Purdue baseball back on NCAA Regional bubble as upset of No. 1 UCLA slips away
Purdue led the Bruins 3-1 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn't hang on. Will it be enough to make the NCAA Tournament?
Purdue baseball fell short of the biggest upset of the Big Ten Tournament, and now waits to see if it proved itself worthy of an NCAA Regional berth. No. 1 UCLA rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Boilermakers in the tourney quarterfinals in Omaha, Nebraska.
Purdue came within four outs of beating a No. 1-ranked team for the first time in 25 years. Instead, the Boilermakers ' 37 victories will go before the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The field of 64 teams will be announced Monday. Purdue seeks its first berth since 2018. Mulivai Levu's bases-loaded sacrifice fly with one out in the ninth snapped a 3-3 tie.
Purdue led 3-1 entering the bottom of the ninth before the Bruins rallied to tie it. It then committed a pair of errors to start the bottom of the ninth and swing the game in UCLA's favor. Prior to that finish, the Boilermakers summoned several clutch performances.