Just a week afterg oing 0-4 and falling out of the projected NCAA Tournament field Purdue baseball reversed course and had a 4-0 week to get back into contention for a bid. It began with a midweek win over Southern Indiana 5-1. Considering that Purdue’s pitching had been lit up in recent midweek affairs, giving up just one run to the Screaming Eagles was improvement. On the weekend the Purdue nine also handled its business, sweeping Missouri Valley Conference leader and 2025 CWS participant Murray
State.
Friday: Purdue 7, Murray State 5
It was a quality outing for Cole Van Assen, as he went six innings and gave up just two runs to move to 6-3 on the season. He also added six strikeouts and had a shutout through five before getting tagged for both runs in the sixth. Jake Kramer earned his seventh save of the season with a scoreless ninth after the Racers got back into it with three in the 7th.
Sam Flores had a ckutch two-run single in the sixth that proved to be the difference at the plate. Aaron Manias added a solo home run in the third and Zach Zychowski had a pair of early RBI.
Saturday: Purdue 11, Murray State 4
The Boilers were able to jump on the Racers early as Purdue built an 11-0 lead after five innings and cruised from there. That was enough for Zach Erdman to move to 4-1 on the year after a strong outing of eight strikeouts across four innings. Eli Anderson and Quincy Marlbrough each drove in a pair of runs and Flores had a solo home run. Anderson closed the day by going 3 of 5 at the plate.
Sunday: Purdue 17, Murray State 8
Westin Boyle’s second inning grand slam started the scoring for Purdue and a seven spot in the sixth inning help the Boilers complete the sweep with a dominant offensive effort. Things got a little dicey in the sixth when Guthrie Kingsley tied the game at 6-6 on a two-run homer, but Anderson, Marlbrough, and Jackson Bessette each added two-run singles in Purdue’s big inning. CJ Richmond’s RBI double closed the inning and Thomas Howard was able to improve to 5-0 out of the bullpen as the pitcher of record after he got the final two outs of the sixth.
It is safe to say this is exactly what Purdue needed after getting swept at USC last weekend. In terms of the postseason the year will be extended for at least a couple more games as results around the Big Ten allowed the Boilers to clinch a Big Ten Tournament berth. UCLA has already clinched the league title with a spotless 24-0 conference mark, while USC is in second place at 19-8. Oregon and Nebrask are each 17-7 and Purdue is tied with Michigan for fifth at 15-9.
The tournament also has a new format this season. The field will still feature the top 12 teams in the league standings, but the top four will receive a bye to the the quarterfinals, with will then be single elimination beginning on Friday, May 22. In the five spot Purdue would have to come out of a four-team double elimination pod to reacht he quarters as things stand now. Also, Purdue lost series this year to Oregon and USC, so those schools have the tiebreaker if the Boilers tie with them.
Overall Purdue is a healthy 32-15 with eight games remaining in the regular season, and the RPI took a big jump to 52 as of right now. Last week the big three projections of On3, Baseball America, and D1 baseball had Purdue on the radar for a bid, but out of the field. D1 Baseball is often the most accurate and they had Purdue as a “Four to watch team, with Virginia Tech, Kansas State, and Louisville in there, along with Michigan, Miami (OH), Kentucky, and Arkansas State as ”First Four Out”. Texas State, NC State, Pittsburgh, and Vanderbilt were their “Last Four In”. Here is how those 11 teams did this weekend:
Texas State – Their RPI fell to 58 after they were swept at home by South Alabama and lost a midweek game tih Texas A&M Corpus Christi. This probably knocks them out for now.
NC State – The Wolfpack improved their position with a home series win over Miami (FL) two games to one. With an RPI of 37 they are solidly in now.
Pittsburgh – The Panthers suffered a midweek loss to a VERY good Kent State team that might earn an at large bid out of the MAC. They then got swept at Florida State. Their RPI now sits at 48, but they have a huge opportunity this coming weekend at No. 2 North Carolina.
Vanderbilt – The world would be a much better place if the Vandy Whistler missed the field, and this weekend they saw their RPI tumble all the way down to 71 after getting swept at Alabama. That makes three of the four “Last Four In” teams victim of sweeps this past weekend.
Michigan – Purdue would not get a chance to go head-to-head with the Wolverines until the Big Ten Tournament, and any matchup could end up being a de facto play-in game. They received a boost by sweeping Maryland on the road and theor RPI jumped to 42.
Miami (OH) – The Redhawks have a nice one-run midweek win over Purdue a few weeks ago and this weekend they took two of three from Western Michigan to stay a game behind Kent State in the MAC with an RPI of 47. Both Kent State and Miami could earn at large bids, and Northern Illinois could end up with the automatic bid. This might be one Purdue regrets losing at home. Midweek games often do not carry the same weight as weekend series, but Miami coming on the road and winning at a major conference Bubble team is hard to ignore.
Kentucky – The Wildcats saw their RPI move to 35 with a series ine 2-1 over Tennessee this past weekend. They close the year with series agaisnt ranked teams Florida and Arkansas too.
Arkansas State – The Red Wolves are one spot ahead of Purdue in the RPI, but are coming off of a series loss at Old Dominion that dropped them to 27-19 and 11-13 in the Sun Belt.
Virginia Tech – The Hokies had a long road trip to Cal and won two of three to improve to 36 in the RPI. They have a shot at a nice midweek win this week at Liberty, who is a fringe top 25 team.
Kansas State – The Wildcats took a big hit and fell to 62 in the RPI as they are now on a seven game losing streak. All seven games were to current top 25 teams in Kansas, Nebraska, and West Virginia, and they go to a very good Missouri State this week in the midweek before hosting Cincinnati.
Louisville – The Cardinals are probably done, as a sweep at the hands of Wake Forest saw their RPI plummet into triple digits. They also have a tough week ahead at Vanderbilt then a three-game roadie to Miami (FL)
Among the 12 teams battling for the last few spots NC State, Michigan, Purdue, Virginia Tech, and Kentucky did the most to imrpove their profiles this past weekend. It is going to be very close for our Boilers as things stand now, and every game is critical. There are no high RPI possibilities left before the Big Ten Tournament, so Purdue needs a volume of wins. The three times Purdue has made the field it has had 36, 38, and 44 wins, so it probably needs to win at least 5 of the last 8 to have a shot. Purdue’s last two midweek games are a home and home iwth Ball State (19-26) and this weekend’s final home series against Indiana (21-27) comes against one of the five teams currently in the relegation zone from the Big Ten Tournament.
Purdue has built its record on those bottom five teams, as it has gone 9-3 against the likes of Penn State, Maryland, Northwestern, and Michigan State in said relegation zone. The final series of the year against Iowa in Des Moines is at least against a top 80 RPI team.
Additional Note:
Purdue baseball is not the only spring sport that might make the NCAA Tournament. Softball finds itself also on the Bubble after taking two of three at Iowa this past weekend in the regular season finale. The program has not made the postseason since 2009, but it is currently 32-19 and 11-13 in the Big Ten. They will be the 10 seed in the single elimination tournament starting Wednesday at Maryland against 7 seed Wisconsin. Purdue lost 2 of 3 tot he Badgers earlier, so it likely needs a win this week to stay alive. They would then play 2 seed Oregon, who also took two of three from the Boilers earlier.
NCAA.com has Purdue’s softball RPI at 48.
