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WEEKEND SERIES INFORMATION
Purdue (14-10, 3-0 B1G) at No. 10 Indiana (20-5, 1-1 B1G)
Friday, April 6 to Sunday, April 8 at 3:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. ET / BTN2Go, Sunday on BTN
Bart Kaufman Field / Bloomington, Indiana
All-Time Series: Indiana leads 149-132-2 / All-Time in Bloomington: Indiana leads 82-51-1
2017: Purdue won 2 of 3 (April 7-9 in West Lafayette)
Last Series in Bloomington: Indiana swept a 3-game set (April 2016)
Purdue's Last Series Win in Bloomington: Purdue won 2 of 3 (May 2010)
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday: Tanner Andrews (Sr, RHP) vs. IU's Jonathan Stiever (Jr, RHP)
Saturday: Gareth Stroh (Jr, LHP) vs. IU's Pauly Milto (Jr, RHP)
Sunday: Trent Johnson (Fr, RHP) vs. IU's Cameron Beauchamp (So, LHP)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue baseball's seventh road trip doubles as the most anticipated weekend series of the season, as the Boilermakers renew their rivalry with 10th-ranked Indiana in Bloomington.
First pitch at Bart Kaufman Field is slated for 3:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The series finale will be televised live by the Big Ten Network.
Purdue enters the weekend having won five straight games. As the top-ranked Big Ten team and preseason favorite in the league, IU has won 20 of its first 25 games, including four straight. The Hoosiers have played 11 of their 25 games at home. Both teams have not played since Saturday due to unfavorable weather conditions throughout the Midwest during the first week of April.
The Boilermakers enter the weekend tied with Michigan atop the Big Ten standings at 3-0 after sweeping their conference-opening series for the first time since 1985. Indiana split its conference-opening doubleheader at Iowa on March 23 and then swept Butler at home to close out March during its open weekend in the Big Ten schedule.
The Hoosiers are also scheduled to visit Alexander Field on April 25 for a midweek non-conference game that will be televised live by ESPNU.
Coach Waz, Tyler Powers & Tanner Andrews discussed last week's success, the rivalry weekend at IU & the emergence of a few freshmen in Wednesday's media session. #BoilerUp pic.twitter.com/SV3S83n3ER
-- Purdue Baseball (@PurdueBaseball) April 5, 2018
WINNING WITH PITCHING
- Entering the weekend, Indiana (2.66) and Purdue (3.50) are ranked 1-2 in the Big Ten in ERA. The Boilermakers have surrendered the fewest hits in the league (189), including just 33 in the last six games (5.5 per game). The Hoosiers (77) have given up 30 fewer runs than any other team in the Big Ten. They've surrendered more than six runs only once and are 20-1 when they score at least four times.
RECENT TRENDS IN THE RIVALRY SERIES
- Purdue and Big Ten champion Nebraska were the only conference teams to win weekend series vs. Indiana in 2017. The Boilermakers won two of three in IU's first appearance at Alexander Field, posting their first series win against their rivals since 2011. Dating back to the 2008 Big Ten Tournament in Ann Arbor, Purdue has won 11 of the last 14 meetings with Indiana played away from Bloomington. But IU has won six straight home games vs. the Boilermakers after sweeping series in 2014 and 2016. All three games of the 2016 series were one-run affairs.
- Including loss to Nebraska and Maryland at the 2017 Big Ten Tournament, Purdue is 0-8 all-time at Bart Kaufman Field. Like Alexander Field, it opened in 2013. The Boilermakers have not tasted victory in Bloomington since winning the rubber game of a 2010 series. The current seven-year drought is the longest Purdue has ever gone without posting at least one win in B-Town.
- Due in part to Big Ten expansion, the Boilermakers and Hoosiers did not play in the regular season in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Oddly, 2009 through 2011 marked the last time the rivals squared off in the regular season three years in a row, as they'll do to complete the three-year cycle this week.
LAFAYETTE CONNECTIONS
- Indiana has two Lafayette natives on its roster. Senior Logan Sowers has been one of the top powers hitters in the Big Ten for multiple years. The outfielder was teammates with Purdue's Braden Giroux at McCutcheon High School. IU freshman Justin Walker is the son of Purdue alum Chris Walker (1997-00). Although Justin Walker (Jefferson) and Purdue freshman Tyler Powers (Central Catholic) went to different high schools, Powers said this week they are friends and practiced together for many years growing up.
- Andrew Bohm and IU's Matt Gorski were also teammates at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana.
INDIVIDUAL SUCCESS IN BLOOMINGTON
- Despite the team's struggles at Bart Kaufman Field, a few active Boilermakers have enjoyed success at the home of the Hoosiers.
- Harry Shipley reached base safely in nine of his 11 plate appearances in the 2016 series, finishing the weekend 3-for-5 with three walks, three hit by pitch and four runs scored. He posted an .818 on-base percentage that weekend. It had marked the last time a Boilermaker had a .700-plus OBP with at least 10 appearances in a three-game weekend until Nick Dalesandro (8-for-11, .714 OBP at Stetson's tournament), Jacson McGowan (5-for-9, .714 OBP at Stetson's tournament) and Tyler Powers (4-for-7, .700 OBP at Penn State) accomplished the feat this year.
- Evan Warden (4-for-10, 2 2B) and McGowan (4-for-8, 3 RBI) both homered in Big Ten Tournament games at Kaufman Field last year.
NATIONALLY RANKED LOSING SKID SNAPPED IN FEBRUARY
- Purdue's Feb. 25 win vs. No. 30 Notre Dame in San Antonio was its first versus a nationally ranked opponent since May 2012 at UCLA, ending a 41-game skid vs. the nation's elite. However, the Boilermakers have not won a weekend series vs. a ranked team since March 2006 at Missouri. Their last series win vs. a ranked Big Ten team was in May 2000 at Minnesota. Big Ten teams have been nationally ranked much more frequently in recent seasons. But Purdue only played three conference series against ranked opponents from 2001 to 2014.