EAST LANSING – Coming off a seven-inning mercy loss against Central Michigan on Tuesday, the Michigan State baseball team travels to face off against the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette.
The upcoming matchup will be the first meeting against the two in-conference opponents in West Lafayette since 2019.
The Spartans enter the contest with a 14-16 record and an even 3-3 conference record. The Boilermakers are on the other side of .500 as they boast a 20-13 overall record and a 5-4 conference record.
In their last contest against No. 18 Indiana State in a single-game series, the Boilermakers lost 3-9 and struggled in the eighth and ninth innings, allowing seven Sycamore runs.
Despite the loss, the Boilermakers are aiming to build on their ninth-ever series sweep on the road in the Big Ten, sweeping a Rutgers team that had not been swept in a three-game Big Ten series at home since April 2017.
Purdue has bounced back from a four-game losing streak in Big Ten play with a four-game win streak in the league, moving into the top half of the standings with nine of their final 15 conference games at home.
The Spartans currently sit eighth in the Big Ten standings, as they maintain a 7-5 record at home. This weekend will be a change in scenery for the green and white, as Purdue is 8-6 at home while MSU is 3-2 on the road.
Redshirt freshman catcher/first baseman Luke Gaffney leads Purdue and ranks third in the B1G and 63rd in the NCAA in batting average at .395.
Gaffney also shares the team lead and ranks tied for second in the conference and 50th in the country in RBIs with 39. He’s also ranked second in the conference and 27th in the NCAA in hits (51), in addition to ranking fourth in the league and 34th in the nation in hits per game (1.6).
Gaffney is second on the team in home runs (6), while tied for second on the team in both doubles (10) and triples (2).
The Spartans had a stretch where three of their four official game-winning RBIs were driven in by freshman infielder Ryan McKay, with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth in the 3-2 Victory for Michigan State over Rutgers on March 31st.
Spartan freshman outfielder Landen Lozier drove in the Spartans’ two winning runs with an official game-winning RBI in the wins over Purdue Fort Wayne on March 19th and at Michigan on March 26th.
Lozier drew a bases-loaded walk for the Spartan’s second run in the 11-1 win over Purdue Fort Wayne and laced an RBI single in the seventh inning for Michigan State’s seventh run at Michigan for the difference-maker in the 16-6 deluge of runs in the win over the Wolverines.
Probable pitching matchups on Friday will be graduate lefty Jordan Morales (Grad, LHP) on the mound for Purdue, and MSU sophomore Joseph Dzierwa on the other side for the Spartans.
Michigan State will be without veteran pitching coach Mark Van Ameyde for an extended amount of time, as he will be away from the team after undergoing a successful kidney transplant on March 20th.
Both teams will continue to strive for momentum getting into the depth of conference and season play. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. EST on Friday, streaming will be available on Big Ten Plus.
