Sweep at Purdue extends losing skid to 7

The IU baseball team has had little go its way the past few weeks.

This weekend was no different, as the Hoosiers (25-19, 6-9) had no answer for the top hitting team in the Big Ten and were swept by Purdue in West Lafayette.

The three losses marked seven-straight defeats overall and six consecutive in the
Big Ten.

IU’s weekend followed the same script as past weekends this season, but the root of problems against Purdue was its big bats. The Boilermakers, who came out of the weekend atop the Big Ten standings, hit a collective .351 average on the weekend compared to the Hoosiers’ .270.

IU never seemed to recuperate from Friday’s 12-inning 5-4 loss, when the Hoosiers had matched Purdue hit-for-hit until the final at-bat. Purdue’s Sean McHugh hit a walk-off single to give the Boilermakers the first of their three weekend victories.

From there, Purdue was able to find the offense that went missing for IU.

The Boilermakers won 6-2 Saturday after scoring four runs in the second inning. Then on Sunday, Purdue claimed a 14-5 win on three home runs — two from sophomore Cameron Perkins — and four innings in which Purdue scored two or more runs.

However, Purdue’s hitting wasn’t the only culprit behind such a convincing sweep.
Eight of the Boilermakers’ 25 runs scored this weekend were unearned, and three such scores came in Friday’s extra-inning affair.

Senior catcher Wes Wilson was one of the lone bright spots for IU during the weekend. Wilson hammered three home runs on the series, two of which generated the majority of the Hoosiers’ offense Sunday.

Within a matter of two weeks, IU has gone from tied for first in the Big Ten to 6-9 in the conference and in danger of missing the cut for the Big Ten tournament at the end of May.

­— Drew Allen