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Purdue baseball remains ice cold at the plate, but one huge inning was enough to take a game this weekend at Jacksonville State. The Boilers were shutout on both Friday and Sunday, but a nine-run inning on Saturday allowed them to take one game.
Friday: Jacksonville State 4, Purdue 0
Jacksonville State starter Garrett Farmer scattered four hits across 7 innings and the bullpen closed the game out as Purdue managed just six hits against seven strikeouts. Andrew bohm threw a decent game for Purdue, giving up just four runs in six inninga, but received no support. He struck out seven.
Jacksonville State got a run in the first, one in the fifth, and two in the sixth. Purdue had a few chances late, but left two runners on in both the 8th and 9th.
Saturday: Purdue 9, Jacksonville State 5
As mentioned above, Purdue scored in only one inning all weekend, but it was a huge inning as they plated 9 runs in the fifth on SAturday to take a 9-1 lead. That was enough to give Patrick J. Smith his first win. He went six innings and struck out eight while giving up just two hits.
The big blow in the ninth came on a bases loaded triple from Nick Evarts. The bullpen then gave up three in the 8th and one in the 9th, but the 8-run cushion was enough to hold on for the win.
Sunday: Jacksonville State 3, Purdue 0
Jacksonville State put up a three-spot on Ryan Beard in the second and that was enough as Purdue continued to struggle offensively. The Boilers had an excellent chance to do some damage in the 6th when it loaded the bases with no one out, but an infield fly, a strikeout, and a groundout ended the threat. Purdue managed six hits, but left six runners on base.
The Boilers have another five game week this week as they go to Ball State on Tuesday and host Bowling Green on Saturday. They then open Big Ten play at Northwestern, but really need to find some way to get the bats going. Purdue has been shut out three times in 18 games during this 4-14 start and has scored 3 runs or less in 11 of 18 games.