WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – For their starring roles as Purdue baseball's team Triple Crown winner, leading hitter in Big Ten play, and Friday starter/ace of the pitching staff, Paul Toetz, Jake Parr and Khal Stephen have been honored as All-Big Ten Conference performers.
Toetz (second base), Parr (first base) and Stephen (starting pitcher) were all selected to the third team by the league's coaches. Sophomore Camden Melvin was recognized as the Boilermakers' Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree.
Toetz and Parr give Purdue two all-conference infielders for the first time since the 2012 Big Ten championship season. Eric Charles was the first-team second baseman that year, the Boilermakers' last keystone to be all-conference.
Stephen is Purdue's first pitcher to be All-Big Ten as a sophomore since Bo Hofstra in 2019 and first sophomore recognized as a starting pitcher since Gareth Stroh in 2017. Stephen led a weekend rotation that was among the most consistent in program history. Stephen, Jonathan Blackwell and Kyle Iwinski comprised the rotation for all eight weekends of Big Ten play and the final nine weekends overall. It was a feat achieved by the Boilermakers for just the fourth time since 2001 and not since 2009.
Thanks to a three-hit game and two-out single in his final at-bat as a Boilermaker, Toetz overtook Parr for the team lead in batting average in the final inning of the season, securing the team Triple Crown via a .335 batting average, 10 home runs and 53 RBI. The ninth-inning RBI single Saturday also secured a 1.000 OPS for Toetz (1.004), who became Purdue's first offensive Triple Crown winner since Kyle Wood in 2015. Ryne White, in 2007, was the last Boilermaker to win an offensive team Triple Crown and be named All-Big Ten in the same season.
Meanwhile, Purdue has now had a player with an OPS of 1.000-plus in three consecutive seasons (Ben Nisle in 2021, Cam Thompson in 2022) after going without one from 2013 to 2020.
Stephen helped propel the Boilermakers to a 6-2 record on Fridays in Big Ten play. He led the team with seven victories, 76 innings and 66 strikeouts. He pitched into the sixth inning in seven of his eight Big Ten starts and led Purdue to six series-opening victories over a seven-week stretch from March 24 to May 5. During that stretch, he struck out seven over six-plus innings of five-hit ball to earn the win April 21 at league champion Maryland. At the time, the Boilermakers became the first visiting team to win on a Friday in College Park since May 2019. Stephen struck out at least seven batters in five of his 14 starts, including a career-high eight in a shutout win at Minnesota on April 7.
Parr batted .385 with 12 extra-base hits and 15 RBI in Big Ten play, producing Purdue's top batting average in league play since Kevin Plawecki (.396) and Charles (.391) in 2012. Parr was the Boilermakers' most consistent hitter during the second half of the season, finishing his career riding a team season-best 27-game on-base streak. During that surge he enjoyed a 15-game hit streak in Big Ten play, the program's longest since 2009, and a 19-game on-base streak vs. conference rivals. At Alexander Field, he reached base safely in his final 17 games and all 19 of the year that he started. Not surprisingly, the Alabama native led the team with a .382 average and .481 on-base percentage and 1.055 OPS at home.
Toetz led the team with 20 multi-hit game and 13 multi-RBI efforts while starting every game for the second year in a row. As an ironman at second base, he started all 103 games in his two seasons at Alexander. Toetz teamed with Jake Jarvis to become the first set of Boilermakers with 10 home runs apiece since 2008. He recorded his 30th RBI by March 21, becoming the fastest Purdue hitter ever – by date on the calendar – to reach the benchmark. A monster weekend (9-for-15, 3B, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 8 R) in a series win vs. Akron helped him get to 30 RBI before Big Ten play began and also made him the Boilermakers' first Big Ten Player of the Week honoree since 2018. Toetz's batting average did not dip below .300 again after the Akron series. He was also much improved defensively, committing only five errors at second base (.975 fielding percentage).
