Vallone Shines in Relief, Purdue Scores 5 Unanswered to Even Series at IU – Purdue Boilermakers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Michael Vallone pitched 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and a pair of home runs helped Purdue Baseball score five unanswered runs, defeating Indiana 5-1 Saturday to even the rivalry series.

Sunday’s rubber game of the series is set for 4 p.m. ET live on the Big Ten Network. The Boilermakers (30-20, 10-16 Big Ten) are going for their first series win in Bloomington since May 2010 after snapping a five-game losing skid at Bart Kaufman Field that dated back to March 2021.

With its 30th win in the books, Purdue has 30 victories in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2010-12. The Boilermakers also won 30-plus in back-to-back years in 1981-82, 1985-87, 1991-93 and 2000-01

Aaron Manias hit the first pitch of the fifth inning into the evergreen trees past the center field fence for his eighth home run of the season, giving Purdue a 2-1 lead. Logan Sutter connected for a two-run shot in the eighth inning, giving the senior 14 home runs and 61 RBI.

Vallone (4-1) teamed up with Cole Van Assen to limit the Hoosiers (28-22, 13-13 Big Ten) to seven hits and the lone run. Vallone induced ground ball double plays in the seventh and eighth innings after IU’s leadoff batter reached base safely to begin both frames. The lefty struck out four and retired 12 of the 15 batters he faced.

SATURDAY NOTABLES
• Logan Sutter homered for the ninth different weekend this season. His 14 home runs are the most by a Boilermaker since Dan Black (15) in 2009. Sutter has joined Brett Roach (21 HR, 73 RBI), Archi Cianfrocco (17 HR, 61 RBI), Mike Biltimier (14 HR, 74 RBI) and Black (18 HR, 70 RBI in 2008) as Purdue players with 14 homers and 60 RBI in a season.
• Sutter now ranks sixth on the Boilermakers’ single-season leaderboards in home runs and RBI.
• Michael Vallone worked at least three scoreless innings of relief for the fifth time this season – with Purdue winning four of those five games. He lowered his batting average against to .205 and hits per nine innings mark to 6.7.
• Cole Van Assen has worked 16 1/3 innings of three-run ball over his last three starts.
• Aaron Manias has homered in three of the last six games. He also homered four times in an eight-game stretch from March 1-12, hitting one long ball between March 14-April 29.
• The Boilermakers held IU to one run or fewer in Bloomington for the first time since May 2005, a Saturday doubleheader that saw Purdue win a pair of seven innings games with scores of 6-1 and 2-0.
• The…