For the second week of three to start the season Purdue baseball is hosting a four-game series at a neutral site. For the next two weeks the Boilermakers will be at Ting Stadium in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Next week Purdue will host Akron, but this week Purdue hosts Niagara, who played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Niagara (0-3 • 2024: 38-17, 20-4 MAAC) vs. Purdue (4-0 • 2024: 33-24, 13-11 B1G)

Series Opener: Friday, Feb. 21 at 4 or 5 p.m. ET

Doubleheader: Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. ET

Series Finale: Sunday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. ET

All-Time Series: First Meetings

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday: Carter Doorn (Sr, RHP) vs. NU's Gage Wheaton (So, RHP)

Game 1 Saturday: Cole Van Assen (So, RHP) vs. NU's Evan Wilde (Grad, LHP)

Game 2 Saturday: Easton Storey (So, LHP) vs. NU's Matthew DelVecchio (Jr, RHP)

Sunday: TBA for Purdue vs. NU's Nate Bennett (Fr, RHP)

Last season Niagara made hte NCAA Tournament for the first time in the history of their program. They were the winners of the MAAC and lost both games in the Stillwater Regional to Oklahoma State 19-7 and Nebraska 7-5. It was a banner year where they were 38-17 and tied for their conference regular season title with Fairfield. That was enough for their previous coach, Rob McCoy, to get hired away by William & Mary, leading to the promotion of now now head coach Matt Spatafora.

Spatafora is still looking for his first career win, as the Purple Eagles were swept in their season opening series at Miami 14-2, 10-0, and 11-1. The Hurricanes batted .356 for the weekend and held Niagara to a paltry .149 average with 38 strikeouts across three games.

That bodes well for Purdue, as Miami has basically an entirely new starting rotation this season. Purdue's own piutching was solid in the first three games against Stephen F. Austin before game 4 became a 16-12 slugfest.

Nate Milk and Shawn Cameron were the only players for Niagara with at least three hits last week. Jason Green had a pair of doubles, but those three players accounted for eight of the 13 total hits Niagara had agaisnt Miami.

Meanwhile, Purdue's Logan Sutter was named the Big Ten Player of the Week after he was 8 of 14 with a home run and 8 RBI in the four games against Stephen F. Austin. Ty Gill was also 6 of 12 for the weekend.

Purdue is a heavy favorite this weekend, but it still a good litmus test. Miami is traditionally one of college baseball's strongest programs, but they are coming off of their first losing season in decades and they are predicted to finish near the bottom of the ACC. They had little trouble sweeping Niagara last week before getting handcuffed in a midweek 2-1 loss to Florida Atlantic. The Boilers should be thinking sweep again this week.

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