Purdue at Illinois
Friday, April 7 / 6 p.m. ET
Eichelberger Field / Champaign, Illinois
/ Watch
Purdue at Illinois
Saturday, April 8 / 2 p.m. ET
Eichelberger Field / Champaign, Illinois
/ Watch
Purdue at Illinois
Sunday, April 9 / 1 p.m. ET
Eichelberger Field / Champaign, Illinois
/ Watch
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - After winning five-of-seven in their first homestand of the season, the Boilermakers (15-23, 4-2 B1G) now head to Champaign, Illinois, for a three-game series with the Illini (24-10, 4-2 B1G). The trip to Illinois marks Purdue's first Big Ten road trip of 2017.
Illinois presents Purdue's toughest Big Ten challenge this season as the Illini possess one of the conference's best offenses as well as a pitching staff led by two starters with sub-three earned run averages and 14 complete games between them. However, the Illini are taking on a Boilermaker team in the midst of an upswing as Purdue has won 12 of its last 19 contests. Over the course of that stretch, the pitching staff has posted a 2.17 ERA and the offense is hitting .292. Purdue currently ranks fourth in the conference with 272 hits and leads the Big Ten with 56 stolen bases this season.
Kaitlynn Moody and Maddie Damon have posted a 1.27 ERA and a 3.13 ERA respectively over the course of the last 19 games with eight complete games in 16 starts. Moody has just 13 earned runs in her last 13 appearances while Damon has posted a stretch of two earned runs or less in seven of her last nine outings. Overall the staff has an ERA of 3.96 on the season with Moody leading the way with a 2.76 ERA in 99 innings of work. Damon has a 3.45 ERA over the course of 99.1 innings.
Mallory Baker and Maya Hughes lead the offense as both student-athletes are hitting above .400 in Purdue's stretch of success the last 19 games. Baker leads the Boilermakers with a .424 batting average and Hughes isn't far behind, hitting at a .409 clip. Overall in 2017, Hughes leads Purdue with a .407 average while Baker is hitting .383.
Hughes has registered 17 multi-hit games this season, five of which have come in six conference games. She currently ranks 16th in the nation with 51 hits and there are just seven student-athletes from the Power Five that rank ahead of her. Hughes' hit total leads the Big Ten and her 16 stolen bags this season only rank second in the conference to Kristen Hoppman who has stolen 20 bases in her senior season. Of her 16 stolen bases, five have come in the last five games and four have come in six conference games.
Altogether, Baker has strung together a remarkable sophomore campaign however over the course of the last 12 games, there are few in the country seeing the ball better right now than the sophomore out of Greenwood, Indiana. In the midst of a 12-game hitting streak, Baker is hitting .543 with a .614 on-base percentage and a .714 slugging percentage. She has 19 hits in 35 at-bats with nine runs scored, eight runs batted in, six doubles, six walks and not a single strikeout. In fact she has registered 27 games, 79-straight at-bats, without a strikeout. With just four strikeouts on the year, she is striking out in just 4% of her at-bats and ranks as the nation's 50th toughest hitter to strikeout. Just 12 other Power Five student-athletes rank ahead of her, four of which hail from the Big Ten.
There is no sign of Baker's hot-streak slowing down as she comes off the seven-game homestand in which she hit .579 with 11 hits in 19 at-bats with four runs scored and four RBI. Five of her 11 hits were doubles, giving her a .842 slugging percentage and with her five walks she posted a .654 on-base percentage.
SERIES RECORDS Purdue vs. Illinois: Illinois leads 21-15
Home: Illinois leads 12-8
Away: Illinois leads 9-5
Neutral: Purdue leads 2-0
Streak: Illinois has won one in a row
