Purdue Winter Sports Weekend Primer - February 23

This weekend is a lighter one as both golf and both tennis teams are off, while both swimming and diving are off to prepare for next week's Big Ten championships. The men's & women's indoor track teams are in Geneva, Ohio for the Big Ten indoor championships, however. Those events begin today and run through tomorrow. Wrestling is also off as it prepares for the Big Ten championships next weekend.

That leaves both baseball and softball in action this weekend.

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday: Jordan Morales (Grad, LHP) vs. GMU's Nick Martins (Sr, RHP)

Saturday Game 1: Jonathan Blackwell (Sr, LHP) vs. GMU's Konner Eaton (Jr, LHP)

Saturday Game 2: Kyle Iwinski (Sr, RHP) vs. GMU'S Logan Rumberg (Fr, LHP)

Sunday: Luke Wagner (Sr, LHP) vs. GMU's Chad Gartland (Jr, RHP)

This is the third straight season that Purdue has used Ting Stadium as an early home field in warmer climes for at least one series. It has done well in those series as well. This year they will face George Mason for four games.

Last year was a great season for the Patriots. They made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years and even won a pair of games in the Wake Forest regional. After losing to No. 1 overall seed Wake Forest 12-0 they beat Northeastern 11-3 and upset Big Ten champion Maryland 11-10 before falling to the Demon Deacons again 15-1.

This season they opened the year with a challenging three game slate at Coastal Carolina against three teams currently in the top 25. The hosts walloped them 26-0, Duke beat them 23-5, then Indiana beat them 9-3. They did play a midweek home game this week agaisnt Coppin State and won 21-2.

Expect a lot of aggressiveness on the basepaths. The Patriots were third nationally with 164 steals last year, sporting a roster with five players with at least 15 steals – including three with 25 or more. Purdue had a team record 116 steals a year ago.

Purdue's Luke Gaffney is coming off of a tremendous debut. He won Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors last week, going 9 of 18 at the plate with 5 RBI and 7 runs scored. Logan Sutter was also red hot, going 9 of 17 with a home run, 7 RBI, and 5 runs scored.

Softball Hopes for Better Weather

Last weekend was mostly a wash for softball, as three of the five scheduled games for Purdue at South Florida were rained out. The Boilers did beat Illinois-Chicago and South Florida to move to 5-2 on the young season. This weekend they are in Arkansas for the Michelle Short Tournament.

Friday

vs. South Dakota State - 2pm

at Central Arkansas - 4:30pm (available on ESPN+)

Saturday

vs. South Dakota State - 2:30 pm

vs. Southern Illinois - 7:30pm

Sunday

vs. Southern Illinois - 1:30pm

Sage Scarmado is off to a hot start, as she leads the Big Ten in on base percentage at .714. She is batting a team best .538 and has five walks with three HBPs. Khloe Banks is also batting .467 with five stolen bases.

In the pitching circle freshman Julia Gossett has been great. She is 3-0 with a save and sports a 0.44 ERA in 16 innings. teams are batting just .196 against her.

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The 2023-24 season means a new TV deal for the Big Ten. Football and basketball will have games scattered across FOX, FS1, BTN, NBC, CBS, and Peacock. If you're looking for a service that has live sports consider both FuboTV and Hulu (with live sports). Boiler Upload is also an affiliate sponsor with Peacock, where new Peacock subscriptions help keep the lights on here.

Finally, the best way to see a game is in person, so book a room at the Hampton Inn & Suites near campus and get your tickets via Stubhub.