Purdue Baseball Drops 2 of 3 at Tulane

Any 1-0 loss in baseball stings. It means your pitching was good enough to win, but the hitting deserted you. A 1-0 game was the difference between a very nice road series win for the Boilers at Tulane and a series loss. The host Green Wave took 2 of 3 from Purdue over the weekend in New Orleans thanks to a 1-0 win on Friday.

Friday: Tulane 1, Purdue 0

Purdue entered the weekend with the three best hitters in the Big Ten and tulane’s Friday starter had an ERA close to 7. So of course, Tulane’s Kaleb Roper threw a gem. He struck out 8 and gave uo just two hits and two walks over 8 innings as he kept Purdue’s hitters off balance all night. Purdue’s Tanner Andrews was good, but he gave up 4 hits over 7 ²⁄₃ and allowed the winning run to get on base in the bottom of the eighth.

Matt Rowland led of the 8th with a double and advanced to third on a bunt. Andrews then got a strikeout before leadoff hitter Jonathon Artigues delivered a 2-2 RBI single.

Purdue had runners at first and second with one out in the 9th and second and third with two outs, but Ben Nisle flew out to right center to end the game with the tying run 90 feet away. Andrews took the tough loss to fall to 2-1.

Saturday: Purdue 12, Tulane 8

Purdue’s offense was the exact opposite on Saturday as it hammered out 11 runs in the first six innings to lead 11-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. Tulane got four back int he sixth and one each in the seventh and ninth, but the Boilers hung on for the win.

Nisle hit his second home run of the season and drove in three. Skyler Hunter had two hits and 4 RBI. Overall, the Boilers pounded out 19 hits and a five run sixth inning was the difference.

Gareth Stroh only lasted four innings, meaning Cameron Wiliams earned his second win of the year in two innings of relief. Trevor Cheaney also struck out three in his two innings on the mounds.

Sunday: Tulane 6, Purdue 2

The Purdue offense struggled again on Sunday, getting only eight hits and failing to advance runners when the opportunity was there. Nisle added his second home run of the weekend in the seventh and Jacson McGowan added an RBI single in the sixth, but Tulane got three runs off of starter Bo Hofstra and never looked back. Hofstra made it only three innings in his first career start and was tagged for three runs on six hits.

As a bright spot Dalton Parker finally saw some significant action and threw two scoreless innings. He led the team with 6 saves last season and his return tot he bullpen is critical.

Purdue comes out the the weekend with a still solid 9-4 record and will play at SE Louisiana on Tuesday and at Nicholls State on Wedesday. They then go to St. Louis for three over next weekend. They should be able to win at least four of those and make it a successful spring break trip.