Purdue Baseball Hosts Rutgers

It has been a rough week for Purdue baseball. On Sunday Purdue dropped a pair of close games at Maryland that could end up being a big difference maker in the conference race. Tuesday's midweek game with Valparaiso was postponed due to weather, and on Wednesday Miami (OH) jumped out to an 8-0 lead and held on for an 8-4 victory at Alexander Field. That dropped Purdue to 19-21 overall.

There was some good news, as Mike Bolton Jr. was able to steal the 71st base of his career, establishing a new school record in that category.

This weekend's series with Rutgers is a big one. Here are the current Big Ten standings as we hit the stretch run with four weekends to go in the regular season:

Indiana - 9-3

Maryland - 8-4

Michigan - 9-6

Iowa - 7-5

Michigan State - 7-5

Rutgers - 7-5

Nebraska - 7-5

Purdue - 8-7

----- BIG TEN TOURNAMENT CUT LINE -----

Illinois - 7-8

Penn State - 5-7

Minnesota - 4-8

Northwestern - 3-9

Ohio State - 3-12

Purdue is playing out of conference next week with a four-game home series against South Dakota State, so it has only nine games left to play in order to secure one of hte eight spots in the conference tournament in Omaha. Purdue has series wins (thus tiebreakers) over Penn State, Minnesota, and Northwestern, but the bulk of its record is agaisnt those teams. Purdue went 6-3 against them, and with Northwestern at a dismal 7-28 overall that one loss to the Wildcats looms large.

The Boilermakers finish the year against Rutgers at home, Indiana on the road, and Nebraska at home. It should be okay if it can win each of the home series, but Purdue is just 2-4 against teams in the top eight of the league.

Another factor for the weekend is that Rutgers is on the edge of an NCAA Tournament berth. They sit at 50 in the RPI and at 25-16 overall, but they are on a six game winning streak. They picked up three big wins by sweeping Northwstern in Evanston last weekend. They also have a series win against Michigan and a good non-conference win at top 10 Campbell. A sweep or series win this weekend likely gets them on the good side of the Bubble.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Rutgers (25-16, 7-5 Big Ten) at Purdue (19-21, 8-7 Big Ten)

Friday to Sunday, April 28-30

Alexander Field / West Lafayette, Indiana

Series Opener: Friday, April 28 at 6 p.m. ET on B1G+

Middle Game: Saturday, April 29 at 5 p.m. ET on BTN

Series Finale: Sunday, April 30 at Noon on B1G+

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday: Khal Stephen (So, RHP) vs. RU's Christian Coppola (Fr, RHP)

Saturday: Jonathan Blackwell (Jr, LHP) vs. RU's Grant Besser (Jr, LHP)

Sunday: Kyle Iwinski (Jr, RHP) vs. RU's Drew Conover (Jr, RHP)

Rutgers enters with one of the best pitching staffs in the conference. They rank second in ERA at 4.48. Conover, their Sunday starter, has had the best year at 4-3 with a 4.15 ERA. Coppola is 3-3 with a solid 2.97 ERA and has started eight times. Besser has been mostly a part time starter, as 12 of his 16 appearances have been out of the bullpen. Ben Gorski is also a solid closer on the back end with a 1.63 ERA and five saves.

Tonight's matchup should be a good one, as Stephen has pitched very well for Purdue in conference play. He is 3-1 with a 3.82 ERA in league play and Purdue has won four of his five starts. He is rounding into a true sace for the staff, as he has gone at least 5 2/3 in all five Big Ten starts.

Rutgers does not have anyone in the top 20 for hitting in the conference. Ryan Lasko (.327 average, 10 HR, 38 RBI) has been their best hitter. Evan Sleight (.327, 11 HR, 31 RBI) has been pretty much equal. Rutgers does not use the long ball as much as Maryland, but their 51 home runs is good for 4th in the conference.

The Scarlet Knights are a hot team right now, and that is going to make for a tough matchup when Purdue really needs a series win to keep pace in the conference. This is a team that was an impressive 44-15 a year ago and it reached the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament. It was then snubbed in the NCAA Tournament selection, possibly by Michigan who stole the automatic bid by winning the league tournament.

Expect a low scoring game in game one between Stephen and Coppola. Purdue desperately needs to keep its Friday magic going, then it needs to at least split the other two games. That makes this a make or break weekend with the next conference series coming at first place Indiana, who not only is solidly in the NCAA field, but in the discssion to be a No. 1 seed and regional host.