Ten Tournament field.
In the second inning, junior Simon Klink doubled to left field, tying the Purdue single-season record for two-base hits with 21. Klink tied the mark established by Nate Sickler in the 2001 campaign.
Michigan built a 2-0 lead with a run in the first inning and one in the second. An RBI double in the opening frame by Jake Fox scored Brock Koman with the game's first run. In the second, a safety squeeze pulled off by Matt Butler plated the Wolverines' second run.
Purdue responded in the bottom of the second with a run following Klink's leadoff double. Ben Fritz bunted down the third base line for a base hit, moving Klink to third. Klink scored on the play when Koman, the Michigan third baseman, threw the ball away at first.
The Boilermakers tied the game in the fourth inning when Daniel Underwood led off the stanza with a solo home run to left field. The blast was the senior's 12th of the season, moving him into sole possession of second place in the Big Ten home run race behing Michigan's Jake Fox (13).
The winning run was plated by the Wolverines in the sixth when Koman doubled to right-center with one out and was pushed home on a single by Fox.
Josh Herman (0-2) was hit with the loss in just his second start of the season and first since the opening weekend of the year when the senior started against Sacred Heart on March 2. Against Michigan, Herman yielded three runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work. Jason Driscoll pitched the final 3.2 innings for the Boilermakers without allowing a hit.
Tyler Johnstone, Ben Fritz and Nick McIntyre joined Daniel Underwood, the defending Big Ten Co-Player of the Week, with two-hit performances. The Boilermakers out-hit the Wolverines 10-8, but stranded six runners on base including four in scoring positon. Purdue loaded the bases in the sixth but failed to score.
Purdue and Michigan return to Lambert Field for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday before concluding the series on Sunday with a 1 p.m. game.