May 27, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Purdue bats never seemed to work against Glen Perkins as Minnesota knocked the Boilermakers into an elimination game on Thursday evening, defeating the Old Gold and Black at Siebert Field, 6-1.
Perkins, the Golden Gopher starting pitcher and the 2004 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Purdue, limiting the Boilermakers to two hits for the game. Perkins tied a career high by striking out 15 batters in the game.
The Boilermakers could only muster an unearned run off the Minnesota southpaw, who is now 17-0 in 18 career starts against Big Ten opponents. The attempt at the first no-hitter in Big Ten Tournament history was foiled in the seventh when Andy Dahl (Fair Oaks, Calif.) singled cleanly to centerfield.
Purdue did lead briefly, pushing an unearned run across the plate in the fourth inning. Ben Fritz (Minnetonka, Minn.) reached base on a fielding error by Minnesota's David Hrncirik at third base and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After Fritz swiped third base, John Hunter (West Lafayette, Ind.) lined a shot to right field that was deep enough to allow Fritz to tag from third and score the Boilermakers' run.
Minnesota exploded in the fifth inning for three runs to take the lead for good. After an RBI ground out pushed across the first Gopher run, Matt Fornasiere doubled to left-center to plate two more runs and go up 3-1. Minnesota had loaded the bases early in the inning on a single and two walks.
Insurance was added to the Gopher lead in the eighth on an RBI double by Andy Hunter and a two-run home run off the bat of Mike Mee, his sixth of the year.
The loss dropped Purdue to 29-27 on the season and into an elimination game against the winner of Friday's noon game between Michigan State and Ohio State. The Boilermaker game is slated to start at 3:35 p.m. with a radio broadcast starting at 3:20 p.m. on WLAS AM1410 in the Lafayette area.