Purdue baseball was able to take a huge step towards the postseason this weekend with a critical road sweep of conference foe Northwestern. It is the fifth straight series that Purdue has won in Big Ten play and the first in which it has swept all three games. Purdue now sits at an impressive 25-10 overall, but more importantly it is 12-6 in conference play. Since the top 12 teams out of 17 reach the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha Purdue has a comfortable six game margin for a qualifying spot with 12 league
games to play.
Friday: Purdue 11, Northwestern 3
The Friday game set the early tone of the series, as Purdue blew open a tight game with a huge ninth inning. The Boilers took a 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI double from CJ Richmond and an RBI bunt single from Quincy Marlbrough, and that score would hold until the ninth with Purdue sploded for seven runs.
Dylan Drake’s two-run home run gave the Boilers the first runs of the inning, and Eli Anderson also added a two-run double. Cole Van Assen got his fourth win of the season in 5 2/3 innings, while Thomes Howard earned a save by giving up just two hits in the last 3 1/3 innings.
Saturday: Purdue 3, Northwestern 2 (10 innings)
Purdue’s first extra inning game of the year almost didn’t make it to extras. Sergio Decello led off the ninth by getting hit by a pitch as the Boilers trailed 2-1. He advanced to second on a sacrifice, then scored when a wild throw attempting to catch him stealing at third went into left field. A two-out double from Jackson Bessette and an RBI single from Marlbrough gave Purdue the lead in the 10th.
Starter Zach Erdman had a quality start of 5 2/3 innings, but Jake Kramer got his fourth win with two scoreless innings.
Sunday: Purdue 8, Northwestern 3
Once again, Purdue had a big ninth inning to put this one away, this time scoring twice on an RBI single from Avery Moore and a fielder’s choice from Richmond. Moore, Dicello, Richmond, and Anderson each had home runs for the Boilers.
Austin Klug was solid, giving up just two runs in six innings as he moved to 5-1 on the season. Klug has really nailed the down the Sunday starting spot of late after it was a bit shaky in the first few games of the year.
This week is now a big week for Purdue at Alexander Field. On Tuesday Purdue will host Miami (OH) in a midweek game that actually brings some strength to the schedule. The Redhawks (22-12) are a top 70 team in the RPI, and every little bit helps. Purdue then hosts Ohio State (19-15, 9-6) over the weekend looking for a sixth straight Big Ten series win.
Purdue’s RPI has also risen to 58, meaning it is right on the NCAA Tournament Bubble for this year. They probably need to get to at least 35 wins on the season with 20 games left, including a series at USC that can provide a huge RPI boost. The Big Ten is not quite the SEC when it comes to college baseball, but UCLA, USC, and Oregon are each lifting up the league as solid programs.
