Purdue Baseball Swept by Ohio State

Another weekend, another sweep.

Purdue's pitching might have been the best it has been all season throughout a weekend series, but there was virtually no help from the offense. The Boilermakers only scored four runs over 27 innings as Ohio State swept Purdue. The Boilers are now a dismal 7-34 overall and 2-16 in Big Ten play. They are also officially eliminated from Big Ten Tournament consideration with three weekends left to play.

Friday

Game 1: Ohio State 3, Purdue 1

For a second straight week Gavin Downs had a solid outing for Purdue. In seven innings of work he gave up just three runs on eight hits. Unfortunately, Tanner Tully was better. He gave up only one run and three hits as the Buckeyes won 3-1. Purdue led briefly at 1-0 when Cody Strong led off the fourth with a single and was sacrificed to second. Kyle Johnson drove him home on a single up the middle for Purdue's only run.

Ohio State responded with Jacob Bosiokovic hitting a two run homer in the top of the fifth to take the lead. He also tied Purdue's Kyle Wood with his 10^th home run of the season for the Big Ten lead. The Buckeyes added an insurance run in the seventh and Purdue left a runner on in each of the last three innings.

Game 2: Ohio State 3, Purdue 2

Ohio State made a three run second inning stand up after Purdue once again led 1-0. Cody Strong led off the first with a triple and scored on a groundout by Alec Olund to give the Boilers an early lead. A fielding error then led to three runs in the top of the second. Purdue got won back in the fourth when Wood singled, Brett Carlson walked, and Nick Dalesandro drove in a run with a single, but the Boilers left the bases loaded without scoring again. In the ninth Purdue had the tying run at third after Jacson McGowan doubled with one out and Daniel Sander got a pinch runner to third with a base hit. Strong then struck out and Olund was out on a close play at first to end the game.

Sunday

Ohio State 5, Purdue 1

Game 3 was pushed to Sunday due to rain after it was originally supposed to be played Saturday. Purdue pitchers struck out 15 batters, including 9 from starter Shane Bryant, but offensively managed just one run on six hits. Once again, the Boilers led 1-0 thanks to a third inning run. Purdue had second and third with one out when Kyle Johnson scored on a sacrifice fly. The pitching was able to make that hold up until the Buckeyes got two in the seventh and three in the eighth. A two run single from Jalen Washington was the big blow in the eighth.

The loss was Purdue's sixth straight, including a midweek loss at Illinois State. With finals this week the team is off until the weekend when it travels to Northwestern for essentially a "Loser Leaves Town" match. The Wildcats are also 2-16 in the Big Ten, so the series loser is likely banished to last place for the year.