2016 Old Gold & Black Series Stats: Gold / Black
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - With only three weeks to go until the opening day of the college baseball season, Purdue baseball opened full preseason practice Friday with sessions inside Mollenkopf and the Madia Hitting Facility.
Under the leadership of first-year head coach Mark Wasikowski, the Boilermakers begin their new campaign the weekend of Feb. 17 to 19 with a four-game series at Texas State. The third weekend of February is the national opening weekend of action again and teams are permitted to begin full team practice three weeks prior.
Purdue held a full team scrimmage inside the Mollenkopf Athletic Center before moving over to the indoor batting cages at Alexander Field. The Boilermakers have moved to early afternoon practices in Mollenkopf this year after many years of holding evening practices inside Mollenkopf both in the preseason and first weeks of the regular season. The baseball coaches' offices are also expected to return to Mollenkopf later this year after the construction of the Football Performance Complex is complete.
Starting in the fall, the new coaching staff has put a large emphasis on situational baseball. Situational base running, bunting, pick off plays and defensive rotations are just a few of the highlighted areas the Boilermakers practice before each half inning of a scrimmage begins. Wasikowski has stressed attention to detail in all aspects of the student-athlete experience.
Purdue has made plans for weekend trips to Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana, for full outdoor practices on the artificial turf fields available at the large complex in suburban Indianapolis. The weather forecast for this weekend was not favorable so the team will be remaining on campus for their first few full practices of the preseason. The Boilermakers won a series vs. Northern Illinois at Grand Park in March 2015.
Purdue is scheduled to visit Little Rock, Southeast Missouri State, Cal State Northridge and Santa Clara for its other non-conference series after the season-opening trip to San Marcos, Texas. Coincidentally, the Boilermakers' last visits to both Texas State and SEMO came early in the 2009 campaign. Purdue has not played a game in the state of Arkansas since 1967 and has not spent its full spring break trip in California since 1998.
The Boilermakers will have more new players than returning letterwinners on this year's roster. Purdue graduated 14 seniors from last year's team and lost junior pitcher Matt Frawley after he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and opted to sign a professional contract. The large amount of new players coupled with the new coaching staff dovetailed this year as a new era for the program begins.