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Purdue Baseball Set for 2023 Season

CJ Valdez
CJ Valdez (Courtesy of Purdue Baseball)

Last year Purdue baseball made some early national headlines. The Boilers started the year 15-0 and were even in a couple of top 25 polls. In fact, Purdue was the last undefeated team in the country before a 4-3 extra innings loss at Illinois State on March 17th.

It turns out that hot start was mostly due to a weak early schedule. Purdue closed the year at 29-21, 9-12 in the Big Ten. It did qualify for the Big Ten Tournament, but it was knocked out in two games with a 10-3 loss to Rutgers and a 5-4 loss to Iowa. The year was still an overall improvement in year four for Greg Goff. Purdue was 20-34 in 2019 during Goff’s first season, then 7-7 when the 2020 season was cancelled. The 2021 season featured only Big Ten games and Purdue was 16-26.

This year Purdue is looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 and only the fourth time ever. The season gets underway tomorrow in Sugar Land, Texas as the Boilers open the year with a four game neutral site series against Holy Cross. They will follow that the next two weeks with two four game neutral site series against NJIT and Akron in Holy Springs, NC. It is the second year in a row Purdue will begin its season at the Triple-A home of the Houston Astros organization.

“I wanted to have some continuity as I was looking around the country for a place to go and start the season,” said Goff. “Every year now we know we’re going to go to Sugar Land. We signed a multi-year contract to lock in that place. I want our guys to get comfortable and know where they are going, where they are staying. It’s kind of like spring training for the professionals.”

Those early games open the door for another hot start, but Purdue faces a strong test on March 10-12 as it heads to Ole Miss for a three-game series against the defending National Champions. That is by far the toughest non-conference series on the schedule. The rest of the non-conference slate features a three-game series at Evansville March 17-19 and a four game home series May 5-8 against South Dakota State during the Big Ten “bye” week.

I call it a bye week because the conference only has 13 baseball playing schools. Wisconsin closed their program down in the early 90s, so every week during the conference season there is one Big Ten team playing a non-conference series. In the eight three-game Big Ten series Purdue will travel to Michigan State, Minnesota, Maryland, and Indiana. It will host Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers, and Nebraska. The top eight teams in the standings qualify for the season ending Big Ten Tournament in Omaha.

If you’re basing this year’s chances on last year Purdue has a very favorable schedule. Minnesota, Michigan State, Nebraska, and Northwestern all missed the conference tournament. Conversely, Maryland was one of 16 NCAA regional hosts and Rutgers was 44-15, but got robbed of an NCAA bid.

Purdue returns a strong lineup this year, as this is the projected Batting order:

1. Mike Bolton Jr. – CF

2. Evan Albrecht – SS or Couper Cornblum – LF

3. CJ Valdez – DH

4. Cam Thompson – 1B/RF

5. Jake Jarvis – RF

6. Paul Toetz – 3B

7. Evan Albrecht – SS or Couper Cornblum – LF

8. Lukas Cook – 2B

9. Jake Stadler – C or Steve Ramirez – C

Bolton was one of the Big Ten’s best base stealers last year, going 28 of 34 and he trailed only teammate Curtis Washington Jr. in that category. Albrecht was also trouble on the basepaths, going 22 of 24. Albrecht led the team with a .365 average a season ago and Valdez was second with a .324 average. Thompson batted .292 and led the team with 13 home runs and 56 RBI.

Jarvis batted a solid .301 in 40 games and 24 starts. Toetz batted .285 with four home runs and 33 RBI. Ramirez saw limited action in 22 games as a catcher, but batted. .333. Cornblum is a junior transfer from Wichita State who had 31 stolen bases a year ago, so Purdue will use its speed on the basepaths. Last season the program set a record for stolen bases in a season.

“Our pitchers are in a really good spot and they dominated our hitters this past weekend,” said Goff. “As a coach, the development of our pitching staff helps me sleep a lot better at night. With our offense, we can score at any time with the baserunning aspect of it. We want to use our athleticism on the field."

The pitching rotation also features lots of experience. Sophomore Khal Stephen will start the opener after appearing 23 times as a reliever last year. He was 3-4 with an 8.29 ERA. Calvin Schapira is back after Tommy John surgery cost him all of last year. He was mostly excellent as a top starter in 2021. CJ Backer gets the No. 3 spot and he was 2-2 in eight starts a year ago with a 7.08 ERA. Jonathan Blackwell, a junior transfer from Coastal Carolina, will also get some starts, and he evens tarted last year’s NCAA regional win over Coppin State for Coastal.

“We will lean a lot on our veterans. We return seven our nine guys offensively,” said Goff. “It takes some time to learn our system and build in that aggressiveness. Having those guys back is really important and we want to trust their instincts and let them play.”

The Big Ten has been much tougher in recent seasons, often getting multiple teams into the NCAA Tournament. This year Maryland is the favorite, as they begin as the defending league champ and a top 20 team nationally. Rutgers should also be very good and they are a fringe top 25 team. According to NCAA.com Purdue is expected to battle for one of the final Big Ten Tournament spots. Purdue does have series against the projected bottom four teams, however, so that will help.

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