Because Wisconsin does not have a baseball program there are only 13 teams in the conference. That means each week during conference play at least one team is on a “bye” and playing a non-conference foe. Since Purdue often has to begin play away from home the opening weeks of the season due to weather, the Boilers try to get that week as a home series much like a buy game in football or basketball. This week is Purdue’s bye week, so South Dakota State is coming to West Lafayette for a four-game series Friday-Monday.
South Dakota State (18-20, 10-8 Summit) at Purdue (21-22, 10-8 Big Ten)
Friday, May 5 to Monday, May 8 / Watch B1G+
Series Opener: Friday, May 5 at 6 p.m. ET
Game 2: Saturday, May 6 at 2 p.m. ET
Game 3: Sunday, May 7 at 1 p.m. ET
Series Finale: Monday, May 8 at 11:30 a.m. ET P
ROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday: Khal Stephen (So, RHP) vs. SDSU's Reece Arbogast (So, LHP)
Saturday: Jonathan Blackwell (Jr, LHP) vs. SDSU's Blake Kunz (Sr, RHP)
Sunday: Kyle Iwinski (Jr, RHP) vs. SDSU's Jake Goble (So, RHP)
Monday: TBA for Purdue vs. SDSU's Will Kent (Fr, RHP)
This is actually the second year in a row Purdue has played the Jackrabbits. Last season the teams opened the year with a four game set in Sugar Land, Texas and Purdue won all four games. It was the first time the two schools had ever played. The Jackrabbits have played a lot of Big Ten teams to date. They have a 3-2 loss at Minnesota and were swept in three games at Iowa. Last Wednesday they went to Nebraska and won 8-3.
Leadoff hitter Ryan McDonald has been one of the best hitters in the country this year. He is batting an impressive .417 with 17 home runs and 39 RBI. Dawson Parry is the only other jackrabbit batting over .300, but they have a solid .283 team average.
The SDSU rotation has been in flux all season long, and the team gives up more than six earned runs per game. Jake Goble has been the best starter with a 4-2 record, but he has a 5.20 ERA. Reese Abrogast is only 1-0 in five starts, while Saturday starter Blake Kunz is 0-4 with an 8.13 ERA in seven starts. Purdue’s starting pitching is coming off of its best weekend of the season. Khal Stephen has been lights out and is 6-2 on the year in his Friday spot. Johnathan Blackwell had a strong outing against Rutgers to move to 5-3, while Kyle Iwinski had a strong 6 1/3 innings last week before the bullpen blew it for him. If I had to guess at a Monday starter for Purdue I would bet on CJ Backer, who is 1-3 in four starts with a 3.65 ERA.
At the plate for Purdue Jake Parr has done extremely well of late. His average is up to .336 with 4 home runs and 27 RBI. Purdue is now hitting .281 as a team and Connor Caskenette is coming off of a big series against Rutgers. Parr batted. 556 for the weekend against Rutgers and Mike Bolton Jr. was .417. For the month of April Parr was a sizzling .414 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI.
This is basically a chance for Purdue to get over .500 before the stretch run of the season. There is no chance of an at large bid for the NCAA Tournament, but Purdue can still get hot at the right time and steal an autobid in the Big Ten Tournament. There are eight regular season games after this weekend and with a strong performance this weekend Purdue could be in line for a 30 win season overall, which is pretty decent. It has not had 30 wins since going 38-21 with an NCAA bid in 2018.
In terms of the Big Ten Tournament race, Purdue is 10-8 in the conference and is probably safe for a top 8 finish with two more wins int he remaining six games. Ohio State, Northwestern, and Minnesota are well off the pace and Purdue now has a tiebreker series win over Penn State (6-8) and Rutgers (8-7). Those two face each other at Rutgers this weekend in what amounts to an elimination series for the Nittany Lions. When it comes to other teams Purdue is battling for a spot, Illinois (8-10) hosts Michigan State (10-5), and a series loss would have the Illini in danger with only one league series left. Nebraska (9-6) is at league leader Maryland (11-4) and the Terps are red hot after emphatically sweeping Indiana in Bloomington last week. The Hoosiers (9-6) were in the discussion to host a regional before last week and they go to Northwestern (3-12) this week. The other league series are Michigan (9-6) at Minnesota (5-10) and Ohio State (5-13) at Iowa (8-6).
As won of only three teams with double digit wins Purdue still has an outside chance at the Big Ten title, but it would need a lot of help with Maryland going cold and Michigan State dropping some games.
