Weekend Purdue Sports Preview: March 29
Baseball enters the weekend on a hard luck three-game losing streak. After losing 4-3 and 9-6 in the final two games of the series with Iowa last week the Boilers had a chance to pick up an excellent road win at Indiana State on Tuesday night. The Sycamores won an NCAA Regional last year and they are on the edge of the top 25 this season. Indiana State had a six-run fifth inning and then scored the winning run in the 8th for an 8-7 win. Purdue had the bases loaded with no one out in the top of the ninth, but couldn’t push across the tying run.
That loss dropped Purdue to 16-10 on the year, and they have now lost three straight. They have a chance to get back on track this weekend at Ohio State in the first road series on the Big Ten schedule.
Purdue (16-10, 1-2 Big Ten) at Ohio State (10-11, 0-0 Big Ten)
Friday to Sunday, March 29-31
Friday, March 28 at 6 p.m. ET / Big Ten Network
Saturday, March 29 at 2 p.m. ET / Stream B1G+
Sunday, March 30 at 1 p.m. ET / Stream B1G+
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: Jordan Morales (Grad, LHP) vs. OSU's Landon Beidetschies (So, LHP)
Saturday: Luke Wagner (Sr, LHP) vs. OSU's Gavin Bruni (Jr, LHP)
Sunday: TBA for Both Teams
The Buckeyes have played a very challenging schedule to date. They have wins over solid teams in USC, Arizona State, California, Oklahoma, Cal State Fullerton, and West Virginia. Last weekend they were swept at home by Georgetown, however, which was a bit of a surprise. In terms of common opponents they have a 13-10 win over Cal State Fullerton and Purdue beat the Titans 11-3.
Jordan Morales enters game one coming off of his best outing of the season last Friday against Iowa. He went 7 innings and gave up just one run in Purdue’s 10-3 win. He faces an Ohio State team that has been very up and down at the plate. They are 10th in the league, batting. 262 as a team and they have the fewest home runs of any team in the league at 15. Their team ERA of 5.98 is ninth in the conference.
Purdue’s hitting has been up and down of late. The Boilers are getting men on base, but are having trouble getting that one big hit needed to get them home. That is what cost them in two of the last three games. Luke Gaffney and Camden Gasser are 4th and 5th, respectively, in the conference in hitting. Gaffney also leads the conference with 33 RBI.
The good news is that Iowa is likely the toughest opponent Purdue has on the conference schedule this year. A series win this weekend keeps Purdue on pace to at least make the Big Ten Tournament, and that is a very reasonable goal.
Remaining Weekend Schedule
Women’s Basketball – vs. Colgate or Vermont in WNIT – TBD
Softball – vs. Rutgers – Friday 5pm, Saturday 2pm, Sunday 1pm
Men’s Diving – NCAA Meet – Indianapolis
Men’s Tennis – vs. No. 1 Ohio State 4pm Friday, vs. Penn State Noon Sunday
Women’s Tennis – at Michigan State Noon Saturday, at No. 2 Michigan Noon Sunday
Track & Field – At Texas Relays – Austin, TX
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