Series Preview: Purdue visits Miller Park for pivotal series against Northwestern
With only six conference games remaining, Northwestern baseball find themselves outside the top eight in the Big Ten Conference. The Wildcats can launch themselves into a Big Ten Tournament position heading into the final week of the regular season if they can win the series against the Purdue Boilermakers at Miller Park this weekend. After being swept by Ohio State at home last weekend, the ‘Cats have dropped three of their last four Big Ten series, but the team bounced back with a non-conference win over UW-Milwaukee on Tuesday.
The Opponent
Purdue (27-16, 7-9) lost two out of three at Iowa last weekend but also picked up a midweek win on Tuesday, defeating Butler 11-6. The Boilermakers are one of only two Big Ten teams (Rutgers) to rank in the top six of the conference in batting average, earned run average and fielding percentage.
The Boilermakers’ speed on the base paths have made them a threat on offense. Purdue’s 102 stolen bases and 89.5% success rate swiping bags both lead the Big Ten by a wide margin. For comparison, Northwestern is 29-43 (67.4%) in stolen base attempts this season.
Three of the conference’s top four base stealers are on Purdue’s roster. Curtis Washington has yet to be caught stealing in 28 attempts this season, which is the highest tally in the nation among players with a 1.000 stolen base percentage. Chicago native and Brother Rice product Mike Bolton Jr. is 26-31 in steal attempts, and the Boilermakers’ batting average leader Evan Albrecht has stolen 18 bases in 2022.
Purdue has been without their staff ace Jackson Smeltz since April 22. Smeltz, who still leads the team in innings pitched (57.1) after missing the last three weeks, has struck out 79 batters this season and is the Boilermakers’ leader in nearly every pitching statistical category. In Smeltz’s absence, CJ Backer has started on Friday nights, beating Michigan on April 29 but falling to Iowa last Friday. Five different Purdue pitchers have earned saves this year, with Landon Weins most recently earning the closing duties last Saturday against Michigan.
The Boilermakers won their first 15 games of the year and were the last remaining undefeated Division I team. Greg Goff is in his third season as Purdue’s head coach and fifth season with the program.
Coach’s Corner
This week, Wildcats Daily spoke with Northwestern baseball coach Josh Reynolds, who shared his thoughts on the previous week and previewed the Purdue series and final two weeks of the regular season.
On Tuesday’s non-conference win over UW-Milwaukee to snap a five-game losing streak:
“Every win is important. You just can’t take winning for granted, and it’s hard,” Reynolds said. “The last eight games, we hadn’t been playing well enough to win, and it just shows you how hard winning is.”
On the current state of the pitching staff:
“We talked (with the pitching staff) yesterday. We sat them down and watched some video,” Reynolds said. “We told them and challenged them that we don’t have a chance to do this if we don’t get better on the mound. We challenged them to compete more with two outs and two strikes to get us back in the dugout.”
On the upcoming Purdue series:
“They’re pretty dynamic when it comes to offense. They’ve got some guys that can really run and can really create some havoc if you don’t take care of the baseball,” Reynolds said. “It’s important that our pitchers do a good job executing pitches and be quick to the plate to give J.C. a chance to throw people out.”
On celebrating the senior class in their final home series this weekend:
“This senior class, they’ve had some crazy stuff happen to them,” Reynolds said. “They’ve gone through some stuff, so watching them persevere and fight through it and still have excitement for the game, it’s been fun. Throughout their careers, they’ve all had some adversity.”
“It’s always a sad day when you have Senior Day, but it’s also a good day because you know they’re graduating and moving on to other things in life, and they’re going to be successful in whatever they do,” Reynolds said.
Midweek Dominance
On Tuesday, the ‘Cats trounced UW-Milwaukee 21-8 to improve their midweek record to 5-1 on the year. Northwestern collected 22 hits and smashed five home runs, including two from senior Tommy D’Alise. Kellen Pate, Reed Smith and Coby Moe each fired a scoreless inning, and Parker Hanks earned his third win of 2022. The win snapped a five-game losing streak, and the 21-run outburst was the most by the Wildcats in a single game this season.
Northwestern will be tested in their final midweek game on Tuesday, as the team will host 16th-ranked Notre Dame at Miller Park. NU is 1-2 against ranked opponents this year, losing two out of three at Maryland.
The Schedule
Single games are slated for each day this weekend, although potential thunderstorms in Evanston this weekend could disrupt the schedule.
Game 1: Friday, May 13, 3:30 p.m. CT
Game 2: Saturday, May 14, 2:00 p.m. CT
Game 3: Sunday, May 15, 1:00 p.m. CT
Probable Starting Pitchers
Game 1
Purdue: RHP CJ Backer (2-1, 5.84 ERA, 44.2 IP, 46 K)
Northwestern: LHP Sean Sullivan (5-1, 4.11 ERA, 61.1 IP, 73 K)
Game 2
Purdue: RHP Wyatt Wendell (5-2, 5.11 ERA, 44 IP, 45 K)
Northwestern: RHP Michael Farinelli (4-5, 4.26 ERA, 69.2 IP, 49 K)
Game 3
Purdue: LHP Troy Wansing (3-4, 6.28 ERA, 43 IP, 53 K)
Northwestern: RHP Grant Comstock (0-3, 5.94 ERA, 33.1 IP, 24 K)
How to Watch
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Andrew Polk is a sportswriter and graduate student at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Polk is a graduate of Macalester College, where he played for the school's Division-III baseball team.