WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Rutgers baseball dropped a 6-3 decision to Purdue on Saturday evening at Alexander Field in West Lafayette.
With the win, the Boilermakers (21-21, 10-7) clinch the weekend series over the Scarlet Knights (25-18, 7-7) with just Sunday's series finale remaining.
RU got on the board in the top of the first inning, started by a leadoff double from
Josh Kuroda-Grauer. With two outs in the frame,
Chris Brito singled through the left side to make it a 1-0 game.
Purdue answered with a solo home run to tie it in the second before taking control of the game with a four-spot in the third. The Boilermakers brought home their first two runs of the frame on a single into center and then added another pair on a two-run homer to left field, making it 5-1.
Jordan Sweeney was able to get Rutgers back in the game in the fourth, lifting a two-run homer of his own to right-center and cutting the deficit in half to 5-3.
Joe Mazza came on in relief with no outs in the third and was able to keep Purdue off the board the rest of the inning. He went on to have his longest outing as a Scarlet Knight, throwing a career-high 3.1 innings without giving up a run. He allowed just one hit and struck out three with three walks. He exited with one out in the sixth and was relieved by
Garrett French, who got the last two outs of the frame.
The Rutgers offense was unable to threaten a comeback, however, going scoreless from the fifth inning on. Purdue added an insurance run on a sac fly in the seventh to push the score to 6-3, which would hold as the final.
The series finale between Rutgers and Purdue is set for noon ET on Sunday afternoon.
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