Triple play: Baseball drops run streak in loss to East Tennessee State

The East Tennessee State Buccaneers scored 12-straight unanswered runs in a span of three innings as Purdue pitchers struggled to find their groove through the matchup.

On Sunday afternoon, the Purdue Boilermakers (25-15, 8-4 Big Ten) fell 12-2 to East Tennessee State Buccaneers (24-13) to lose the series 2-1 at home.

Here is the triple play from the contest:

Boilers struggle at the plate

After scoring seven or more runs in their past six games, the Boilers struggled to put points onto the board.

Purdue’s only two runs came from the bat of junior right fielder Keenan Spence, who homered over 380 feet into right field and gave Purdue a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second.

The Boilers totaled only four hits in the contest, each hit coming from different batters. For the first six innings, the Buccaneers ran with freshman pitcher Michael Harpster, who had seven strikeouts and gave up only four hits.

4th inning blunders hurt Boilers

The Boilers defense started off the first three innings strong against the Buccaneers, with senior pitcher Kyle Iwinski giving up only two hits and holding the Buccaneers scoreless through the first three innings.

This scoreless run ended early into the fourth inning after Iwinski gave up four hits to five batters, including a single to East Tennessee State’s senior catcher Noah Webb, which allowed for senior second baseman Noah Gent to score the Buccaneers’ first run of the day.

Iwinski was then taken out for junior pitcher Carter Doorn, who immediately gave up a single to junior right fielder Blake Jacklin, who ran in another runner and tied the game at 2 with bases loaded.

Doorn’s time at the plate was minimal after he walked two batters in a row while the bases were loaded, giving ETSU two free runs and a 4-2 lead all in the same inning. Doorn was then taken out for senior pitcher Aaron Suval, who walked in another run in his first five pitches and gave East Tennessee State a three-run lead.

Suval went on to strike out one batter before giving up a single to Gent over into the left field, which allowed for two runners to run in to cap the Buccaneers’ seven-run inning. The Boilers were unable to respond in the bottom of the fourth and found themselves down 7-2 after four innings.

Purdue goes deep into dugout

The Boilers featured five pitchers in the matchup and they seeked something to stop the Buccaneer hitters.

Three of these pitchers featured in the fourth inning, as Iwinski and Doorn both were taken out midway through the top of the fourth. Suval came in for Doorn and finished the fourth and fifth innings before he was taken out for senior pitcher Aaron Cook in the sixth inning, who allowed two runs and was taken out after the sixth inning.

Senior pitcher Davis Pratt came in during the seventh inning and finished the game for the Boilers, not allowing any runs and striking one batter out.