IOWA CITY, Iowa - Purdue (15-39, 6-15 B1G) needed just five innings to defeat Iowa (20-30, 6-15 B1G) by a score of 9-1 at Bob Pearl Field to clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament. The Boilermakers have an opportunity to jump the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten standings in game three Sunday.
Sydney Bates delivered a complete-game shutout, tossing five innings and striking out five while allowing seven hits and two walks. The Hawkeyes stranded nine runners on base due to clutch pitching by the redshirt freshman and seven of the nine runners left on base were stranded in scoring position. Bates escaped two bases-loaded jams and three of the five innings, Iowa had a runner in scoring position with less than two outs.
The complete-game victory is her second in as many days, giving Bates 12 innings with just one earned run, three walks and nine strikeouts. The Davie, Florida, native has now thrown 11-straight scoreless innings since giving up a two-out run in the first inning of game one.
Purdue set the tone early with a four-run first thanks to a two-RBI single by Madison Douglass and a two-run blast by Emily Kenny. Not only did the Boilermakers came out hot, but they executed with the pressure on as all four runs came with two outs in the inning. Iowa was able to hold off Purdue in the ensuing three innings but the flood gates opened in the fifth as the Hawkeyes registered all three of their errors in the frame and the Boilermakers made them pay. Kenny, Alexa Binckes and Mallory Baker all came through with runs batted in in the inning.
Nine runs by the Boilermakers came on eight hits, two of which came off the bat of Kenny who finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and three runs batted in. Baker and Douglass were responsible for the other three runs batted in with Baker, Ryleigh Scott, Jenny Behan, Madison Douglass, Halle Hixenbaugh and Alexa Binckes accounting for a hit each.
The Boilermakers conclude the regular season Sunday against Iowa at 2 p.m. ET at Bob Pearl Field. With a win Purdue will not only sweep the Hawkeyes, it will jump both Iowa and Maryland in the Big Ten Standings to enter the Big Ten Tournament as a 10 seed.
