Purdue Baseball Wins Home Opener, Heads to Evansville
We had actual baseball at Alexander Field last night! One of the problems of being a “northern” school, especially one with a natural grass field, is that Purdue often has to start the season with an extended road trip. While many schools in the south can begin at home on college baseball’s universal start date of the third Friday in February, Purdue has to head out on the road for the first few weeks.
Fortunately, the home opener came last night against Northern Illinois, and it was a successful one. Purdue pounded out 14 runs on 12 hits and moved to 9-7 on the year with a comfortable 14-5 win over the Huskies. The win came thanks to a trio of big innings, as Purdue got four in the second, five in the fourth, and five in the seventh. Paul Toetz continued his hot hitting with a 3 for 4 night that resulted in 4 RBI. Jake Parr’s three-run double in the fourth was also a big hit, as it gave Purdue a 9-1 lead at the time. Jake Jarvis also had a solo home run, while Khal Stephen’s move to the midweek spot in the rotation was a successful one.
Purdue has one last road non-conference series this weekend, and it is a somewhat nearby one. The Boilers head south to face Evansville to face the Purple Aces.
March 17 – 4pm
March 18 – 3pm
March 19 – 2pm
The Aces have run hot and cold this year on their way to a 10-7 start. Last season they were a solid 32-24 team, but they finished as runner-up in the Missouri Valley Conference at 14-6. They started the season by losing all three games at Troy, a midweek game at Kentucky, and the opener of a series with Eastern Michigan to begin 0-5. Since then, they have played very well. They wont he final two games against EMU before winning a midweek game at Southeast Missouri State and sweeping four from Bowling Green.
On March 8 they had a midweek game at #8 Vanderbilt and gave the Commodores quite a test, losing 2-1 in 17 innings. They then lost the opener of a series at Middle Tennessee before taking the final two, plus a midweek game last night at Bellarmine. They are currently rated 70th in the early RPI, while Purdue is 171st.
The Aces are lead at the plate by Chase Hug, who is batting .433 with 4 HR and 15 RBI. As a team they have 19 home runs compared to Purdue’s 23, but Purdue is carried by Toetz with eight on the season. They have a team average of .273 and Danny Borgstrom is the only other hitter over .300 at .317.
On the mounds Donovan Schultz, Tyler Denu, and Nick Smith have been consistent as the weekend rotation. Each has four starts and Schultz has done the best with a 3.43 ERA and 2-1 record over 21 innings. Smith leads the team in innings with 23 2/3 and in strikeouts with 28.
The real question for Purdue is how will it bounce back after getting swept by Ole Miss. As I mentioned in that series wrap, it was a productive series sweep, if there is such a thing. Purdue did not get blown out and was in the final two games in the late innings, so it knows it can hang with one of the nation’s best teams. That makes this weekend’s series critical for building confidence going into Big Ten play next week at Michigan State.
The early league slate sets up quite nicely for Purdue, as Michigan State is 8-7, Northwestern is 0-11, and Minnesota is 3-15. A series win this weekend means Purdue can get off to a hot start in Big Ten play.