WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Rutgers baseball lost its series opener at Purdue by a score of 2-1 on Friday night at Alexander Field.
 
The Scarlet Knights (16-18, 5-8) collected 10 hits and had plenty of traffic on the bases, but the Boilermakers (21-12, 4-9) were able to strand just enough runners on base to secure the win. 
 
Rutgers got another quality start from true freshman Landon Mack, who made his first career Friday night start. He tied a career high with seven innings pitched, struck out a career-high seven batters while facing a career-high 26. 
 
In the bottom of the second, a leadoff error put a man on for Purdue, who took a 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout later in the frame.
 
The Boilermakers doubled their lead in the bottom of the fifth on a solo home run to make it 2-0.
 
The Scarlet Knights were able to get traffic on the basepaths early, but stranded seven runners in the first four innings, as Purdue's pitchers were able to work out of multiple jams.

RU finally got on the board in the ninth after Trevor Cohen drove in Peyton Bonds, who led off the frame with a double. Despite loading the bases with one out, a pair of strikeouts ended the game. 
 
Notes

• Ty Doucette recorded his eighth straight multi-hit game and his 15^th of the season.
• JT Thompson recorded his eighth multi-hit game of the season.
• Doucette and Pablo Santos both extended their team-high high hitting streaks to seven games. 
• Peyton Bonds has seven straight games with at least one hit and one run scored. 
• Trevor Cohen extended his team-high on-base streak to 17 games. 

• Landon Mack: Innings Pitched (7.0 – tie), Strikeouts (7), Batters Faced (26) 

Game two between Rutgers and Purdue is set for 2 p.m. Saturday on Big Ten Plus.

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