3 Homers Not Enough as ISU's Big Inning Holds Up

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Avery Moore, Trey Swiderski and Quincy Malbrough all hit home runs for Purdue Baseball while accounting for four of the Boilermakers’ five runs, but a five-run third inning carried Indiana State to a 6-5 victory Tuesday at Alexander Field.

The game featured an 80-minute lightning/rain delay in the bottom of the seventh inning, forcing the stadium to be emptied after the game attracted a crowd of 2,312 – sixth most in Alexander Field history. There was a combined attendance of 10,430 during the five-game homestand that concluded Tuesday, most since a May 2024 homestand.

The Sycamores (22-19) sent 10 men to the plate while opening up a 5-0 lead in the third inning. Indiana State’s 7-8-9 hitters teamed up for three consecutive two-out, run-scoring hits that accounted for four of the five tallies. The first out of the frame actually came at the plate on a 5-2 fielder’s choice.

March 31 in Terre Haute, ISU scored seven times in the fourth inning on its way to a 12-4 victory.

Moore drove in the Boilermakers’ first three runs with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third and an RBI single in the fifth inning, extending his on-base streak to 15 consecutive games and hit streak to 10 games. He’s the fifth Boilermaker to post a 10-game hit streak this season. That’s a first for the program since the 2011 campaign.

Swiderski pinch hit in the eighth inning as Purdue (28-12) opted against a lefty-lefty matchup of CJ Richmond and Jaxson Sparks. Swiderski hit the first pitch over the fence in left field for his fourth home run of the season, joining Jimmy Dionne as Boilermakers with a pinch-hit homer this year. After a pitching change, Malbrough took Jack Armstrong deep to left center for his first home run in a Purdue uniform.

The Boilermakers hit back-to-back jacks for the second time this season, with Swiderski being part of both pairings. He hit the back half of the consecutive home runs – following a grand slam by Brandon Rogers – in the first inning of the March 25 home win vs. UIC. This century, Purdue also had multiple games with back-to-back home runs in 2003, 2006, 2010, 2021 and 2024.

STREAKS EXTENDED
• Eli Anderson: 16-game hit at home
• Avery Moore: 15-game on-base; 10-game hit; 9-game on-base at home; 7-game hit at home
• Quincy Malbrough: 11-game-hit; 11-game on-base at home; 10-game hit at home
• Westin Boyle: 10-game on-base; 7-game on-base at home
• CJ Richmond: 6-game on-base at home
• Gavin Beuter: 9 1/3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run

On the mound for the Boilermakers, Joe Trenerry and Gavin Beuter both worked two scoreless innings of relief. Trenerry picked off a runner at first base before he threw the first pitch of his outing and went on to retire all five batters he faced. He was only lifted because of the weather delay. Beuter has not been charged with an earned run in any of his last four appearances. He pitched 6 1/3 innings of three-hit relief on the homestand.

Jarvis Evans got the final out of the top of the third as Purdue’s third pitcher of the frame. He went on to post zeros in the fourth and fifth innings while retiring seven of the first eight batters he faced. But a leadoff double led to a run in the top of the sixth and that tally proved to be the game-deciding run after the home runs in the bottom of the eighth.

The back-to-back homers were really the only bright spots for Purdue offensively after Moore’s RBI single. Indiana State picked off two Boilermakers on the same play to end the fifth inning after pitcher Carson Seeman unexpectedly threw behind the trail runner at first base. Richmond’s leadoff single was erased by a 5-4-3 double play the following frame and Purdue stranded a pair of runners in both the seventh and eighth innings. Armstrong struck out a pair while working a 1-2-3 inning vs. the 2-3-4 portion of the lineup in the bottom of the ninth.

The Boilermakers are back in action Friday when they open a three-game series at No. 21 USC in their first trip to the state of California since the 2017 spring break trip. First pitch is set for 10 p.m. ET.