Purdue Baseball: Boilers Face ACC's Best in Minneapolis
At 6-1, Purdue baseball boasts the best record in the Big Ten Conference thus far entering the third weekend of the season and will face some of the best teams the Atlantic Coast Conference has to offer.
Purdue will take on three top-25 foes from the ACC at the 2020 Cambria College Classic, which takes place at U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings, in Minneapolis, Minn. Along with the Boilermakers, Iowa, Minnesota, Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State will participate.
The tournament provides Purdue a unique experience to play indoors and against quality opponents. Purdue is believed to have played only one other weekend indoors. That was an April 2009 series vs. Minnesota inside the Metrodome.
The last time Purdue played three different top-25 teams during the same weekend was February 2001 when the Boilermakers opened at Rice’s Tournament.
Here are the particulars on this weekend's series:
- OPPONENTS
- Friday: No. 14 Duke (7-1) vs. Purdue (6-1), 4 p.m. ET
- Saturday: No. 8 NC State (8-0) vs. Purdue (6-1); Noon ET
- Sunday: No. 23 North Carolina (7-2) vs. Purdue (6-1), 11 a.m. ET
- Where: Minneapolis, Minn. | U.S Bank Stadium
- Probable starters: Game 1: Bryce Jarvis (Duke) vs. Trent Johnson (Purdue); Game 2: Nick Swiney (NC State) vs. Cory Brooks (Purdue); Game 3: Connor Ollio (UNC) vs TBA (Purdue)
- All-Time Series: Purdue vs. Duke: Tied 1-1, last meetings in March 2000. Purdue vs. NC State: NCSU leads 9-4, last meeting in 1987. Purdue vs. UNC, UNC leads 7-2, last meeting in March 2006.
- TV: All Games on BTN+
- Radio: WSHY, 104.3-FM
Here are three things to know about the weekend series:
1. Knowing the opponents
Duke has won seven games in a row after dropping its season opener to Army. The Blue Devils won a NCAA Regional last season. Purdue will have to face Bryce Jarvis, who is coming off throwing a perfect game last weekend vs. Cornell.
N.C. State has opened its season undefeated and they are coming off a 2019 season where they were the No. 2 seed in an NCAA Regional. The Wolfpack have played all of their games at home thus far.
North Carolina won its first six games of the year, but dropped two games and the series against Dallas Baptist University a weekend ago. The Tar Heels hosted a NCAA Regional last season.
2. Keys to the series
Last weekend in the Campbell Invitational, Purdue did not commit an error and only allowed seven runs over the course of three games.
It will be important for the Purdue pitching staff to get efficient starts from their aces and then receive quality relief pitching from their bullpen against three solid-hitting teams that they will face. Purdue will need named starters Trent Johnson and Cory Brooks to have outings lasting more than four innings of work on the mound to alleviate the work that their undetermined early season bullpen will have to provide.
3. Player to watch
Purdue closer Bo Hofstra has been nearly perfect this season. Hofstra leads the Big Ten with three saves and has pitched 5 2/3 innings of hitless work on the mound thus far. He will most likely be relied on this weekend for multiple innings of work and will need to keep his production up against the best competition the Boilermakers have faced this season.
Related items on Purdue baseball
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- PURDUE SCHEDULE: Here's the complete 2020 baseball schedule CLICK HERE
- PURDUE ROSTER: Here's the complete 2020 baseball roster CLICK HERE
- PURDUE STATISTICS: Individual statistics through four games. CLICK HERE