Evans Retires 14 in a Row as Boilers Top #11 Oregon St.

ROUND ROCK, Texas – Jarvis Evans retired 14 consecutive batters while rolling through four straight 1-2-3 innings and Purdue Baseball scored four times in the fifth inning to defeat No. 11 Oregon State on Sunday at the Round Rock Classic.

The Boilermakers posted their highest-ranked win since April 2018 when they won the series opener at No. 10 Indiana. Purdue won two of the three at the elite Round Rock Classic this weekend, finishing their season-opening road trip in Texas with a 4-3 record. The Boilers came back to win the weekend after losing Friday during both weekends. Purdue finished as the runner-up at the Round Rock Classic behind No. 20 Southern Miss (3-0).

With Oregon State making its eighth College World Series appearance last season, the Boilermakers posted their first win against a team that played in Omaha the year before since a shutout victory at Texas in February 2019.

Feb. 23 Update: CJ Richmond, Westin Boyle and Brandon Rogers all represented Purdue on the Round Rock Classic All-Tournament Team.

Jarvis (1-0) teamed up with relief pitchers Austin Klug, Trevor Kester-Johnson and Jake Kramer to hold the Beavers (4-3) to four singles and six total base runners. The Boilermakers did not surrender an extra-base hit for the first time since their Big Ten Conference-opening win at Minnesota last season. Purdue was also victorious without an extra-base hit at the plate on game two of this road trip.

A walk, two singles and an RBI ground out allowed Oregon State to score twice in the second inning, but Jarvis pitched the next four frames entirely out of the windup. The lefty’s stretch of 14 consecutive batters retired spanned from the final out of the bottom of the second through the first out of the seventh.

With Jarvis at 90 pitches following a one-out walk in the seventh inning, Purdue turned to Klug out of the bullpen and the senior induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. CJ Richmond made a quality pick at first base to complete the twin killing.

Jarvis pitched to contact effectively and the Boilers backed him up defensively with another clean game. The only error Purdue was charged with in the tournament came on a failed pickoff at second base Friday. The Boilermakers have been charged with just three errors in their first seven games overall, posting a .988 fielding percentage.

Meanwhile, a two-base error on a squeeze bunt off the bat of Eli Anderson proved to be the key play of Purdue’s four-run fifth inning. Fresh in the game as the Boilers’ lineup rolled over for a third time through, Wyatt Queen threw the ball away down the right field line on Anderson’s bunt. Brandon Rogers and Sergio DeCello both scored on the miscue. Westin Boyle followed with an RBI ground out to score Anderson.

Dylan Dake joined Ali Banks and Richmond with a pair of hits each. It was Drake’s leadoff single that ignited the four-run rally. Richmond hit an opposite-field double to open the second inning and scored on an RBI ground out from Drake.

Richmond has hit safely in each of the first seven games of the season. Boyle (5) and Richmond (4) teamed up to drive in nine of Purdue’s 15 runs in the tournament. Banks and Rogers had four hits apiece over the Boilermakers’ two victories.

Klug followed up inducing the 6-4-3 double play with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth. A leadoff single in the ninth ended OSU’s streak of 19 consecutive hitless plate appearances. Kester-Johnson won a lefty-lefty matchup vs. the Beavers’ top hitter, Jacob Galloway, and Kramer retired the No. 3 and 4 hitters to close out the win without allowing the potential tying run to come to the plate.

Kramer retired five of the six batters he faced over the last two days to earn a win and a save, finding his footing after a rocky start to the road trip (4 H, 7 BB, 4 R over 3 IP).

Purdue is back in action Friday when it opens a four-game series vs. first-time opponent Marist at the newly renamed North Main Athletic Complex in Holly Springs, N.C. First pitch Friday is set for 4 p.m. ET.