March 26, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Boilermakers made it five wins in a row at home with a 15-0 blanking of the Valparaiso Crusaders at Lambert Field on Wednesday afternoon.
In the team's final game before the start of the Big Ten season, the Boilermakers (7-11) rattled off a season-best 20 hits, six for extra bases. Over the last five games Purdue has scored 62 runs and collected 79 hits - 28 for extra bases.
The game started slowly for the Boilermakers as the teams headed to the third inning in a scoreless tie. Purdue snapped the deadlock in the bottom of the third with a single run and added single scores in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Ben Wolgamot singled to start the Boilermaker third inning and moved to second when Ryne White was hit by a pitch. A double-steal put the runners on second and third, and Jordan Comadena's grounder to second plated Wolgamot with the game's first run.
With two outs and no one on in the fourth, back-to-back singles by Nick Overmyer and Brandon Haveman accompanied by a throwing error by Valparaiso left fielder Jason Brunelli led to Purdue's second run. On Haveman's single to left Overmyer moved from first to third. Brunelli's errant throw found itself into the Purdue dugout, allowing Overmyer to score from third.
In the fifth inning White sent a 2-0 offering from Crusader starting pitcher Jon Gulbrnasen over the right field wall for his third home run of the season and a 3-0 Purdue lead.
Another single run crossed the plate for Purdue in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Haveman, driving in Jon Moore. Moore, last week's Big Ten Player of the Week, singled to lead off the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Reesing and to third on a single by Overmyer, setting up Haveman's RBI.
The seventh inning provided the knockout punch in grand fashion as the Purdue Nine scored 10 runs, the second 10-plus run inning in as many games for the Boilermakers.
Dan Black led off the seventh with his second home run of the season, a deep blast over the left field wall. Singles by Eric Nielsen and Moore brought up Drew Madia, whose single to right drove in Nielsen. A double by Overmyer plated Moore and sent Madia to third, and a fielding error by Valpo pitcher Derek Smith on a Haveman grounder loaded the bases for Wolgamot, who tripled to left-center to drive home three runs.
With the score 9-0 and still no outs in the seventh, White singled through the right side to drove home Wolgamot. White moved up a base when a pickoff attempt at first went awry. A throw from from second baseman Brett Bivens hit the helmet of White during the run-down, allowing the Boilermaker to advance safely on the error. Comadena walked and Nielsen singled for the second time in the inning to drive home White from second. A double to left by Moore drove home Comadena and Madia was hit by a pitch to load the bases. David Blount picked up an RBI with a pinch-hit single to left-center to cap the scoring, making the score 14-0.
Purdue tacked on one more run in the eighth when a grounder to shortstop was misplayed, allowing Eric Charles to score from third with Purdue's 15th run of the game.
Matt Morgan started on the mound and picked up the win for Purdue. Morgan allowed four hits and two walks in 4.2 innings while striking out five batters. The game was just the second appearance of Morgan's career and first collegiate start.
Andy Loomis, Chris Ivanic and Josh Lindblom closed out the shutout, Purdue's third in five games. The trio of relievers yielded one hit in 4.1 innings and struck out four batters.
Eight of the nine starters in the Purdue batting order had at least one run scored as well as one RBI, with Wolgamot leading the way with three runs batted in. Moore had a four-hit afternoon, Nielsen and Overmyer added three base hits in the win and three other Boilers had two-hit games.
Purdue stays home in the opening weekend of Big Ten action, taking on Northwestern beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 28, at Lambert Field. One season ago, the Wildcats swept the four-game series from Purdue in Evanston.