March 10, 2006
COLUMBIA, Mo. - For the third time in three weekends, the Purdue Boilermakers won a Friday night ocntest, this time defeating the No. 18 Missouri Tigers at Simmons Field 7-0.
And once again, Boilermaker starter Jay Buente was solid on the mound, picking up his second win of the season. In 8.0 innings on the hill, Buente (2-0) limited the Tigers to four hits while striking out nine. Buente has now struckout 23 batters in 23.0 innings, while registering a 1.17 ERA.
"Jay (Buente) gave us the opportunity to post a bg win," siad head coach Doug Schreiber. "He matched zeroes with (Max) Scherzer at the beginning of the game, and was lights out towards the end when we had the lead."
MU pitcher Max Scherzer, a preseason first team All-American, dominated the Boilermaker lineup for the first two innings, striking out four of the first six Purdue batters. To the delight of the Boilermakers, Buente was the equal to Scherzer, keeping Missouri off the scoreboard and striking out two in the first two frames.
The Boilermakers got on the scoreboard in the third thanks to the bunt. Eric Osborn led off the inning with a single to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dane Wolfe. Kyle Reesing dropped down a bunt single along the third base line, moving Osborn to third and giving Purdue runners on the corners. Mitch Hilligoss supplied a third consecutive bunt, laying down a safety squeeze and driving home Osborn. Spencer Ingaldson ripped a shot at MU shortstop Gary Arndt that was too hot to handle, caroming into left field and allowing Reesing to score the second run.
In the fifth inning, Missouri threatened with a walk and single to lead off the inning. With two on base and no one out, Arndt bunted the runners into scoring position. However, a 1-2 fielder's choice and a fly out to center wiped out the threat and kept the Boilermaker lead at 2-0.
Purdue stretched the lead to 3-0 in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by John Hunter. A leadoff walk to Hilligoss, an Ingaldson sacrifice bunt, and a single to center by Eric Wolfe put the Boilermaker shortstop on third base with one out, setting the stage for Hunter's RBI flyball to right-center.
Once again, Missouri put two runners on base with no outs as Evan Frey and Zane Taylor each singled to start the eighth inning. Buente was again up to the challenge, striking out the next three Tiger batters to leave runners on first and second and squelch the Mizzou threat.
Purdue iced the victory with four runs in the top of the ninth inning on four hits, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. An RBI single by Neal Gorka plated Eric Wolfe, and Osborn's double to left-center drove home pinch-runner Alex Jaffee. A sac fly by Dane Wolfe pushed home Gorka, and Jordan Comadena's double to right scored the final run as Osborn crossed the plate.
Purdue closer Chris Toneguzzi recorded the final three outs for the Boilermakers, locking up the Boilermaker win.
Eric Wolfe, Osborn and Reesing each had two hits in the game. It was the fourth consecutive game that Osborn has produced a pair of base hits, all against ranked opponents.
Purdue and Mizzou return to Taylor Stadium at Simmons Field on Saturday at 2 p.m. Central (3 p.m. Eastern) for Game Two of the three-game series. The game will be broadcast on 1410 AM WLAS in the Lafayette area, and on the web at www.purduesports.com.