Freshman Jasen Oliver drives in 4 and Indiana holds off Purdue 8
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Freshman Jasen Oliver was a triple shy of a cycle and drove in four runs to lead third-seeded Indiana to an 8-6 win over sixth-seeded Purdue in the Big Ten Conference Tournament on Tuesday night.
The win moved Indiana into a Thursday game against the winner of Ohio State-Nebraska. Purdue plays the loser on Wednesday in an elimination game.
The start of the game was delayed several hours by rain, forcing the game between Penn State and Illinois to move to Wednesday morning.
Oliver belted a three-run home run in the fifth inning and he had one of three RBI doubles for the Hoosiers (31-22-1) in the sixth. Tyler Cerny and Brock Tibbitts had RBI doubles before Oliver and Jake Stadler and Josh Pyne contributed run-scoring singles in the five-run inning that gave Indiana an 8-1 lead.
That was key as the Boilermakers (33-23) got a leadoff home run from Keenan Spence in the eighth and tagged two relievers for four runs in the ninth.