Game Notes | Listen | Watch (PPV) | Game Day Central
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: Brett Haan (Sr, RHP) vs. MSU's Cam Vieaux (So, LHP)
Saturday: Matt Frawley (So, RHP) vs. MSU's Mick VanVossen (Sr, RHP)
Sunday: Gavin Downs (Jr, RHP) vs. MSU's Jeff Kinley (Sr, LHP)
Series History
All-Time: Michigan State leads 79-69
All-Time in East Lansing: Michigan State leads 41-26
Purdue Under Doug Schreiber vs. MSU: Purdue leads 24-18 (Since 1999)
2014: Michigan State won 2-of-3 in East Lansing (April 11-12)
Purdue's Last Series Win vs MSU: Purdue won 2-of-3 in West Lafayette (April 2012)
Purdue's Last Series Win in East Lansing: Purdue won 2-of-3 (May 2009)
First Meeting: Purdue 6, MSU 3 (May 1949 in West Lafayette)
Weekend Weather Forecast for East Lansing, Mich.
Friday: 71 degrees, clear skies
Saturday: 73 degrees, clear skies
Sunday: 76 degrees, clear skies
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue baseball begins a seven-game road stretch by traveling to East Lansing for the third year in a row for a three-game Big Ten series against a rising Michigan State club.
First pitch at McLane Baseball Stadium is set for 2 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Friday's game will be televised live by the Big Ten Network.
The Spartans' home field is one of two facilities in the Big Ten that does not feature lights and therefore all games in East Lansing are afternoon matinees. Kobs Field does have the unique grass berm in play in right field, propping up the high wall which protects right field's short porch that in turn borders the adjacent Red Cedar River.
The Boilermakers (14-31, 1-14 Big Ten) have not won a series at Michigan State since May 2009 and posted a 2-7 record at McLane Stadium while playing there three of the last four years. Coincidentally, after a Purdue-MSU weekend in April 2005 was canceled entirely due to snow, the Boilers only played one series in East Lansing between 1997 and 2006. However, including the forecast for this upcoming weekend, Purdue has been blessed with very good weather in its many trips to East Lansing over the last five years.
Michigan State's McLane Stadium next to the luscious banks of the Red Cedar River.
The Spartans (27-17, 9-6 Big Ten) open a seven-game homestand Friday and are 8-3 at McLane Stadium this season. While completing an impressive month of April in which it compiled a 15-4 record, MSU was projected as an NCAA Regional team this week by D1Baseball.com. Over the last four weekends, the Spartans swept series at Oregon and Rutgers, and rallied to win series against Northwestern and Indiana after dropping the opener.
In 2013, Purdue snapped its nine-game Big Ten losing streak by winning game two of the series in East Lansing. Last season, the Boilers won the opener at MSU in 11 innings, but lost the series after dropping both games of a Saturday doubleheader. Gavin Downs (4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER) and Brett Haan (4 1/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R) both gave Purdue a chance to win as the starting pitchers in that twinbill, but MSU was victorious in a pair of one-run games. Kyle Wood and Kyle Johnson have both homered at McLane Stadium during their careers. Wood is 9-for-25 with seven runs scored in East Lansing the last two years.
The Spartans moved their most experienced relief pitcher -- all-time saves leader Jeff Kinley -- to the weekend rotation for the first time last weekend, and the move paid off in a rubber game win at Indiana. The left-hander struck out seven and did not issue a walk while giving up just one run on three hits over 6 1/3 innings. Fellow senior Mick VanVossen is the reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week after his one-hit, complete-game shutout in game one of the Sunday doubleheader in Bloomington last weekend.
Purdue has seen plenty of Kinley and VanVossen the last two seasons. It was lefty Cam Vieaux who was the toughest on the Boilermakers a year ago, surrendering just one run on five singles while going the distance in the rubber game. Vieaux has been starting on Fridays over the last few weekends.
Third baseman Mark Weist (.324, 21 XBH, 29 RBI), a senior transfer, and sophomore reliever Joe Mockbee (5 wins, 43 K in 41 1/3 IP) have enjoyed impact seasons to go along with MSU's large group of multi-year starters. Weist leads the team with 14 doubles and has started all 44 games as a transfer from NAIA Spring Arbor University. Mockbee has given up just four extra-base hits (all doubles) while making 20 appearances. He had teamed with Walter Borkovich (3.63 ERA, 30 Ks, .203 B/Avg in 34 2/3 IP) and Kinley to give MSU one of the best relief trios in the league.
Senior first baseman Ryan Krill (.336, 18 XBH, 22 walks) is enjoying his best season offensively and is second in the Big Ten with 40 RBI. Cam Gibson continues to provide a nice mix of power (17 XBH) and speed (16 steals) while leading the team with 46 runs scored.
The Boilermakers are idle next week for final exams on campus before heading to Lincoln, Nebraska, for a Big Ten series at Nebraska. It will be Purdue's second Saturday through Monday series of the year and the road trip features a midweek game at Valparaiso on the way home. The Saturday, May 9, opener at Nebraska marks the beginning of a busy stretch in which the Boilers will play seven times over eight days to close the regular season.
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