Game Notes / Live Audio / Live Video 1 / Gameday Central
March 30 Update: The series will now conclude Saturday with a 1 p.m. ET doubleheader. No game Sunday.
WEEKEND SERIES INFORMATION
Purdue (11-10, 0-0 B1G) at Penn State (7-12, 1-2 B1G)
Friday to Sunday, March 30 to April 1 at 6:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 11 a.m. ET
Medlar Field / University Park, Pennsylvania
All-Time Series: Purdue leads 45-32 / All-Time in University Park: Tied 16-16
Last Series: PSU swept a 3-game set (April 2016)
Purdue's Last Series Win vs. PSU: Purdue swept a 2-game set (May 2015 in West Lafayette)
Purdue's Last Series Win in University Park: Purdue swept a 3-game set (March 2013)
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday: Tanner Andrews (Sr, RHP) vs. PSU's Justin Hagenman (Jr, RHP)
Saturday: Gareth Stroh (Jr, LHP) vs. PSU's Taylor Lehman (Sr, LHP)
Sunday: Trent Johnson (Fr, RHP) vs. PSU's Dante Biasi (So, LHP)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue baseball opens Big Ten play against one of the two conference teams it did not play last season, flying to Central Pennsylvania for a weekend series at Penn State.
First pitch at Medlar Field is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday (all times ET). The Nittany Lions share their home field with the State College Spikes, the St. Louis Cardinals affiliate in the Class-A New York-Penn League. Purdue, Penn State, Michigan State and Nebraska are the only Big Ten teams left with natural grass surfaces at their home fields. Medlar Field will be the Boilermakers' second minor league ballpark of the season after playing their second weekend at Double-A Nelson Wolff Stadium in San Antonio.
The Nittany Lions lost two of three at Rutgers last weekend in their conference-opening series. Purdue joined Ohio State and Maryland as the league's three teams that were idle from Big Ten play during the first weekend. The Boilermakers are now scheduled to play a Big Ten series each of the next eight weekends.
Purdue plays its first two conference weekends on the road for the second year in a row, the only league team to draw such an assignment this season.
The Boilermakers did not play Penn State last year for the first time since 1997. Michigan State was the only other conference rival Purdue did not play in 2017. The Boilermakers also opened Big Ten play vs. PSU in 1994, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. They also visited Central Pennsylvania for their first conference road trip in 2000, 2013 and 2016.
Easter Sunday falls on April 1 this year. Purdue also went to Penn State for Easter Weekend in 2013 and was successful in sweeping a series at PSU for the first time.
Tanner Andrews worked seven shutout innings of two-hit relief at Medlar Field as a sophomore in 2016. That outing helped the Boilermakers overcome a 4-2 deficit and get the game into extra innings, taking the lead in the top of the 12th. But Penn State rallied for three in the bottom of the frame to complete its first-ever three-game sweep of the Purdue.
McGOWAN FINDS HIS GROOVE AGAIN
- Jacson McGowan was mired in a 3-for-28 slump when he delivered a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning of the March 18 series finale at Saint Louis. That came on the heels of a red-hot start in which he batted .472 (17-for-36) with six homers and 17 RBI over the first nine games. Not surprisingly, Purdue went 8-1 in the first nine games and 1-8 from March 4 to 18. But McGowan has found his way out of the slump. Dating back to that two-out single at Saint Louis, he's 7-for-12 with two walks and six RBI. The junior has multiple hits in each of Purdue's last three games.
- McGowan is already the first Boilermaker since Cameron Perkins in 2011 with at least three four-RBI games in a season.
- Nick Dalesandro (No. 12 catcher) and McGowan (No. 24 first baseman) are both ranked among the top 25 in D1Baseball.com's updated national position rankings through the first six weeks of the season. Dalesandro is the Big Ten's top-ranked catcher and McGowan is the No. 2 first baseman in the conference.
PURDUE NOTABLES
- Harry Shipley has reached base safely a team-high 13 times over the last five games. He has been on base safely at least twice in all five games. Skyler Hunter is the only other Boilermaker with such a streak this year. Hunter reached base safely 12 times over Purdue's five games from Feb. 24 through March 4.
- Freshman Bo Hofstra has pitched 5 1/3 innings of two-hit relief over his first two appearances at Alexander Field. That has accounted for nearly half of the bullpen's current streak of 11 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to March 18. Hofstra has made nine of his 10 appearances this season out of the bullpen. As a reliever, he has worked 18 1/3 innings, giving up only 10 hits (.159 B/Avg.) while compiling a 2.45 ERA. Take out his rough fifth inning at Saint Louis on March 18 and the right-hander has a 1.74 ERA over 20 2/3 innings, recording 16 strikeouts while surrendering just 11 hits.
QUICK LOOK AT PENN STATE
- When Purdue qualified for the Big Ten Tournament last season it left the Nittany Lions with the longest Big Ten Tournament drought (five years). Both teams were top-three seeds in 2012. Penn State finished in a three-way tie for eighth place in 2016, but Iowa won the tiebreaker for the final berth.
- The Nittany Lions swept their season-opening series at Elon, but have just a 4-12 record since. Penn State has played in a bevy of close games. Twelve of PSU's 19 games have been decided by two runs or less and the Lions are 4-5 in one-run affairs.
- Penn State is last in the Big Ten with a .230 team batting average and doesn't bunt much either, recording just five sacrifices in 19 games. Ryan Sloniger (.329) is PSU's lone regular batting over .300. He also leads the way with 10 extra-base hits and 19 RBI. Connor Klemann has homered four times to go along with 13 walks and 13 RBI.
- Lefty Taylor Lehman has pitched to contact effectively as the Saturday starter, surrendering just 19 hits over 25 2/3 innings while recording 14 strikeouts vs. 12 walks. Sunday starter Dante Biasi, a fellow southpaw, has also given up fewer hits (18) than innings pitched (20 2/3). Purdue faced Biasi's brother Sal in game two of the 2016 series. Right-handed relievers Mason Mellott and Eric Mock both have three saves while pitching a combined 28 2/3 innings over 17 appearances. Mock has been tougher on hitters (17 Ks, 11 hits allowed in 13 1/3 innings) despite his ERA being a run higher than Mellott.