May 18, 2003
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - As if written in a script, the Purdue baseball team ended the 2003 season with a 7-2 win over Michigan at Lambert Field on Senior Day behind the pitching performance of senior Daniel Underwood, who pitched seven innings and allowed only two runs on four hits while striking out five Wolverine batters.
The win capped the Boilermakers' season with a record of 29-26 overall and 13-18 in Big Ten play, winning the final three games of the year. Purdue finished the season in seventh place in the Big Ten Conference, missing the conference tournament field of six by three games. Michigan ended the regular season with an overall record of 29-25 and 16-14 in league action.
Prior to the start of Sunday's game, seven Purdue seniors were honored for their careers at Purdue. The seniors were Josh Herman (P), Brad Kriner (OF), John Manuel (2B/OF), Nick McIntyre (2B/C), Andy Rempel (OF), Matt Skripsky (P) and Daniel Underwood (OF/P).
Underwood (2-2), making just his fifth career start on the mound, was masterful from the beginning. The senior limited the Wolverine lineup, the most powerful in the Big Ten, to one hit through five innings, a second-inning infield single. Underwood's final line was 7.0 innings pitched, two runs allowed on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts. The win was the second for Underwood in five days, having earned the 'W' against Eastern Illinois on May 14.
Purdue waited until the third inning to get on the scoreboard againsrt UM starter Michael Penn (2-8), but then scored at least one run in five consecutive innings to run away with the contest.
As fate would have it, Underwood drove in the first run of the game. After a Tyler Johnstone single led off the third inning, the sophomore stole second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior Andy Rempel. Underwood lofted the first pitch into center field to score Johnstone from third with a sacrifice fly.
Senior John Manuel singled in the Boilermakers' second run, scoring fellow senior Brad Kriner from third in the fourth inning. Rempel singled later in the inning, and a throw towards first by Penn sailed high and allowed freshman John Hunter to score from second to give Purdue a 3-0 lead.
A single run in the fifth strecthed the Purdue advantage to 4-0. With two out in the inning and runners on first and second, Hunter singled up the middle to drive in his sixth run in three games.
RBI base hits in the sixth by junior Simon Klink and senior Nick McIntyre pushed the lead to 6-0. Klink's single through the right side of the infield plated Johnstone, who led off an inning with a base hit for the third time in the game. Junior Ben Fritz singled to bring McIntyre to the plate with two runners on and the senior delivered a base hit through the middle to score Klink.
Michigan mounted it's only offense of the game in the seventh. With one down in the frame, Jordan Cantalamessa connected for his ninth home run of the season, scoring Mike Sokol before him to cut the Purdue lead to 6-2.
The Boilermakers answered in the home half of the inning with base running. Johnstone singled with two outs, and Rempel follwed with a single that moved Johnstone to third. On the second pitch to Underwood, Rempel broke for second base and received a throw from UM catcher Jake Fox. On the throw towards second, Johnstone broke for the plate and slid in safely with a steal of home, his 12th swipe of the year. Rempel's steal was his 24th of the 2003 campaign, tying him for fifth on the Purdue single-season list with Mark Tomsyck (1997).
Juniors Jason Driscoll and Dustin Glant pitched the final 2.0 innings of the contest, shutting down Michigan. The win gave the Boilermakers a 3-1 series win over the Wolverines, the first series win since Purdue won 3-of-4 from Illinois.
In the game, Tyler Johnstone was the offensive sparkplug, going 4-5 with three runs scored in the leadoff position. Simon Klink was 3-4, while Nick McIntyre and John Hunter each collected two hits.