Van Assen's Quality Start Leads Baseball to 30th Win

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Cole Van Assen did not issue a walk while pitching into the sixth inning for a sixth straight start, opening the game with five consecutive zeros to lead Purdue Baseball to a 7-5 victory vs. Murray State on Friday at Alexander Field.

Aaron Manias homered for the third time in the last five games as the Boilermakers (30-15) scored in five consecutive innings while opening up leads of 5-0 and 7-2. Sam Flores’ two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth proved pivotal after the Racers (27-19) put a three-spot on the board in the seventh inning.

FRIDAY NOTABLES
• Purdue won its 30th game by May 1 for the fifth time this century and ninth time in program history.
• The Boilermakers have won 30 games in three consecutive seasons for the fourth time in team history, previously achieving the feat from 1985-87, 1991-93 and 2010-12.
• Purdue posted its second win of the season against a team that played in the 2025 College World Series after also defeating Oregon State on Feb. 22 in Round Rock, Texas. The Boilers have multiple wins vs. MCWS qualifiers from the year prior for the first time ever.
• Led by Cole Van Assen (6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 6 K), Purdue did not issue a walk for the second game in a row and third time in the last four games. Van Assen has not walked a batter in 17 consecutive innings dating back to April 10 and the Boilermakers have not walked a batter in 22 consecutive innings since the bottom of the fourth of Sunday’s loss at USC.
• Purdue had not posted consecutive no-walk games since a May 2012 home series vs. Michigan, which was the final weekend in the history of Lambert Field. The 2012 Big Ten championship team also had three no-walk days in a span of four games in April of that season.

STREAKS EXTENDED
• Eli Anderson: 18-game hit at home
• Quincy Malbrough: 16-game on-base; 13-game on-base at home
• Westin Boyle: 9-game on-base at home
• CJ Richmond: 11-game on-base; 8-game on-base at home
• Aaron Manias: 6-game on-base
• Sam Flores: 6-game on-base at home
• Zach Zychowski: 6-game on-base at home
• Cole Van Assen: 17 consecutive innings without a walk
• Jake Kramer: 13 consecutive scoreless innings at home
• Purdue Pitching: 22 consecutive innings without a walk

Van Assen did not allow a runner to advance past second base during his first two times through the MSU lineup. Murray State’s 2-3-4 hitters strung together three consecutive hits against the junior in the sixth inning, breaking up the shutout on a two-run double from Kainen Jorge.

Van Assen punched out a pair of batters during both of his 1-2-3 innings and retired six consecutive batters from the third through fifth innings. Jorge’s double was the only extra-base hit he surrendered. Van Assen posted his third quality start and earned his sixth victory of the season while pitching at least five innings for a 10th consecutive start. He struck out six.

Zach Zychowski gave Purdue four productive plate appearances from the 9-hole in the lineup, opening the scoring with a two-out RBI single in the second inning. The second baseman drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and drew a pair of leadoff walks.

Avery Moore and Jackson Bessette delivered RBI singles in the fifth inning to extend the Boilers’ lead to 5-0. Westin Boyle (double, walk), Quincy Malbrough (single, walk) and CJ Richmond (2 walks) joined Manias, Moore and Zychowski as Boilermakers to reach base safely multiple times in the win.

Jake Kramer retired MSU’s 1-2-3 hitters in order to close out the win, earning his seventh save of the season. He remains unscored upon at Alexander Field.

The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.