Big Ten Standings / Big Ten Record Book / National Streaks at WarrenNolan.com
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue baseball won its final seven games of April, taking over the title of the nation's most-improved team and continuing the greatest turnaround in program history.
The Boilermakers are idle from midweek play this week as they wrap up the spring semester with final exams on campus. They begin their stretch run Friday when they open a three-game Big Ten Conference series against Northwestern. Purdue is scheduled to play seven of its final 12 regular-season games at Alexander Field.
Even with a dozen regular-season games remaining, the Boilermakers have already won 15 more games than last season. Their .396 improvement in winning percentage is also tops nationally. Entering the week, only Purdue, South Florida, Butler and San Diego State have managed to improve upon their winning percentages from last year by at least .300 points. The Boilermakers host the Bulldogs May 10 at Alexander for the final $2 midweek matchup. All general admission tickets, hot dogs, nachos and domestic draft beers are specially priced at just $2 for that Wednesday evening game.
Meanwhile, Purdue has already posted the best season-to-season win improvement in program history. This season marks only the sixth time in 130 years of Boilermaker baseball that the team has won at least 10 more games than the year before. The only other times the program had a .300-point improvement in winning percentage were both before World War II when the Boilermakers played fewer than 20 games in a season.
PURDUE'S BEST YEAR-TO-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
| Years | Year 1 Record | Year 2 Record | Win Improvement | Win Pct Diff. |
| 2016 to 2017 | 10-44 | 25-18 | +15 | + .396 |
| 1979 to 1980 | 13-30 | 27-24 | +14 | + .204 |
| 1975 to 1976 | 7-24 | 19-20 | +12 | + .261 |
| 1994 to 1995 | 16-39 | 27-30 | +11 | + .184 |
| 1999 to 2000 | 24-30 | 35-23 | +11 | + .159 |
| 2007 to 2008 | 22-32 | 32-26 | +10 | + .063 |
| 1953 to 1954 | 5-13 | 13-13 | +8 | + .222 |
| 1990 to 1991 | 27-30-1 | 35-21 | +8 | + .151 |
| More .300+ | ||||
| 1925 to 1926 | 5-11 | 11-4-2 | +6 | + .393 |
| 1931 to 1932 | 3-7 | 8-5 | +5 | + .315 |
Purdue could also set a new standard for year-to-year improvement in the Big Ten Conference. Since the league did away with its divisional alignment and schedule beginning in 1988, only one team won at least 10 more games in Big Ten play than it did the year before. Coincidentally, that was the 2008 Boilermakers, who finished second in the standings at 21-10 after being eighth at 11-20 the year prior.
Minnesota's plus-.417 improvement in winning percentage from 2008 (10-21) to 2009 (17-6) remains the standard in that category since 1988. However, those were also the years in which the league switched from a 32-game conference schedule in 2008 to the current 24-game slate in 2009. Iowa's plus-.375 improvement in winning percentage in Big Ten play from 2014 to 2015 is the best in years in which the number of games on the schedule was the same.
MOST IMPROVED BIG TEN TEAMS IN LEAGUE PLAY SINCE 1988
| Team, Years | Year 1 Record | Year 2 Record | Win Improvement | Win Pct Diff. |
| Purdue, 2016-17 | 2-22 | 9-6^ | +7 | + .517 |
| Minnesota, 2008-09* | 10-21 | 17-6 | +7 | + .417 |
| Iowa, 2014-15 | 10-14 | 19-5 | +9 | + .375 |
| Iowa, 2009-10 | 4-19 | 13-11 | +9 | + .368 |
| Northwestern, 1990-91 | 6-21 | 15-12 | +9 | + .333 |
| Purdue, 2007-08 | 11-20 | 21-10 | +10 | + .323 |
| Indiana, 1989-90 | 5-23 | 14-14 | +9 | + .321 |
| Minnesota, 2015-16 | 9-15 | 16-7 | +7 | + .321 |
| Northwestern, 2009-10 | 5-17 | 13-11 | +8 | + .314 |
| Purdue, 1996-97 | 8-19 | 17-11 | +9 | + .311 |
^Record as of May 4 with 9 Big Ten games remaining
*The Big Ten schedule changed from a 32-game slate in 2008 to the current 24-game slate in 2009
The Big Ten played a 28-game conference schedule from 1988 to 2001
MORE PURDUE HIGHLIGHTS
- The Boilermakers' seven-game win streak is currently the longest in the Big Ten and tied for fourth longest nationally. Purdue has posted a pair of seven-game win streaks in the same season for the first time since the 2012 Big Ten Championships team had a pair of 10-game streaks.
- Having won each of the first six games of their now nine-game homestand (after Sunday's rain out), the Boilermakers' six straight wins at Alexander Field represents the seventh-longest home win streak in the nation. Prior to this season, Purdue's longest home win streak at Alexander (2013-present) had been four in 2013.
- The Boilermakers have not trailed in 57 consecutive innings dating back to the seventh inning of the April 19 comeback win at Indiana State that ignited the win streak. Thanks in part to an 8-0 scoring edge in the first inning of the last six games, Purdue has held the lead for 48 of those 57 innings. The pitching staff's 1.50 ERA and a .981 fielding percentage during the homestand has been very significant as well. The 57-inning streak without trailing is the program's longest since going 63 consecutive innings during an eight-game win streak early in the 2011 campaign.
- The Boilermakers' 12 wins in April were their most in a month since going 14-3 in April 2012. Purdue won four of its five weekend series last month, posting series wins at Ohio State and vs. Indiana, Illinois and Saint Louis. The Boilermakers went a combined 7-1 against the three first-time visitors to Alexander Field. The 2012 Boilermakers won all four of their weekend series in April, marking the last time the program had four series wins in a month. Purdue has six series victories total this season. From 2013 through 2016, the program only won seven weekend series.
- The Boilermakers enter May in a four-way tie for third place in the Big Ten standings with Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota. Purdue plays Michigan and Minnesota the final two weekends of the regular season. The top eight teams qualify for the Big Ten Tournament, which the Boilermakers have not done since winning the event while making their program-record fifth straight appearance in 2012. Purdue is not only looking to end its longest drought since 1988 to 1992, but also has a chance to join a unique list of teams to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament only one year after finishing last in the standings. Penn State (last in 2010, qualified in 2011) was the most recent team to accomplish the feat, capping a stretch in which it happened three times from 2008 to 2011 (Indiana in 2008, Iowa in 2010). Since the end of the Big Ten's divisional era in 1988, only eight teams have qualified for the league tournament after finishing last the year before. That list includes the 1995 Boilermakers, who improved from 8-20 in 1994 to 15-13 the following season to make the four-team field.