EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Purdue baseball issued a season-high 10 walks and those base runners led to all five runs for Evansville as the Purple Aces took the series opener 5-2 Friday.
Paul Toetz drove in both of the Boilermakers’ runs, increasing his Big Ten Conference-leading total to 29 in 17 games. But Purdue (9-8) was unable to bring the tying run to the plate after falling behind 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth.
Evansville (11-7) won its seventh straight game at home and was victorious for the 11th time in the last 13 games since starting the season 0-5. The Aces got a quality start from 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year Nick Smith, who issued only one walk over six innings of three-hit ball.
On a cold and windy day, Aaron Suval walked six of the 19 batters he faced as he labored through three-plus innings in his first start of the season. He walked the bases loaded in the first inning and Brendan Hord cashed in for UE with a two-out, two-run single on a full count pitch. Kip Fougerousse followed with another run-scoring hit.
Toetz drove in runs with an RBI single in the first inning and RBI ground out in the top of the third. Couper Cornblum scored the game’s first run after stealing his Big…
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