Fullard, Iowa eliminate Purdue from Big Ten tourney 5-4

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Izaya Fullard singled through the left side of the infield with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, scoring Michael Seegers and sending No. 3 seed Iowa to a 5-4 victory over No. 7 seed Purdue in an elimination game at the Big Ten Tournament on Friday.

Iowa (34-18) will play an elimination game on Saturday against the loser of Friday’s game between No. 2 seed Rutgers and No. 6 seed Penn State.

The Hawkeyes scored the winning run when Seegers reached on a one-out single off Purdue reliever Landon Weins (3-4). Seegers moved up a base on a foul out and the Boilermakers intentionally walked Keaton Anthony. Fullard delivered his RBI single on a 0-2 count.

Troy Viola led off the bottom of the second with a home run to give Purdue (29-22) a 1-0 lead.

The Hawkeyes took the lead with a three-run fifth. Sam Petersen led off with an infield single and took second on a sacrifice bunt by Cade Moss. Ben Wilmes followed with a single to put runners on the corners and Petersen scored and Wilmes moved up a base on a wild pitch by Purdue starter CJ Backer. Huckstorf singled to move Wilmes to third and Wilmes scored when Seegers reached first on a fielder’s choice bunt. Williams was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Huckstorf scored on a wild pitch for the third run.

Purdue got a run back in the bottom of the fifth. Evan Albrecht singled with one out and Ryan Howe followed with a ground-rule double. Albrecht scored on a ground out by Steve Ramirez.

Moss put Iowa up 4-2 with an RBI double in the sixth. The Boilermakers pulled even in the bottom of the inning. Cam Thompson singled home the first run and Paul Toetz scored on an error by Iowa third baseman Sher Brendan.

Will Christophersen (1-2) picked up the win for Iowa with 2 1/3 perfect innings in relief. He struck out five of the seven batters he faced.

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