The midweek games have not been kind to Purdue baseball this year, as they fell to Indiana State 4-1 on Tuesday night to drop to 1-4 in such games, but lately the weekend series have taken a turn for the better. Purdue currently sits at 5-4 in the Big Ten after winning series with Northwestern and Minnesota the last two weeks. The Wildcats and Gophers have the two worst overall records in the conference at 5-22 and 9-22, respectively, but the Boilers did get the series wins. This weekend Purdue will reach the halfway mark of Big Ten play when it hosts Penn State, who is currently at the bottom of the conference at 1-5 after getting swept by Michigan and losing 2 of 3 to Indiana.
Penn State (18-11, 1-5 B1G) at Purdue (14-17, 5-4 B1G)
April 14-16 / Watch B1G+
Series Opener: Friday, April 14 at 6 p.m. ET
Middle Game: Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m. ET
Series Finale: Sunday, April 16 at 1 p.m. ET
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday: Khal Stephen (So, RHP) vs. PSU's Jaden Henline (Jr, RHP)
Saturday: Jonathan Blackwell (Jr, LHP) vs. TBA for PSU
Sunday: Kyle Iwinski (Jr, RHP) vs. TBA for PSU
This series showcases the differences in Big Ten scheduling. Penn State is 1-5, but it has played two of the best teams in the conference in Michigan and first place Indiana. Purdue is 5-4, but has played two of the worst teams. That makes this a critical series for Big Ten Tournament positioning. A series win would get Purdue to the halfway point at least two games over .500 in league play, and that is key with Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana, and Nebraska remaining.
Penn State started the year strong with a season opening win at Miami (FL), which is impressive since the Hurricanes are 18-3 at home this year. They have a two-game split with the same Holy Cross team Purdue took three of four from earlier in the year. This week they beat a solid West Virginia team 11-6 in a midweek game.
The Nittany Lions come in as one of the best offensive teams in the Big Ten. They are third in hitting with a .304 average. Thomas Bramley leads them at the plate with a .340 average and three home runs and 19 RBI. Josh Spiegel is also hitting .316 with 30 RBI. Grant Norris, Jay Harry, Kyle Hannon, Johnny Piacentino, Billy Gerlott, and Bobby Marsh are all batting over .300, showing that this is a very consistent lineup from top to bottom. Hannon also leads the conference with 20 stolen bases.
Friday starter Jaden Henline has been solid with a 3.15 ERA and 3-1 record. Travis Luennsman has been both a starter and reliever and has been quite effective at both. He is 5-1 with a 2.7 ERA and has a save on the year. He started that season opening 9-5 win over Miami and gave up only two hits against a pretty strong lineup. Daniel Ouderkirk has started eight times this year, but has a 5.94 ERA and 2-3 record.
This will be an interesting series, as both teams are pretty evenly matched in a lot of categories. The key will be tonight’s game, where Khal Stephen has evolved into a true ace in Big Ten play. Purdue is 3-0 when he has started in Big Ten games, and he has given up just 6 runs in 19 innings. He also has 23 strikeouts in that time. Johnathan Blackwell is coming off of his best outing as a Boilermaker, as he threw 6 1/3 scoreless in the Saturday win at Minnesota last week. At the plate Paul Toetz and Jake Jarvis have provided quite a bit of power with eight home runs each. Purdue has just lacked consistency beyond them, Mike Bolton Jr., and Evan Albrecht. Toetz is third in the conference with 39 RBI and both he and Jarvis are tied for fifth in home runs.