Parr (.391 with RISP) and Toetz (.368) were also among the Boilermakers' top clutch hitters. Toetz recorded 23 of his 53 RBI with two outs to lead the team.
Toetz (second base), Parr (first base) and Stephen (starting pitcher) were all selected to the third team by the league's coaches. Sophomore Camden Melvin was recognized as the Boilermakers' Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree.
Toetz and Parr give Purdue two all-conference infielders for the first time since the 2012 Big Ten championship season. Eric Charles was the first-team second baseman that year, the Boilermakers' last keystone to be all-conference.
Stephen is Purdue's first pitcher to be All-Big Ten as a sophomore since Bo Hofstra in 2019 and first sophomore recognized as a starting pitcher since Gareth Stroh in 2017. Stephen led a weekend rotation that was among the most consistent in program history. Stephen, Jonathan Blackwell and Kyle Iwinski comprised the rotation for all eight weekends of Big Ten play and the final nine weekends overall. It was a feat achieved by the Boilermakers for just the fourth time since 2001 and not since 2009.
Thanks to a three-hit game and two-out single in his final at-bat as a Boilermaker, Toetz overtook Parr for the team lead in batting average in the final inning of the season, securing the team Triple Crown via a .335 batting average, 10 home runs and 53 RBI. The ninth-inning RBI single Saturday also secured a 1.000 OPS for Toetz (1.004), who became Purdue's first offensive Triple Crown winner since Kyle Wood in 2015. Ryne White, in 2007, was the last Boilermaker to win an offensive team Triple Crown and be named All-Big Ten in the same season.
Meanwhile, Purdue has now had a player with an OPS of 1.000-plus in three consecutive seasons (Ben Nisle in 2021, Cam Thompson in 2022) after going without one from 2013 to 2020.
Stephen helped propel the Boilermakers to a 6-2 record on Fridays in Big Ten play. He led the team with seven victories, 76 innings and 66 strikeouts. He pitched into the sixth inning in seven of his eight Big Ten starts and led Purdue to six series-opening victories over a seven-week stretch from March 24 to May 5. During that stretch, he struck out seven over six-plus innings of five-hit ball to earn the win April 21 at league champion Maryland. At the time, the Boilermakers became the first visiting team to win on a Friday in College Park since May 2019. Stephen struck out at least seven batters in five of his 14 starts, including a career-high eight in a shutout win at Minnesota on April 7.
Parr batted .385 with 12 extra-base hits and 15 RBI in Big Ten play, producing Purdue's top batting average in league play since Kevin Plawecki (.396) and Charles (.391) in 2012. Parr was the Boilermakers' most consistent hitter during the second half of the season, finishing his career riding a team season-best 27-game on-base streak. During that surge he enjoyed a 15-game hit streak in Big Ten play, the program's longest since 2009, and a 19-game on-base streak vs. conference rivals. At Alexander Field, he reached base safely in his final 17 games and all 19 of the year that he started. Not surprisingly, the Alabama native led the team with a .382 average and .481 on-base percentage and 1.055 OPS at home.
Toetz led the team with 20 multi-hit game and 13 multi-RBI efforts while starting every game for the second year in a row. As an ironman at second base, he started all 103 games in his two seasons at Alexander. Toetz teamed with Jake Jarvis to become the first set of Boilermakers with 10 home runs apiece since 2008. He recorded his 30th RBI by March 21, becoming the fastest Purdue hitter ever – by date on the calendar – to reach the benchmark. A monster weekend (9-for-15, 3B, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 8 R) in a series win vs. Akron helped him get to 30 RBI before Big Ten play began and also made him the Boilermakers' first Big Ten Player of the Week honoree since 2018. Toetz's batting average did not dip below .300 again after the Akron series. He was also much improved defensively, committing only five errors at second base (.975 fielding percentage).
Parr (.391 with RISP) and Toetz (.368) were also among the Boilermakers' top clutch hitters. Toetz recorded 23 of his 53 RBI with two outs to lead the team.