Cal Convincingly Sweeps Purdue in Three

When the weekend started Purdue had an excellent chance to grab a marquee win or two early in the baseball season. California was a preseason top 25 team and had a lot of high expectations to return to the NCAA Tournament. Despite two losses at Duke last week they were still ranked 10^th coming into this weekend. Over the weekend Purdue found out why.

The Bears swept Purdue in all three games in convincing fashion. Purdue didn't even score a run until Sunday and was outscored 29-5 over all three games.

Friday

Purdue managed just five hits as All-America candidate Daulton Jeffries pitched six scoreless innings and struck out 8 while giving up just three hits. The Boilers weren't nearly as good on defense. Tanner Andrews was tagged for four runs in 3 2/3 and overall Cal hit three home runs for an easy 10-0 win. Kyle Johnson and Nick Dalesandro each had two hits for Purdue.

Saturday

This was Purdue's best chance to get a win on the weekend as freshman Dalesandro had a solid outing of 5 1/3 innings with only two earned runs given up. The offense did him no favors, however, as Purdue managed just six hits. Cal won 4-0 with runs in the second, sixth, seventh, and eighth. Purdue managed to get a runner on base in each of the first seven innings, but could not bring them around.

Sunday

Purdue finally got on the scoreboard with a pair of first inning runs to hold a brief 2-0 lead thanks to a two-run double by Kyle Johnson. That lead was short-lived as Cal responded for eight in the bottom of the first. Gavin Downs was shelled for five hits and five earned runs while failing to record an out. That was more than enough to send Purdue to a 15-5 loss.