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Probable Pitching Matchups
Game 1 vs. Gonzaga: Mike Kornacker (Fr, RHP) vs. Tyler Frost (Fr, RHP)
Game 2 vs. Gonzaga: TBA for Purdue vs. Brandon Bailey (So, RHP)
Friday vs. Arizona State: Brett Haan (Sr, RHP) vs. Ryan Kellogg (Jr, LHP)
Saturday vs. Bakersfield: TBA for Purdue vs. James Barragan (Sr, RHP)
Weekend Weather Forecast for Phoenix
Thursday: 78 degrees, clear skies
Friday: 80 degrees, clear skies
Saturday: 70 degrees, 40 percent chance of rain
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue baseball's first-ever trip to Arizona sets up as another four-game weekend, as the Boilermakers take on three first-time opponents at Arizona State's Phoenix Muni Classic being played at the longtime Major League Baseball spring training stadium in the Valley of the Sun.
After a schedule change was announced Wednesday morning, Purdue (3-4) will now play a noon ET doubleheader Thursday against Gonzaga (4-4). The 17th-ranked and host ASU Sun Devils (4-3) will be the opponent for Friday's 8:30 p.m. ET night game. And the Boilers will close out their weekend with a noon ET game against CSU Bakersfield (3-5) Saturday. The schedule was changed due to a forecast that called for rain Saturday afternoon through Sunday.
Having already played doubleheaders against Western Carolina and Sam Houston State over the first two weekends of the young season, Purdue is set to play a doubleheader three weeks in a row for the first time since the end of the 2008 when the Big Ten schedule featured a doubleheader of two seven-inning games every Saturday. The Boilers posted their first doubleheader sweep since April 2012 against Sam Houston State last weekend.
While Purdue may have never played in the state of Arizona before, 17th-year head coach Doug Schreiber is quite familiar with the Phoenix area and the ASU program. He was an assistant with the Sun Devils from 1995-1998, helping lead ASU to the championship game of the 1998 College World Series. He was hired as the head coach at Purdue shortly thereafter.
Arizona State is led by new head coach Tracy Smith, who was the skipper of Indiana from 2006-14. The Kentland, Ind., native made the move west after leading the Hoosiers to consecutive Big Ten titles in 2013 and 2014 as well as the 2013 College World Series. Schreiber's Purdue teams were 17-12 against Smith's IU teams. The Boilers won 11 of the 14 meetings, including seven in a row at one point, from the 2008 Big Ten Tournament through 2012. The two old rivals squared off in the Big Ten Tournament five times during that stretch, including the championship game in 2012.
Purdue's last games against current members of the West Coast, Pac-12 and Western Athletic Conferences - the leagues that Gonzaga, Arizona State and CSU Bakersfield call home, respectively - were in 2001 (San Diego), 2012 (UCLA) and 2010 (Chicago State). With next weekend's opponent, Oklahoma, also being a first-time foe, the Boilers are currently in the midst of a stretch in which 10 of the 11 games are against teams they've never played before.
Brandon Krieg's 26-game reached base safely streak, which dates back to April 15 of last season, was tied for the longest in the Big Ten and the 12th longest in the country entering the week. The senior has hit safely in each of the first seven games this year and leads the team with 11 hits and a .379 batting average. Through seven games last season, he was only 3-for-25. But ever since reaching base safely six times and recording the game-winning RBI with a walk-off single in the April 15 victory against Butler last year, he has been the Boilers' most consistent player both offensively and defensively. The move to third base this year has gone smoothly for the Indianapolis native.
Michael Vilardo joined Kyle Wood and Krieg as active Boilers with a walk-off RBI last weekend when his sacrifice fly plated the game-winning run in the 12th inning vs. Sam Houston State. Kyle Johnson (8 RBI, 3 runs) and Vilardo (6 RBI, 5 runs) have both produced 11 runs for Purdue early this season. Johnson has recorded an RBI in five of the first seven games while batting third in the lineup every time.
The Boilermakers will give the ball to Mike Kornacker again in the first game of the weekend. He'll be allowed to pitch a little bit deeper into the game as he's continued to be stretched out. The freshman surrendered one run on two hits while throwing 32 of his 45 pitches for strikes vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in his collegiate debut. Brett Haan will start Friday night against Arizona State after working 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball vs. SHSU. Both runs scored after he left the game in the sixth inning. Gavin Downs, Shane Bryant and Matt Frawley are the top candidates to start the other two games. Frawley would start Saturday if he's not needed to help Purdue secure a win in any of the first three games.
Gonzaga went 2-2 over each of its first two weekends, posting two wins against Utah Valley and UC Davis. Arizona State has compiled its 4-3 record against Oklahoma State (2-1), Oklahoma (midweek win) and TCU (1-2). Bakersfield was swept by Creighton in a season-opening series, won 3-of-4 against Northern Kentucky and lost its midweek opener to Cal Poly Tuesday.
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