Purdue vs. Michigan State
Friday, March 24 / 4 p.m. ET
Bittinger Stadium / West Lafayette, Indiana
Opening Day: 2017 Schedule Card and Schedule Poster giveaway; foam hammers to the first 300 fans
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Purdue vs. Michigan State
Friday, March 24 / 6:30 p.m. ET
Bittinger Stadium / West Lafayette, Indiana
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Purdue vs. Michigan State
Saturday, March 25 / 1 p.m. ET
Bittinger Stadium / West Lafayette, Indiana
National "Let go of Stuff" Day: Donate items to the Salvation Army
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Six weeks and 31 games after opening the 2017 season, the Purdue softball team finally will play at home.
The Boilermakers (10-21) begin their 23-game Big Ten Conference schedule this weekend by entertaining Michigan State (15-8) at Bittinger Stadium. Purdue and the Spartans will play at 4 and 6:30 p.m. ET tomorrow and 11 a.m. Saturday.
It will be the first three of seven straight home games for the Boilermakers, who play host to Fort Wayne on March 29 and Iowa on March 31, April 1 and April 2.
"It will be really nice to be at home," head coach Boo De Oliveira said. "We have a wonderful stadium, and it will be great to play in front of our fans. Plus, we get to sleep in our beds for a change.
"The Big Ten is a new season for us, and we're undefeated. The non-conference was preparation to get us ready, and we're ready to go."
Two Boilermakers have started all 31 games thus far, senior shortstop Kristen Hoppman and junior center fielder Maya Hughes. Sophomore first baseman/outfielder Mallory Baker and junior catcher/outfielder Kaylah Hampton have 30 and 29 starts, respectively.
Hughes tops the squad with a .392 batting average to rank 10th in the Big Ten. She has a conference-leading 40 hits. Baker paces Purdue with 18 RBI, and Hoppman has a Big Ten-best 17 stolen bases (in 17 attempts). Baker ranks second in the conference with 12 thefts (in 12 tries), while Hughes is tied for third with 11 (in 13 tries).
In the pitching circle, junior Maddie Damon boasts a 5-7 record with a 3.32 ERA in 86.1 innings. Sophomore Kaitlynn Moody is 4-7 with a 3.29 ERA in 68 innings. Both hurlers have struck out 39 batters. Moody has authored five complete games, including two shutouts, among her 10 starts, while Damon has gone the distance four times, with one shutout, out of 13 starts. Moody has made 21 total appearances to tie for the Big Ten lead.
More than halfway through the season, De Oliveira likes the mental toughness of the Boilermakers, who are without several key players due to injury.
"This team is really resilient and keeps battling," the first-year head coach said. "They may get knocked down, but they get right back up. They are super gritty, they're always fighting, and I love that about them.
"I want to see us be more consistent. We've had peaks of greatness in our offense, our pitching and our defense, but I would like to see all facets of our game function at a high caliber more consistently."
RAINBOW WAHINE CLASSIC REWIND
The Boilermakers won their first three games in Honolulu, giving them a season-best five-game winning streak and seven victories in eight games, before dropping their final four.
"We had a really good start, but we were not so great at the end," De Oliveira said. "We are beginning to see more consistent play and hope to use that heading into the Big Ten season."
Baker went 4-for-4 in Purdue's 8-3 victory over Harvard on March 16. It marked the first four-hit game by a Boilermaker since Katie Harrison against Southern Utah on Feb. 12, 2016, and the 42nd in school history. Moreover, Baker had the 23rd 4-for-4 performance in Purdue annals. Three players share the school record with five hits in a game and two have gone 5-for-5.
For the seven-game tournament, Baker led the way with a .417 average (10-for-24), with two doubles, six runs scored, seven RBI and two stolen bases. She was named to the all-tournament team and was joined by Hughes (.400, seven runs, one RBI and two steals) and sophomore Stephanie Ramsey (.308, three runs, two RBI). All three were flawless in the field.
Hampton drove in seven runs, including a two-run home run in an 8-6 win over Marist on March 15. Freshman Alexa Binckes had a two-run pinch-hit blast in a 6-1 win over Connecticut later that day.
"We had much better at-bats with runners in scoring position," De Oliveira said. "The games that we won were because of our quality at-bats with runners on base."
The Boilermakers had their streak of consecutive stolen bases snapped at 30 when Hampton was caught trying to steal third against Marist on March 15. Purdue is 48-for-54 for the season, a success rate of 89 percent, and leads the Big Ten in thefts.
SERIES RECORD
Purdue vs. Michigan State: Purdue leads 30-20
Home: Purdue leads 17-9
Away: Purdue leads 10-9
Neutral: Purdue leads 3-2
Streak: Purdue has won one in a row
