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GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Purdue (17-14) at No. 2 Louisville (27-4)
Tuesday, April 11 at 6 p.m. ET / ACC Network Extra on ESPN3/WatchESPN
Jim Patterson Stadium / Louisville, Kentucky
Probable Starting Pitchers: Jack Dellinger (Fr, RHP) vs. Louisville's Shane Hummel (Sr, RHP)
All-Time Series: Louisville leads 10-6 / All-Time in Louisville: Louisville leads 7-5
2016: No. 7 Louisville 9, Purdue 4 (March 23 in West Lafayette)
Last Meeting in Louisville: No. 11 Louisville 5, Purdue 3 (March 2015)
Purdue's Last Win vs. U of L: No. 19 Purdue 2, No. 15 Louisville 1 (March 2012 in West Lafayette)
Purdue's Last Win in Louisville: Purdue 6, No. 20 Louisville 4 (March 2011)
First Meetings: Split a Doubleheader in Louisville (1986)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue baseball's only midweek date outside the state of Indiana doubles as its toughest road test of the season, as the Boilermakers visit No. 2 Louisville on Tuesday.
First pitch at Jim Patterson Stadium, located across the street from famed Churchill Downs, is set for 6 p.m. ET. The game will available on WatchESPN/ESPN3 but an authenticated pay-TV subscription is required. Purdue's game next week at Indiana State will also be on ESPN3.
Louisville won its first 19 games of the season, winning 16 straight at home during that stretch. No. 17 Wake Forest ended the Cardinals' 18-game home win streak Friday in a 2-1 pitcher's duel, but Louisville came back to take the series.
The Boilermakers have played a home-and-home midweek series with U of L since 2011. The Cardinals have been nationally ranked in at least one poll in every meeting during that span. They were ranked as high as fourth in 2013. Purdue has not played a top-five opponent since being swept in a March 2014 series at No. 4 LSU.
The Boilermakers' last win against Louisville, in walk-off fashion in the 10th inning of the final home opener at Lambert Field (2012), doubles as their last victory over a nationally ranked opponent.
Purdue makes its first-ever trip to New Jersey this weekend for a Big Ten series at Rutgers. The Cardinals and Scarlet Knights were league rivals in the Big East and American Athletic Conferences from 2006 to 2014, but Louisville only had to make two trips (2009, 2011) to Piscataway during those years. After this week's games in Kentucky and New Jersey, the Boilermakers don't play another game outside the state of Indiana until closing the regular season with a three-game series at Minnesota (May 18-20).
CONSISTENTLY PLUNKED
- Evan Warden (20) and Harry Shipley (15) remain 1-2 nationally in hit by pitch. Together, they've been plunked more than 10 Big Ten teams, all but Indiana and Maryland (37 each). They've accounted for 73 percent of Purdue's HBPs this year. Skyler Hunter and Evan Kennedy are tied for third on team with three HBPs apiece. Warden eclipsed Purdue's single-season hit by pitch record Sunday.
UPS AND DOWNS ON THE HILL
- Brian Ghiselli worked four innings of one-run relief against the Cardinals in the 2016 home opener at Alexander Field. He has excelled in his two midweek outings this year, recording 10 strikeouts vs. only one walk over nine innings of two-run ball. Unfortunately for Purdue, Ghiselli's strong relief was not enough to overcome early deficits in home loss to Valparaiso and Indiana State.
- Jack Dellinger was not as effective last week against ISU after impressing in the home-opening win against Kent State. The freshman had recorded eight strikeouts vs. only one walk over 12 1/3 innings of eight-hit ball in his midweek starts against Ball State and KSU. But he did not record a strikeout while walking a pair and giving up four hits over three-plus innings of three-run ball against the Sycamores. Dating back to the finale of the Cal State Northridge series during the opening weekend of the spring break trip, Tuesday's game would be Dellinger's sixth straight appearance as a starter. Mike Kornacker (2015) was the program's last freshman pitcher to make six straight starts.
STILL STREAKING
- Skyler Hunter's current 21-game reached base safely streak is the second longest on the team this season, just one game shy of Nick Dalesandro's 22-game run that ended April 2 at Ohio State. Dalesandro reached base safely in every game of March. The 2011 season was the last time Purdue had multiple players with a 20-game reached base safely streaks. Cameron Perkins (50), David Miller (24) and Barrett Serrato (21) each accomplished the feat that season.
- Hunter is 8-for-27 since moving to the cleanup spot in time for the March 31 series opener at OSU. He's compiled a .414 on-base percentage during his 21-game reached safely streak. For the season, the freshman is batting .364 with runners in scoring position. More impressively, with a runner on third and less than two outs, he has driven in that run in 11 of his 13 opportunities.
- Jacson McGowan drove in a run in all four games last week, homering twice in the Indiana series and finishing the four home games 6-for-13 with two walks and six RBI. McGowan has been equally productive with a runner on third and less than two outs, plating that runner in 11 of his 12 chances. Without Hunter and McGowan, Purdue's team percentage in those crucial RBI opportunities would drop from 71 to 64 percent.
QUICK LOOK AT LOUISVILLE
- The Cardinals posted wins vs. Maryland and Ball State during their season-opening weekend in Florida and didn't suffer their first defeat until March 21 at Cincinnati. They've played their last seven games against ranked opponents, winning two of three at Virginia and vs. Wake Forest to go along with a rivalry win vs. Kentucky.
- All-American Brendan McKay is once again Louisville's top performer at the plate (.388, 22 RBI, 13 XBH, 24 walks) and on the mound (1.40 ERA, 68 Ks). Drew Ellis has also walked more than he has struck out while batting .364 with a team-high 11 doubles. Devin Hairston nearly has as many RBI (36) as hits (41). Logan Taylor and Josh Stowers have both stolen 14 bases this season to help the Cardinals rank among the top 20 nationally (54-for-62 as a team). They've also walked more than they've struck out.
- Probable starter Shane Hummel has been credited with three wins despite pitching just 9 1/3 innings. He has not issued a walk this season. Lincoln Henzman, Adam Wolf and Sam Bordner have been a formidable relief trio, surrendering only 28 hits in a combined 56 1/3 innings.