Purdue's starting rotation has been excellent of late, but Friday night the bullpen was able to finish the job. For the third straight game the Purdue starter did not give up a run through the first six innings of the game. Agaisnt Michigan it was Jordan Morales, and he was even better than Luke Wagner and Kyle Iwinski last week. Morales pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings to move to 7-4 on the season as Purdue took game 1 of a critical series at Michigan 4-0.

This was a classic pitcher's duel, as neither team scored in the first six innings. Purdue finally broke through with a two-run home run by Keenan Spence with one out in the seventh. Couper Cornblum followed with a double and scored on a two-out single by Mike Bolton Jr. to give Morales a 3-0 lead.

Morales worked a 1-2-3 seventh, but ran into some trouble in the eighth. With two outs he gave up a walk and a double, but Avery Cook came on to get a groundout to end the inning. Spence would hit a second home run in the ninth for an insurance run and Cook worked a spotless ninth to seal the win.

Morales scattered five hits and gave up four walks, but was able to rely on some excellent defense to keep the Wolverines off the board. In addition to his two home runs at the plate Spence robbed Michigan of a home run in the field.

Game 2 of the series is Saturday afternoon at 2pm. Today's win clinches a Big Ten Tournament bid for Purdue, but the Boilers are clearly looking for more. As of this writing Illinois is leading Iowa 9-4 in the fifth inning, so the Illini would maintain first place in the Big Ten. Indiana and Nebraska, who were tied with Purdue for second coming into today, were locked in a close game with Indiana leading 2-1 in the sixth.

Boiler Upload is an affiliate partner with Homefield Apparel, a premium collegiate apparel brand based in Indianapolis. They feature licensed vintage designs for over 150 different colleges and universities from the Colorado School of Mines all the way to most of the Big Ten. This, of course, includes Purdue. I can speak from experience that their Purdue line is fabulous, including the awesome 1967 Rose Bowl retro tee. Visit Homefield and use code BOILERUPLOAD for a discount on their unique designs.