ROSEMONT, Ill. – A three-home run, eight-RBI week equaled out to Luke Gaffney's fifth Big Ten Freshman of the Week award as the Boilermaker's breakout season now features a pair of repeat weekly honors.
Gaffney has been recognized by the league office after five of the first 10 weekends. He was also honored on Feb. 19, Feb. 26, March 11 and April 15. Since the league added to Freshman of the Week to its awards program in 2011, only Iowa's Keaton Anthony – the 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year – was recognized more frequently (six times). Somewhat unexpectedly, Anthony was never a repeat honoree.
Entering the season, the Boilermakers had claimed eight Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors since 2011, four coming in 2013 alone.
Gaffney hit a solo homer and scored four times in Tuesday's blowout win vs. Ball State, connected for a three-run homer in the ninth inning Friday vs. ETSU that helped bring the go-ahead run to the plate, and barreled up for a grand slam as Purdue put up 18 runs while scoring in every inning it batted in Saturday's victory. Including his home run April 14 vs. Michigan State, he became the first Boilermaker since Kyle Wood in March 2016 to go deep in four consecutive games.
Gaffney reached the 50-RBI benchmark Friday and broke the program's freshman RBI record with his slam Saturday. He was the first player in the Big Ten to register 50 RBI this season. Based on game-by-game data available since 2001, he's the fastest Boilermaker to reach the 50-RBI mark. No other player had made it to 50 prior to May 10.
In just 38 games played, Gaffney broke Kevin Plawecki's freshman RBI record (53) that had stood since 2010, a year in which Plawecki was named a Freshman All-American by both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball. Plawecki went on win Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 2012 when Purdue won the conference title and was a big leaguer by 2015.
Gaffney came to West Lafayette as a catcher but has been playing first base this season. A minor injury to starting catcher and cleanup hitter Connor Caskenette led to Gaffney moving behind the plate for the first time as a Boilermaker, catching the final two games of the ETSU series.
Gaffney enters the final full week of April leading the Big Ten with 54 RBI and 49 runs scored while also being top 10 in a host of other categories. He's only one run shy of Purdue's freshman record for runs scored and is also on pace to reset the program's freshman standards in hits, doubles, home runs and total bases. Batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage are also in play.
Gaffney and the Boilermakers close out their nine-game homestand Tuesday vs. an Evansville team that has won eight consecutive games. Then they return to Big Ten play this weekend with a three-game series at Northwestern, with Friday's series opener set to be played under the lights at Wrigley Field.
Gaffney has been recognized by the league office after five of the first 10 weekends. He was also honored on Feb. 19, Feb. 26, March 11 and April 15. Since the league added to Freshman of the Week to its awards program in 2011, only Iowa's Keaton Anthony – the 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year – was recognized more frequently (six times). Somewhat unexpectedly, Anthony was never a repeat honoree.
Entering the season, the Boilermakers had claimed eight Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors since 2011, four coming in 2013 alone.
Gaffney hit a solo homer and scored four times in Tuesday's blowout win vs. Ball State, connected for a three-run homer in the ninth inning Friday vs. ETSU that helped bring the go-ahead run to the plate, and barreled up for a grand slam as Purdue put up 18 runs while scoring in every inning it batted in Saturday's victory. Including his home run April 14 vs. Michigan State, he became the first Boilermaker since Kyle Wood in March 2016 to go deep in four consecutive games.
Gaffney reached the 50-RBI benchmark Friday and broke the program's freshman RBI record with his slam Saturday. He was the first player in the Big Ten to register 50 RBI this season. Based on game-by-game data available since 2001, he's the fastest Boilermaker to reach the 50-RBI mark. No other player had made it to 50 prior to May 10.
In just 38 games played, Gaffney broke Kevin Plawecki's freshman RBI record (53) that had stood since 2010, a year in which Plawecki was named a Freshman All-American by both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball. Plawecki went on win Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 2012 when Purdue won the conference title and was a big leaguer by 2015.
Gaffney came to West Lafayette as a catcher but has been playing first base this season. A minor injury to starting catcher and cleanup hitter Connor Caskenette led to Gaffney moving behind the plate for the first time as a Boilermaker, catching the final two games of the ETSU series.
Gaffney enters the final full week of April leading the Big Ten with 54 RBI and 49 runs scored while also being top 10 in a host of other categories. He's only one run shy of Purdue's freshman record for runs scored and is also on pace to reset the program's freshman standards in hits, doubles, home runs and total bases. Batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage are also in play.
Gaffney and the Boilermakers close out their nine-game homestand Tuesday vs. an Evansville team that has won eight consecutive games. Then they return to Big Ten play this weekend with a three-game series at Northwestern, with Friday's series opener set to be played under the lights at Wrigley Field.