Purdue Baseball Begins Big Ten Play
For better or worse, Big Ten play is here for Purdue baseball. The team sits at 9-10 after its 19 game opening stretch in which 17 games were away from Alexander Field. Purdue was 8-4 before it was swept at defending National Champion Ole Miss. That started a slide in which the Boilers have lost six of their last seven games.
The latest loss came Tuesday night at home against Illinois-Chicago. Purdue led 4-2 going into the ninth thanks to a Jake Jarvis home run and a two-run double from Paul Toetz, but the Flames scored four times with one out to steal a 6-4 win.
That brings us to this weekend, where Purdue heads to East Lansing to start conference play:
GAMEDAY INFORMATION Purdue (9-10) at Michigan State (11-7)
Friday, March 24 at 4 p.m. ET on BTN
Saturday, March 25 at 3:30 p.m. ET on B1G+
Sunday, March 26 at 1 p.m. ET on B1G+
McLane Stadium at Kobs Field / East Lansing, Mich.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday: Khal Stephen (So, RHP) vs. MSU's Joseph Dzierwa (Fr, LHP)
Saturday: Jonathan Blackwell (Jr, LHP) vs. MSU's Nolan Higgins (Fr, RHP)
Sunday: Kyle Iwinski (Jr, RHP) vs. MSU's Nick Powers (Jr, LHP)
The Spartans are hot right now. They have won six straight in games over Western Carolina, Kansas, Indiana State, and Western Michigan. Wednesday’s win over Western Michigan was their home opener after 17 straight games away from East Lansing.
The Spartans are one of the best hitting teams in the league, which will challenge a Purdue pitching staff that has struggled at times. As a team they are batting. 318, trailing only Nebraska. Brock Vradenburg is leading the team with a .455 average through 18 games, and he has a team high 6 home runs. Trent Farquhar is also batting over .400 at .418. He is thee table-setter, as he has scored a team high 27 runs. Vradenburg currently leads the Big Ten in hitting. Farquhar is sixth, just behind Purdue’s Evan Albrecht.
Purdue and Michigan State are right next to each other statistically in pitching. MSU has a 6.16 team ERA and Purdue is at 6.05. The Friday matchup between Stephen and Dzierwa features a pair of guys with 2-1 records. Powers is making only his second start of the year and has a, 8.22 ERA. Higgins is also making his second start and is 201 with an 8.25 ERA, One edge that MSU has on the mound is closer Wyatt Rush. He has three saves on the season in seven appearances. As a team Purdue only has one from Aaron Suval.
This looks like a pretty even matchup, and since only the top eight teams in the conference reach the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha at the end of the season it is already a big series. That’s especially true considering that Purdue’s next two series are against Northwestern and Minnesota, who have been the two worst teams in the conference so far with a combined record of 5-32. A series win gives Purdue a chance to stack some wins since the back half of the schedule comes against Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana, and Nebraska, who are all among the league’s best.