Purdue baseball wins their first ever Big Ten Tournament Championship with 6-5 win over Indiana

COLUMBUS, Oh. (WLFI) - In a game that went back-and-forth, Purdue hung on and knocked off rival Indiana 6-5 Saturday night in the 2012 Big Ten Baseball Tournament Championship game.

The title marks the first in Purdue history and it gives the Boilermakers the Big Ten’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.

The Big Ten regular-season champion Boilermakers went 3-0 in the conference tournament to claim the crown. Two of the wins came against Indiana, which it beat 3-0 on Friday night.

Purdue scored the winning run on a wild play in the top of the ninth inning. On a Purdue base hit David Miller got caught in a run down and was tagged out, Andrew Miller tried to advance to third on the play, as Indiana threw to third to get him out, the throw went into left field, allowing Dixon to score.

That’s when Eric Charles awkwardly slid into Michael Basil, and the two got involved in a scuffle that cleared both benches. In the scrum it appeared that punches were thrown and both teams had to be separated. Dustin DeMuth and Charles were both ejected, but Purdue carried a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Nick Wittgren earned the win with a spotless ninth. Wittgren pitched 1.2 innings of relief to earn the save striking out two and walking one.

Purdue led 3-0 early on, but Indiana rallied to tie the game at 4-4. Kevin Plawecki then led off the eighth with a solo home run it make it 5-4. He would be named Big Ten Tournament MVP. The Hoosiers tied it with a run in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly from Basil.

Purdue is the third consecutive Big Ten team, and ninth dating back to 1993, to win both the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles in the same year. May 12, the Boilers won their first Big Ten regular-season title since 1909.

Purdue will be making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1987.

Big Ten All-Tournament Team

P: Jonny Hoffman, Indiana

P: Tony Bucciferro, Michigan State

P: Lance Breedlove, Purdue

C: Kevin Plawecki, Purdue

1B: Ryan Krill, Michigan State

1B: Richard Stock, Nebraska

2B: Micah Johnson, Indiana

3B: Cameron Perkins, Purdue

SS: Kirby Pellant, Ohio State

SS: David Miller, Purdue

OF: Will Nolden, Indiana

OF: Anthony Cheky, Michigan State

OF: Barrett serrato, Purdue

DH: Michael Pritchard, Nebraska

Most Outstanding Player: Kevin Plawecki, Purdue

 

Teams to Win the Big Ten Regular-Season & Tournament Titles (Since 1993)

Purdue, 2012

Illinois, 2011

Minnesota, 2010

Michigan, 2008

Michigan, 2006

Minnesota, 2004

Ohio State, 1995

Ohio State, 1994

Ohio State, 1993