Midweek Stat Pack | Listen | Watch Tuesday (PPV) | Game Day Central
Probable Pitching Matchups
Tuesday: Shane Bryant (Jr, RHP) vs. KSU's Eli Kraus (Fr, LHP)
Wednesday: Gavin Downs (Jr, RHP) vs. BSU's Trevor Henderson (Fr, LHP)
Series History
All-Time vs. Kent State: Purdue leads 3-1
All-Time in West Lafayette: Purdue leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Kent State 7, Purdue 3 (June 2, 2012 in Gary, Ind.)
Last Purdue Win: Purdue 18, Kent State 11 (March 6, 1999 in Louisville, Ky. )
First Meeting: Purdue 6, Kent State 1 (May 23, 1947 in West Lafayette)
All-Time vs. Ball State: Purdue leads 47-35-2
All-Time in Muncie: Purdue leads 17-15-1
Purdue Under Doug Schreiber vs. Ball State: Purdue leads 10-8 (Since 1999)
Last Meeting: Ball State 4, Purdue 3 (May 8, 2013 in Muncie)
Last Purdue Win: Purdue 15, Ball State 2 (April 11, 2012 in Muncie)
First Meeting: Purdue 7, Ball State 7 (April 11, 1930 in West Lafayette)
Weather Forecast
Tuesday in West Lafayette: 43 degrees, 20 percent chance of rain
Wednesday in Muncie: 64 degrees, 20 percent chance of rain
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue baseball continues midweek play with games against two of the Mid-American Conference's top teams last season, Kent State and Ball State.
Kent State (9-9) visits West Lafayette for the first time since 1947 for Tuesday's 5:30 p.m. first pitch at Alexander Field. After a one-year hiatus, the Purdue-Ball State series resumes with a 3 p.m. game in Muncie Wednesday.
Former Purdue assistant and associate head coach Jeff Duncan is in his second year as the head coach of Kent State. Last season, he led the Golden Flashes to a MAC Tournament title and their sixth NCAA Regional appearance since 2007. The Boilermakers were 132-92 in Duncan's four years as an assistant from 2010-13. Purdue and Kent State have not played since the 2012 NCAA Regional in Gary, which KSU won on its way to the qualifying for the College World Series.
Former Michigan skipper Rich Maloney returned to Muncie in 2013 for his second stint as Ball State's head coach. The Cardinals were a MAC-best 39-18 last season and are 15-7 this year after winning their last seven games, including a midweek date with Rutgers March 18. Ball State split a pair of low-scoring games with Illinois in Myrtle Beach and has also played Northwestern and Indiana in neutral-site contests in Florida.
Kent State (9-9) is currently on its spring break trip and is scheduled to play at No. 17 Illinois Wednesday. The Golden Flashes lost two of three at Toledo last weekend, but have quality wins against Winthrop, Baylor, West Virginia, Coastal Carolina, Illinois and Liberty.
Purdue (9-13) opened midweek play a week ago by splitting games against No. 11 Louisville and Valparaiso. Shane Bryant worked 5 1/3 shutout innings against Valpo in his Alexander Field debut and will take the ball again Tuesday as Purdue hosts a team from the 2012 NCAA Regional for the second week in a row.
Gavin Downs gets the start Wednesday at Ball State. As a redshirt-freshman in 2013, he worked 11 innings of four-run ball against the Cardinals in two midweek starts. However, the April 10 game at Alexander Field was rained out in the top of the fifth before it could become an official game. Downs gave the Boilers a quality start in the May rematch in Muncie, surrendering three runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings. But Ball State scored four times in the seventh inning to overcome a three-run deficit and end Purdue's five-game win streak in the series that dated back to April 2009.
The Boilermakers experienced some peaks and valleys offensively while posting a 4-4 record over spring break. Purdue scored 44 runs in its four wins and seven runs in its four losses. Jack Picchiotti led the way at the plate, going 10-for-25 with seven extra-base hits, 11 RBI and 10 runs scored while striking out just once in 30 plate appearances. Kyle Johnson scored a team-high 11 runs in the eight games after compiling a .486 on-base percentage.
While the starting pitching was not stellar in the series loss to Rutgers, the Boilers have surrendered only 30 runs over the last eight games (3.7 per game) since giving up 13 in the rubber game loss at Oklahoma March 8. Conceding less than four runs per game over an extended stretch will always give a team a chance to win every time out.
No active Boilermakers played in the 2012 NCAA Regional game with Kent State. However, the Golden Flashes have two seniors that were both starters in that postseason game as freshmen. Sawyer Polen leads the team with 12 RBI this season and Alex Miklos has started 11 of KSU's 18 games. Zarley Zalewski leads Kent State with a .415 batting average and 13 walks. Freshman lefthander Eli Kraus is scheduled to make his first collegiate start after working 2 2/3 hitless innings in his first appearances for the Golden Flashes.
Ball State has gotten lots of quality innings out of its bullpen, highlighted by the trio of B.J. Butler (4 saves, 1.08 ERA, 24 K's in 25 innings), Devin Wilburn (1.20 ERA, 17 K's in 15 innings) and David Current (5 hits allowed, 12 K's in 9 innings). Together, they've pitched all 49 of their innings in relief and combined for a 1.10 ERA.
The Cardinals have already hit 13 home runs in 22 games this season. Elbert Devarie (.391, 9 XBH, 17 RBI) and Alex Call (.337, 9 XBH, 17 RBI) have provided much of the run production.
Purdue is also scheduled to host Ball State April 22 and another MAC opponent, Western Michigan, is on the schedule for next week (March 31).