In perhaps its biggest series to date the No. 17 rated Purdue Boilermakers took another major step closer towards a Big Ten baseball championship this weekend. The Boilermakers traveled to Big Ten newcomer Nebraska for an important three game set with the Cornhuskers and their first place lead on the line. Purdue won 8-5 on Friday and 8-3 on Sunday to claim their fifth series win in five tries against Big Ten competition:
Game 3 marked the first time on the season that the Boilermakers faced a true rubber match. Freshman Connor Podkul took the mound, and surrendered 3 runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched. His only rough inning was the bottom of the 4th, in which Nebraska was able to load the bases with no outs and score 3 runs. Senior Nick Wittgren came in and retired the next 2 batters, limiting the Cornhusker’s damage. That would end up being the only runs Nebraska scored all game.
The Cornhuskers did break their 10-game winning streak with an 8-3 win on Saturday, but the Boilermakers are now 31-6 overall and 12-3 in the Big Ten.
Purdue holds a 3-5 game lead over Michigan State and Minnesota in the conference. The Boilermakers host the Spartans next week for three games, and Purdue has just nine conference games left compared to 12 each for Minnesota and Michigan State.
The Indiana Hoosiers, who were out of Big Ten play this week, are clinging to the final Big Ten Tournament spot with a 6-6 league mark. The Hoosiers took two of three at home from Georgia Southern to move to 18-22, but Ohio State's struggles kept the Hoosiers on the good side of the Big Ten Tournament ledger for now.
In the Missouri Valley Conference the Indiana St. Sycamores were out of conference and fell behind Missouri State by a half game, but the Trees gained an important RPI-building series win by taking two of three from 2011 Regional winner Dallas Baptist. Indiana State is now 31-10 on the season, and their RPI is up to 47, putting them in line for an NCAA Tournament bid. Dallas Baptist won the first game of the weekend 15-2 in Terre Haute, but the Trees recovered to win 6-3 on Saturday and 7-5 on Sunday.
The Louisville Cardinals, ranked No. 21, took a pair of games 6-5 and 12-1 on the weekend from South Florida before dropping the series finale on the road 5-1. The series win was critical, as the Cards trail USF by one game in the Big East but now have the tiebreaker. Louisville is 28-12 overall and 10-5 in the Big East, trailing South Florida, Connecticut, and St. John's each by a game for first place.
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