WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Boilermakers head to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes in the final conference series of the regular season.
In the conference series finale, the Boiles hope to officially clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament. The first pitch of the series is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. est. on Friday at the Bob Pearl Softball Field.
Despite starting last week with a non-traditional doubleheader sweep of UIC and IU Indy, the Boilers were then swept at home by Northwestern over the weekend. In that five-game stretch, Purdue broke seven program records, including two individual marks (Moriah Polar, Anna Moore) and five team marks.
In a season that has rewritten the record books, the Boilers are inching closer to holding the No. 1 spot in many more categories including Moore and the single-season home run record, Polar with the career-triples record, and Khloe Banks with the career-runs scored record.
The Purdue single-season program record for team batting average is .313, set in 2011. The current roster is batting at an average of .317, looking to take over another record by the end of the season.
Khloe Banks currently has 146 runs in her career and needs just four more to break the Purdue career runs record set by Rachel Becker through the 2019-2022 seasons.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Iowa comes into the series with a 25-25 overall record and 6-15 record in Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes were just swept this past weekend by No. 3 Nebraska in Lincoln but have an opportunity to pick up a victory at home against Northern Illinois before facing Purdue.
The Hawkeye offense is averaging .281 with a total of 374 hits and 53 home runs this season. Devin Simon helps lead the way for Iowa, batting at an average of .313 with team highs of 50 hits and 39 runs this season.
In the circle, Purdue will expect to face Serayah Neiss at times in the series. Neiss has struck out 71 batters this year and leads the Hawkeye pitching group.
SERIES HISTORY
As conference opponents, Purdue and Iowa are very familiar to one another and have faced off 73 times in both program’s histories. The most recent meetings came as a series sweep for Purdue at Bittinger Stadium in April 2024.
Despite the more recent success for Purdue, Iowa has historically dominated the series with a 49-24 overall record. In Iowa City, Purdue has found some success and has a record of 11-13 there against the Hawkeyes.
The first meeting of the teams came on April 1, 1995, was a 4-3 victory for Iowa in West Lafayette. Since the 2022 season, the Boilers are 5-1 against Iowa, including two of those victories coming in Iowa City.
SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday, May 1 | 7:00 P.M. est.
Saturday, May 2 | 2:00 P.M. est.
Sunday, May 3 | 1:00 P.M. est.
For updates on Purdue Softball, follow the Boilermakers on Twitter (@PurdueSoftball), Instagram (@purduesoftball), and Facebook (Purdue Softball).