May 22, 2012

Regular Season Finale

Fresh off a series win over Michigan, in which the Boilers clinched their first Big Ten Title since 1909, the Dreamteam was prepared to play its final game at Lambert Field.

Lambert Field opened in 1965 and has been home to the Purdue baseball program ever since, undergoing few renovations in that period. The finale pitted the Boilermakers against in-state rival, and MVC regular season champion Indiana State. Purdue would look to add to its 16 consecutive midweek victories as well as finish the 2012 season 9-0 in midweek games. Perhaps it was only fitting that the Lambert Finale was played on a windy, cloudless 84°day (hardly conditions for a Polar Bear) between in-state rivals.

We were looking to send the field off in style by obtaining their 40th victory, but before we realized Larry Bird wasn’t coaching, we trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth with the 3-4-5 hitters up. Cameron Perkins, Kevin Plawecki and Barrett Serrato have been a staple of the Boilermaker offense all season, accounting for 141 RBI on the season, so we had reason to believe we could pull one last miracle out on ole Lambert. Perkins and Plawecki made two quick outs, bringing up El Conquistador with two outs. The Sycamores, however, chose to bring in a lefty in an attempt to stop Serrato. They succeeded.. sort of… Coach Schreiber opted to pinch hit for Serrato with Sean “Polar Bear” McHugh and McHugh made Schreiber look like Connie Mack by sending a 0-1 pitch over the left field wall, tying the game and forcing extra innings.

Ole Lambert wasn’t ready to close its gates and the Boilers weren’t going to let this opportunity go to waste. After a single up the middle on a “Lambert Field hop” and two consecutive misplayed bunts, Cameron Perkins was able to drive in David Miller giving us a 2-1 victory and our 40th victory of the season. Ironically, the final play in Lambert Field history was a 7-5 putout as Andrew Dixon was thrown out at third by the left fielder. We’re still trying to figure out why he threw to third in the first place… This comeback was one of many for us this season, but perhaps none were more memorable as this was the final game in Lambert Field history. A better script couldn’t have been written in Hollywood nor October.

With our midweek endeavors wrapped up for the season, the last B1G series featured the Dreamteam squaring off against the Hawkeyes of Iowa. We entered the weekend with a three-game lead on Indiana and Penn State for the outright B1G regular season title but as anyone in the B1G knows, Iowa City is the Bermuda Triangle of college baseball. In true Bermuda Triangle fashion the first three innings of Thursday’s opening game would include four home runs as we would jump out to an early 8-1 lead. No lead was safe though as it would take three more runs to solidify an 11-8 win, “Diamond” Joe Haase’s (2012 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year) ninth of the year, and the outright 2012 B1G Title.

This would be the highlight of the weekend as we would go on to drop the next two games of the series, ending the “regular” season (Big Ten Tournament excluded) with a 41-12 (17-7) record. Such a successful season garnished awards for Coach Schreiber (B1G Coach of the Year), Kevin “The Great Hambino” Plawecki (B1G Player of the Year), and “Diamond” Joe Haase (B1G Pitcher of the Year). For the rest of the Dreamteam B1G Championship rings would serve as consolation prizes… things could be worse.

Next up for the Dreamteam is the B1G Tournament in Columbus, Ohio. Games begin Wednesday, May 23 at Huntington Park (Cleveland Indian’s Triple-A affiliate), but the Dreamteam doesn’t take the field until Thursday, May 24 in primetime (7:00pm est) against a yet to be determined opponent. The only way to complete our season is to capture both the regular season and tournament titles. One down… many more to go... why not us. Come out and support the Dreamteam!

Thanks for reading,

Cal Gunter and David Miller

(photos courtesy of Purdue Media Relations Office)