Boilermakers Fall in Walk-off Heartbreaker vs #1 UCLA

OMAHA, Neb. – Thomas Howard posted five zeros on the mound in a heroic performance that doubled as his first start of the season, but No. 1 UCLA rallied for three runs over the final two innings to deal Purdue Baseball a 4-3 loss in walk-off fashion Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

The Boilermakers (37-20) held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 but could not close out a UCLA team that improved to 49-6 during its historic season. After its two wins at the Big Ten Tournament this week, Purdue posted 20 victories vs. Big Ten teams this year.

The Boilers await a potential NCAA Regional berth as part of Monday’s annual NCAA Tournament Selection Show, which airs live at noon ET on ESPN2. Fellow Big Ten bubble team Michigan (34-24) also lost Friday, falling to Nebraska in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal game that went final at 1:50 a.m. local time.

May 24 Update: Dylan Drake represented Purdue on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team after leading the Boilermakers and all second basemen in Omaha with five hits and four runs scored.

Brandon Rogers hit a solo home run into the UCLA bullpen in left field in the seventh inning, extending Purdue’s lead to 3-1 after the Bruins had finally gotten on the board in the bottom of the sixth. It was the Boilermakers’ lone home run of the tournament.

Purdue used only two pitchers for the second day in a row. Howard and Jake Kramer nearly followed the lead of Austin Klug and Jarvis Evans, who teamed up for nine innings of one-run ball in Thursday’s win vs. Iowa. But UCLA strung together four consecutive two-out hits to tie the game in the eighth inning. Mulivai Levu ignited the eighth inning rally with a single and delivered the game-winning RBI with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth.

The Boilermakers were charged with consecutive errors on balls in play on the infield to open the bottom of the ninth, the latter coming on a sacrifice bunt. Another sac bunt followed as the lineup rolled over back to the top. With first base open, Purdue made the easy decision to intentionally walk two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Roch Cholowsky to set up a force out at the plate. Levu is also a multi-year first-team All-Big Ten performer and he hit a fly ball to deep right field for the game-winning sac fly.

Roman Martin connected for a triple off the top of the center field wall to plate Levu in the bottom of the eighth. The blast was originally ruled a home run but overturned to a triple after a video review showed the ball carom off the top of the outfield wall and never hit the miniature fan retention fencing before returning to the field of play. As action resumed with Martin at third base, Payton Brennan hit a 2-2 pitch up the middle for a game-tying RBI single.

Purdue lost in walk-off fashion for the second time this season, both defeats coming at neutral sites at the hands of conference champions that are in line to host Regionals. Sun Belt Conference champion Southern Miss bested the Boilermakers in the bottom of the ninth on Feb. 20 in Round Rock, Texas.

Howard went 16 consecutive batters without surrendering a hit from the first inning through the end of the fifth. He worked a pair of 1-2-3 innings during that stretch, including setting down UCLA’s 1-2-3 hitters in order while facing them for the second time in the bottom of the third. He handed the ball off to Kramer after giving up a leadoff infield single to Cholowsky in the sixth inning. A walk, wild pitch and sac fly allowed Cholowsky to come around to score, making it a one-run game.

Entering the night, Howard’s longest outing of the season was 3 2/3 innings (doing so twice). But he had made two appearances on a weekend nine times, taking the mound Friday and Sunday each time. He gave Purdue seven innings of one-run ball – surrendering just three hits – this week in Omaha while again pitching twice with a day off in between.

Kramer’s 3 2/3 innings Friday matched his longest outing of the season. The closer threw a season-high 67 pitches.

Rogers ignited Purdue’s third-inning rally with a leadoff single. After Avery Moore was hit by a pitch, Sam Flores hit a line-drive single into right field to open the scoring. Moore went first to third on the hit, allowing the Boilers to put Flores in motion in hopes of putting both runners into scoring position. Moore was able to score from third base when the catcher’s throw glanced off the glove of the second baseman covering the bag.

However, Flores’ RBI single proved to be Purdue’s only hit of the night with runners on base (1-for-13) or runners in scoring position (1-for-7). The Boilermakers left the bases loaded in the second inning after CJ Richmond and Westin Boyle drew consecutive two-out walks. On a night in which it was 0-for-10 with two outs, Purdue also stranded runners in scoring position in the first, third and fourth innings. UCLA’s bullpen lived up to its billing as five relievers teamed up for 5 2/3 innings of one-hit relief.

For the tournament, the Boilermakers were just 7-for-33 (.212) with runners in scoring position after batting well over .300 in run-scoring opportunities for the season. Purdue also had only four two-out hits over the four games; the opposition had 15.

Led by Wednesday’s quality start from Zach Erdman and a strong week for the bullpen – two earned allowed and a .196 batting average against in 13 innings – Purdue pitching gave up just one earned run over a select span of 28 innings in Omaha. During that stretch, the staff posted a streak of 17 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.

PURDUE’S TOURNAMENT LEADERS
• Thomas Howard: 2 App, 7 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 4 K, .120 B/Avg
• Jake Kramer: 2 App, 4 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, .250 B/Avg
• Bullpen: 13 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 9 K, .196 B/Avg
• Dylan Drake: 5-for-13, 3B, 3 RBI, HBP, 4 R, Sac Fly
• Brandon Rogers: 4-for-16, HR, 4 RBI, HBP, 2 R, 2 Sac Bunts
• Westin Boyle: 2-for-8, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB, HBP, 2 R, Sac Fly, Sac Bunt, SB
• Eli Anderson: 3-for-14, 2 RBI, BB, R
• Sam Flores: 3-for-14, 2B, RBI, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 SB
• Aaron Manias: 3-for-15, 2B, 2 RBI, BB

ROAD TRIP LEADERS
• Jarvis Evans: 2 App, 7 1/3 iP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K
• Zach Erdman: 2 GS, 11 IP, 12 H, 5 R, BB, 5 K
• Aaron Manias: 9-for-26, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 4 BB, HBP, 2 R
• Brandon Rogers: 9-for-27, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 5 R, 2 Sac Bunts, SB
• Dylan Drake: 7-for-19, 2 3B, 3 RBI, HBP, 4 R, Sac Fly
• Trey Swiderski: 6-for-17, 2B, RBI, BB, HBP, 3 R
• Avery Moore: 6-for-24, 2 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, BB, 3 HBP, 3 R, Sac Fly
• Westin Boyle: 5-for-18, 2B, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 2 HBP, 4 R, Sac Fly, Sac Bunt, SB
• Jackson Bessette: 5-for-22, 4 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 5 R