Complete 2015 Schedule: HTML | PDF
2015 Schedule Breakdown
Home Games: 25
Home Weekends: 6
Road Games: 25
Neutral-Site Games: 6
Midweek Games: 11
Home & Home Midweek Opponents: Valparaiso, Ball State & Indiana State
B1G Home: Rutgers, Iowa, Maryland, Penn State
B1G Road: Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska
B1G No Play: Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State
B1G Tournament: May 20-24 at Target Field in Minneapolis
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Six home weekends and 25 home games at Alexander Field highlight Purdue baseball's 2015 schedule, unveiled by head coach Doug Schreiber.
The Boilermakers are scheduled to host Northern Illinois (March 13-15), Rutgers (March 20-22), Butler (March 27-28), Iowa (April 3-5), Maryland (April 24-26) and Penn State (May 14-16) for their home weekends. Valparaiso (March 18), Kent State (March 24), Western Michigan (March 31), IPFW (April 1 and April 15), Indiana State (April 21), Ball State (April 22) and Illinois State (April 28) also visit Alexander Field for midweek action.
Purdue is scheduled to play in a pair of four-team tournaments during the pre-Big Ten portion of the schedule. The Boilermakers will take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Sam Houston State (twice) and Missouri the weekend of Feb. 20-22 at the Minor League Baseball stadium in Corpus Christi, which is home to Houston Astros double-A affiliate in the Texas League.
The following weekend Purdue is slated to travel to the state of Arizona for the first time in program history for Arizona State's Phoenix Muni Classic. The Boilermakers are scheduled to take on Gonzaga (twice), ASU and CSU Bakersfield at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The Sun Devils' new home field opened in 1964, underwent major renovations in 2003 and most recently served as the Oakland A's spring training home.
Weather permitting, Purdue is scheduled to play 15 home games over a 24-day stretch from March 13 through April 5. Northern Illinois is the opponent for the home-opening weekend and the Boilers' first two Big Ten series are at home (vs. Rutgers and Iowa). Butler filled the open weekend in Purdue's Big Ten schedule and the coaches decided to play the first two games of the series at Alexander Field and the Sunday, March 29, series finale at Bulldog Park in Indianapolis.
The March 13 home opener would match the earliest in program history. The 1996 team also played at home on March 13. The early 1990s saw the Boilers play their first home game no later than St. Patrick's Day four times as well. The 2002 team's March 20 home opener marks the earliest Purdue has played at home during Schreiber's first 16 years as head coach.
Although the number of home and true road games is equal at 25 apiece on the original schedule, there is another road-heavy stretch from April 7 through May 12. The Boilermakers will be on the road for four of the five weekends during that stretch, including back-to-back road trips to Illinois and Michigan in April and Michigan State and Nebraska in May.
Purdue hosts Iowa for the third year in a row and fourth time in the last five years. Conversely, the Boilers travel to Michigan State for the third year in a row and fourth time in the last five years. Purdue also visits Champaign-Urbana for the third year in a row after the Illini traveled to West Lafayette for the final two years of Lambert Field.
Former Purdue assistant/associate head coach Jeff Duncan brings his Kent State team to campus for a March 24 midweek date. The Boilers have not played KSU since the 2012 NCAA Regional Purdue hosted in Gary. Duncan is in his second year as the leader of the Golden Flashes.
Another familiar face in a new place is former Indiana coach Tracy Smith, now the head coach at Arizona State. And while ASU, CSU Bakersfield and Gonzaga are all first-time opponents for Purdue at that tournament, Schreiber is quite familiar with the ASU program after spending four years as an assistant in Tempe from 1995-98.
Even though Maryland and Rutgers are new to the Big Ten, the Boilers have played them as recently as 2012 and 2010, respectively. Arizona State, Indiana State, Kent State, Louisville, Maryland, Nebraska and Sam Houston State are the teams on Purdue's schedule that qualified for the NCAA Regionals a year ago. Louisville advanced to the College World Series for the second year in a row and Maryland won a Regional as well.
Nebraska returns to the schedule after it was among the Big Ten rivals the Boilers did not play last season. However, this year's non-play opponents around the conference have been absent from the schedule often as of late. Purdue does not play Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern and Ohio State during 2015 regular season. The Boilermakers did not play IU and Minnesota during the regular season in 2012 and 2013. Northwestern is on the non-play list for the second year in a row and Purdue did not take on OSU as recently as 2010 and 2011.
The college baseball season opens around the country the weekend of Feb. 13-15. Purdue will be opening the new campaign with its first-ever trip to Cullowhee, N.C. However, the Boilers played Western Carolina as recently as 2012 in their last trip to the state of North Carolina for a tournament hosted by East Carolina.
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