Purdue ends 'magical' conference run with loss in Big Ten title game
OMAHA, Neb. — Purdue’s aggressive style, which forced opponents over the last six weeks into mistakes and loses, didn’t work against one of the top teams in the country Sunday.
The Boilermakers found that out against Minnesota in the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament. The top-seeded Gophers, likely a Regional host in the NCAA next weekend, beat the Boilermakers (37-19) by a final of 6-4 in the title game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.
The loss ended a conference season in which Purdue had won 21 of its last 24.
“It’s been a magical run,” Coach Mark Wasikowski said. “I’m not going to lie to you.”
It’s not over. Purdue will qualify for its third-ever NCAA Tournament, and find out its seeding, location and first-round opponent at noon on Monday. The Boilermakers will likely be a 2 or 3 seed in a four-team regional, remarkable considering they were 16-16 in mid-April.
“The run has just begun,” said centerfielder Skyler Hunter, one of six Boilermakers on the All-Tournament team. “Waz put a little fire in our eyes and we have an even bigger chip on our shoulders now. We’re going to show the nation we’re Boilermakers and we can play baseball.”
Sunday, they put about as much pressure on No. 11 Minnesota (41-13) as possible, but it wasn’t enough. And it didn’t always work out. Purdue ran itself out of innings four times, the most critical being in the eighth. With two outs, pinch runner Charlie Nasuti tried to score from second on a hard line-drive by Evan Warden. But left fielder Ben Mezzenga’s throw was on target, giving Eli Wilson a chance for the tag. He was out, which replays — and it was close — confirmed.
Earlier, Purdue was out trying to steal third with two outs, plus it also lost two other base-runners, potentially in critical spots. Wasikowski called them “lost opportunities,” but they’re also a consequence, at times, of the Boilermakers’ style.
“We play aggressive. We play on the edge of being overaggressive,” Wasikowski said. “That’s why we’re here today. To go back and start pumping the brakes on how we do things, I don’t think we would have been in the championship game today. Did we win or lose the championship game because of overaggressiveness? If it works, everyone says, ‘Wow, great call.’ Well, it didn’t work today. The bottom line is that it was overaggressive and I probably cost us the ball game. That’s the way I’ll look at it.”
Purdue, though, made other opportunities. Trailing 2-1 after the first four innings, the Boilermakers rallied with a two-run fifth, when Hunter and Jacson McGowan had back-to-back RBIs. But Mezzenga tied the game with a single up the middle in the bottom half of the inning.
The Boilermakers responded in the top half of the next inning when Harry Shipley scored Evan Warden on a base hit. But Shipley tried to go to second on a ball in the dirt on an ensuing pitch, but was thrown out trying to advance, and Purdue left a baserunner on third.
Minnesota took the lead, for good, in the bottom of he sixth, scoring two runs on three hits off reliever Trevor Cheaney (1-2). The Gophers added an insurance run in the eighth.
“It’s all about who gets the hits in timely situations,” said McGowan, who drove in two runs.
The game was a 180 from the ones in Alexander in mid-April, before the Boilermakers started their run. Then, Purdue was outscored 40-15 by the Gophers in only two games.
“We’ve come so far since that day,” said McGowan, an All-Tournament team member. “It was kind of embarrassing to be part of that. They just obliterated us. But who knows today? If we’re the home team maybe things are different. It was a fun game to be a part of, a lot of laughs and a lot of back-and-forth, like a boxing match. It was fun to play a good team like that, but unfortunately we weren’t able to pull it out.”
Purdue thinks it’ll have more chances, with it reaching the title game sooner than many had expected. It was only two seasons ago that Purdue won only two Big Ten games. This week, the Boilermakers won three in the conference tournament, with sights on the NCAA.
“I think they all expect to play hard in a regional,” Wasikowski said. “The expectations have now risen. Where’s that come from? Every day we work at it. It takes 35 guys in the locker room who believe in what you’re talking about. There’s real disappointment in that locker room right now. They’re not walking off the field saying, ‘Hey, we made it to the championship game.’ I can assure you of that. There’s a lot of hurt, a lot of guys who wanted to beat Minnesota today and played their tails off.”
Notes: Hunter and McGowan were joined on the All-Tournament team by Shipley, Warden, Tanner Andrews and Nick Dalesandro. ... Andrews, who had a complete game win on Wednesday, pitched an inning of relief Sunday, giving up a run on two hits with two walks. ... McGowan finished the four-game tournament with seven RBI, bringing his season total 56, the most since Cameron Perkins' 61 in 2012. ... Purdue likely will be in its third NCAA Tournament, joining the '12 and 1987 teams. ... Right-hander Sam Thoresen (2-2) got the win for the Gophers, pitching 1.1 scoreless.
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