Big ten baseball starts early this year. The conference expansion to 18 schools means an expanded Big Ten slate of games for baseball. Everyone will now play 10 weekend series of three games each instead of the eight like in past years. The Big Ten Tournament will also expand to 12 teams and pool play at the end of the season from eight.

That means Purdue is into conference play in just the fourth weekend of the year, as the Boilers are in Minneapolis to play Minnesota. The series will take place not on campus, but indoors at the Vikings' U.S. Bank Stadium, which has a baseball configuration.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

Purdue (12-1) at Minnesota (5-5)

Series Opener: Friday, March 7 at 7 p.m. ET

Middle Game: Saturday, March 8 at 7 p.m. ET

Series Finale: Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m. ET

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday: Carter Doorn (Sr, RHP) vs. MINN's Cole Selvig (So, RHP)

Saturday: Easton Storey (So, LHP) vs. MINN's Kyle Remington (So, RHP)

Sunday: TBA for Purdue vs. MINN's Justin Thorsteinson (R-Sr, LHP)

Purdue is off to a very hot start and it continued this week with a 14-4 midweek win at Indiana State. That victory raised a few eyebrows, as the Sycamores have dominated Purdue in recent seasons and they have been a regular to the NCAA Tournament. THey even hosted a regional in Terre Haute two years ago. Aaron Manias tore up the ISU pitching with three doubles, a home run, and eight RBI in the win. Keenan Spence also homered in the game.

That was Purdue's second straight 14-4 mercy rule win this year, but the schedule is much tougher this weekend against Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are just 5-5 on the year, but they just took 2 of 3 at Arizona State this past weekend and they have a very nice win over No. 10 Oregon State at the Karbach Round Rock Classic the week before. Minnesota also had narrow losses to No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 11 Virginia that weekend, so they can hang with some of the best in the nation.

Minnesota is near the top of the Big Ten in home runs with 20 as a team. They will need those as Purdue is leading the Big Ten in hitting with a .340 team average. Logan Sutter is still red hot, batting a league best .511 through 13 games for the Boilermakers. Lukas Cook is third in the conference with a .472 average.

The stats are still skewed at this point, as Minnesota has played a much tougher schedule than Purdue. None of Purdue's four opponents has a winning overall record, while Minnesota has played three teams in the top 12 and they have played series at Houston (8-4) and Arizona State (9-4). Purdue happens to have an extremely rare midweek Monday home game against Arizona State coming up, as the Sun Devils agreed to drop by after playing a conference series at Cincinnati that previous weekend.

I would have to give the edge to Minnesota this weekend. Purdue is better statistically, but the Gophers have played the much tougher schedule and they are playing at home. A series win would be a great start to conference play. Doorn and Storey as Purdue's top two starters are each 2-0 with an ERA under 2, so they have done very well for the Boilermakers.

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