Another Saturday Walk-off as Boilers Sweep Twinbill

HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. – Purdue Baseball scored five times in the ninth inning to win in walk-off fashion for the third Saturday in a row, taking both games of a doubleheader vs. Marist, 11-10 and 8-2.

The Boilermakers (7-3) have won five straight games dating back to their Feb. 21 walk-off win vs. Baylor in which they overcame a 5-0 deficit. They’ve won six times in walk-off fashion while compiling a 25-5 record at the North Main Athletic Complex in Holly Springs dating back to 2022.

Purdue trailed 10-6 entering the bottom of the ninth after the Red Foxes (0-9) scored six unanswered runs across the eighth and ninth innings. The Boilermakers also overcame a four-run deficit (5-1) in the ninth in a March 2022 victory vs. Longwood in Holly Springs, eventually winning 6-5 in 11 innings.

Free passes and wild pitches fueled Purdue’s five-run ninth inning as the only hits in the frame were Sam Flores’ leadoff single and a pinch-hit RBI single from Aaron Manias that put the winning run on base. As a pinch runner for Manias, Sergio DeCello scored the game-deciding run on a wild pitch that was also ball four to batter Jackson Bessette, who was the seventh consecutive batter to reach base safely in the frame. Marist did not record an out in the inning.

The Boilermakers drew 16 free passes – 11 walks, five hit by pitch – in the victory, a big reason why they were able to win despite being out hit 12-7. Purdue also had 11 walks in a win vs. Niagara in Holly Springs last season.

Pitching led the way in the nightcap of the doubleheader. Austin Klug and Noah Filer teamed up for a four-hitter. Klug retired 15 consecutive batters while working 5 2/3 innings of two-hit ball. Filer retired the final nine batters of the game in order to earn a three-inning save in just his second collegiate outing.

Offensively, doubles from Westin Boyle, Manias and Flores over the first three innings all led to runs. Purdue scored in each of the first four innings to build a 5-1 lead in support of Klug (2-1). The senior struck out six in his finest outing as a Boilermaker.

CJ Richmond hit an opposite-field home run in the seventh inning of game 1, his team leading third long ball of the year. It extended his season-opening hit streak to nine consecutive games before it ended in the nightcap.

Boyle delivered a two-out, two-run single to cap the scoring in Purdue’s four-run fourth inning, overcoming an early 3-0 deficit. He reached base safely three times in the nightcap.

The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.

SATURDAY’S LEADERS
• Sam Flores: 3-for-7, 2B, RBI, BB, 2 HBP, 3 R
• Eli Anderson: 2-for-5, 3B, RBI, 4 BB, 3 R, 4 SB
• Westin Boyle: 3-for-9, 2B, 4 RBI, BB, R
• Dylan Drake: 2-for-6, RBI, 2 BB, HBP, 3 R
• Brandon Rogers: 2-for-6, 2B, RBI, 3 BB, 2 R
• Ali Banks: 4 BB, 2 HBP, 2 RBI, 2 R, Sac Fly, Sac Bunt
• Austin Klug: 5 2/3 IP, 2 H, R, BB, 6 K
• Noah Filer: 3 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
• Graham Kollen: 3 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 3 K