WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Rutgers used nine unanswered runs to storm back and defeat Purdue by a score of 9-5 on Sunday afternoon at Alexander Field in West Lafayette.
With the win, the Scarlet Knights (26-18, 8-7) avoided the three-game sweep at the hands of the Boilermakers (21-22, 10-8) and wrap up their eight-game road trip with a record of 6-2.
Purdue struck first in the game with a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead. A pair of hits in the third made it 4-0 before another RBI single in the fourth pushed the Boilermaker lead to 5-0.
Ben Gorski helped settle things down out of the bullpen, throwing 2.1 innings of relief and allowing just one run on a pop up that dropped in left field.
Rutgers was finally able to get a run home in the fifth when
Jordan Sweeney singled into left field, bringing home
Hugh Pinkney.
Jake Marshall came in for the sixth and set down Purdue 1-2-3.
Needing a rally in the seventh, the Scarlet Knight offense broke through for a six-spot to take control of the game.
Hugh Pinkney and
Danny Melnick hit back-to-back singles to lead things off, setting the stage for Sweeney, who hit his second home run of the weekend, this one a three-run shot to make it a one-run game.
Maximus Martin singled into right field and
Josh Kuroda-Grauer followed with a triple to tie the game. With two outs in the inning,
Evan Sleight singled home Kuroda-Grauer to give RU a 6-5 lead. After Purdue made their second pitching change of the inning,
Chris Brito doubled off the wall in left to score Sleight and make it a 7-5 ballgame.
Marshall responded with a quick 1-2-3 seventh to keep the Boilermaker bats quiet.
The Scarlet Knights added two more insurance runs in the ninth on a Sleight RBI single and Brito RBI sac bunt.
With the score at 9-5, Marshall finished off the game with his fourth straight scoreless inning of relief, earning the win to improve to 4-1 on the season.
Next up for Rutgers is a midweek game against Princeton on Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Bainton Field.
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