ShortSideOption
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Won our mid-week game against a rebuilding Wildcats team. Again, those mid-week games are so tough as you usually only have 5-6 solid pitchers that you want to save for the weekend. Last week I stated how Oregon State, A&M, LSU, they all lost mid-week games. This week 2 more top 25 teams got beat, it's just the way it goes. However, for us, we have a kid with legit Friday night stuff starting our mid-week games in Kyle Perry. That's quite the luxury on our end.
We were pretty much needing to go 3-1 this week. We took care of the mid-week game which in the grand scheme of things doesn't really matter, it can only hurt you, but it's all about our conference finish. We are currently 44th in RPI, but those rankings don't matter at all right now as teams like Creighton are still in front of us and sitting 24th despite us throttling them. I wouldn't quite say we let the Minnesota series slip away, but I definitely am disappointed we didn't come away with a series win. Game 1 we were lucky to be in extras with them, throttled them second game, and then how we lost the third game was just brutal. But to be mad we were so competitive against the team that was picked to win conference this year is tough for me to do. Especially with such a young team and missing our best hitter.
In comes Purdue, who is 134th in RPI with a 10-16 record. Again, don't let that record fool you, as they are actually ahead of us in conference with a 4-1 record. They won their opening series against Northwestern (2-1) and swept Penn State 2-0 (tho one of those games was cancelled not getting all 3 in). This is a series we have to win. It is so tough to sweep in baseball, but we must go 2-1 to stay at the top of the pack.
What to look for:
-Purdue is not deep at all pitching, but they do have a pretty good Friday night starter in Patrick Smith. While he's not as electric as Max Meyer from Minnesota that we saw last Friday, he can cause some headaches. He is 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA, but has a 1.46 ERA and a 2-0 record in his two starts in the B1G. I would expect we are his most dangerous lineup he's faced in the league and it's not close.
-Purdue is hitting a putrid .230 as a team, and only has one guy over .300 in Skyler Hunter. A lot of their guys have turned it on like Nick Evarts and Ryan Howe in B1G play batting close to .400, so those are some guys to look out for. But I again think that our pitching will be night and day to Northwestern and Penn State that they have faced.
-Schwellenbach back? I still think he's a week away, but he was getting around much better yesterday. Kind of amazing what we are able to do still without him in the lineup.
-Is it even possible for us to strikeout more at bat? Part of me thinks that with a young team getting used to college pitching, it makes sense. Then part of me sees Altavilla leading our team in K's and it's frustrating. Quite honestly, those are the things that will get you beat in a series against Minnesota, but won't matter much against Michigan State or Kansas State.
-Could our weekend rotation be showing any better in conference? Our weekend starters are 4-0 with 34 K's and 4 BB's.
-Sticking with in conference, Joe Acker and Jaxon Hallmark are both hitting over .400 in B1G play. You also have Chick, Palensky, and Hellstrom all over the .300 mark. When we get Schwellenbach back, that could be dangerous. Roskam is right there, hitting .294 in conference and showing the confidence we need. Altavilla hitting .048 6 games in conference, he just needs to start swinging and have fun. Taking too many pitches and striking out a ton.
Gotta go 2-1. A sweep would be great, but shouldn't be expected (Purdue was picked the same spot as Nebraska preseason). If we win Friday, we have a great shot tho to win 3, as I don't think their pitching has much depth.
We were pretty much needing to go 3-1 this week. We took care of the mid-week game which in the grand scheme of things doesn't really matter, it can only hurt you, but it's all about our conference finish. We are currently 44th in RPI, but those rankings don't matter at all right now as teams like Creighton are still in front of us and sitting 24th despite us throttling them. I wouldn't quite say we let the Minnesota series slip away, but I definitely am disappointed we didn't come away with a series win. Game 1 we were lucky to be in extras with them, throttled them second game, and then how we lost the third game was just brutal. But to be mad we were so competitive against the team that was picked to win conference this year is tough for me to do. Especially with such a young team and missing our best hitter.
In comes Purdue, who is 134th in RPI with a 10-16 record. Again, don't let that record fool you, as they are actually ahead of us in conference with a 4-1 record. They won their opening series against Northwestern (2-1) and swept Penn State 2-0 (tho one of those games was cancelled not getting all 3 in). This is a series we have to win. It is so tough to sweep in baseball, but we must go 2-1 to stay at the top of the pack.
What to look for:
-Purdue is not deep at all pitching, but they do have a pretty good Friday night starter in Patrick Smith. While he's not as electric as Max Meyer from Minnesota that we saw last Friday, he can cause some headaches. He is 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA, but has a 1.46 ERA and a 2-0 record in his two starts in the B1G. I would expect we are his most dangerous lineup he's faced in the league and it's not close.
-Purdue is hitting a putrid .230 as a team, and only has one guy over .300 in Skyler Hunter. A lot of their guys have turned it on like Nick Evarts and Ryan Howe in B1G play batting close to .400, so those are some guys to look out for. But I again think that our pitching will be night and day to Northwestern and Penn State that they have faced.
-Schwellenbach back? I still think he's a week away, but he was getting around much better yesterday. Kind of amazing what we are able to do still without him in the lineup.
-Is it even possible for us to strikeout more at bat? Part of me thinks that with a young team getting used to college pitching, it makes sense. Then part of me sees Altavilla leading our team in K's and it's frustrating. Quite honestly, those are the things that will get you beat in a series against Minnesota, but won't matter much against Michigan State or Kansas State.
-Could our weekend rotation be showing any better in conference? Our weekend starters are 4-0 with 34 K's and 4 BB's.
-Sticking with in conference, Joe Acker and Jaxon Hallmark are both hitting over .400 in B1G play. You also have Chick, Palensky, and Hellstrom all over the .300 mark. When we get Schwellenbach back, that could be dangerous. Roskam is right there, hitting .294 in conference and showing the confidence we need. Altavilla hitting .048 6 games in conference, he just needs to start swinging and have fun. Taking too many pitches and striking out a ton.
Gotta go 2-1. A sweep would be great, but shouldn't be expected (Purdue was picked the same spot as Nebraska preseason). If we win Friday, we have a great shot tho to win 3, as I don't think their pitching has much depth.
