It is rare that a top 25 team comes to Alexander Field, but this weekend Purdue gets to be the host for a true national program. UCLA is making its first visit to Purdue in Big Ten play, and the last two times the teams met it was a late season series in 2012 between a pair of top 15 teams in Los Angeles. The Bruins have since won a national championship, and they appear to be the class of the Big Ten this year.

#24 UCLA (19-5, 7-2 Big Ten) at Purdue (20-4, 3-3 Big Ten)

March 27-29 / Stream B1G+

Series Opener: Friday, March 27 at 6 p.m. ET

Middle Game: Saturday, March 28 at 2 p.m. ET

Series Finale: Sunday, March 29 at Noon ET

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday: Carter Doorn (Sr, RHP) vs. UCLA's Cody Delvecchio (Jr, RHP)

Saturday: Easton Storey (So, LHP) vs. UCLA's Michael Barnett (Jr, RHP)

Sunday: TBA for Purdue vs. UCLA's Landon Stump (So, RHP)

Purdue is coming off of its first series loss of the year as it dropped two of three at home to Michigan last week. The Boilers still have the most overall wins in the conference with 20 after beating Valparaiso in a midweek game this week.

As usual, the records between the two teams may be similar, but the schedule is vastly different. Purdue has yet to play a top 25 team and it has only played Michigan as a team with a winning record. UCLA, however, has gotten off to a 7-2 start in Big Ten play with a sweep of Nebraska and series wins over Maryland and Indiana. They also have a nice midweek win over #21 UC-Irvine. The oddities of the schedule mean that UCLA has already played single non-conference games against Michigan, USC, and Michigan State.

UCLA has struggled on Friday nights. Three of their five llosses have come in weekend operers to Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Vanderbilt, and Indiana.

Purdue will face one of the league's better pitching staffs a week after Purdue struggled to get big hits agaisnt Michigan. UCLA has a 4.09 team ERA and Michael Barrett leads the league with six victories on the mound (primarily as a reliever). It should be a good matchup as, overall, Purdue has one of the best lineups in the conference. Logan Sutter leads the conference with a .432 average and 38 RBI. Lukas Cook and Brandon Anderson are also in the top 10 individually in several offensive categories, both batting better than .384.

That's where Purdue really needs to get this done. The pitching has been decent, but not lights out. It is the Purdue offense that has gotten things going. Michigan took the series opener last week 14-1 and it scored 12 runs on Sunday to tke the series. UCLA, as a team, is hitting better than Purdue.

This weekend will tell us a lot about the season overall. If Purdue gets swept it iwll show it is not ready for prime time after a weak schedule to start. A single win would be a big positive, while a series win would be huge for Purdue's NCAA Tournament hopes in May. A series sweep establishes Purdue as a major player in the conference race.

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