Purdue Baseball: New Season, New Look for Boilermakers
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – It hasn't taken Greg Goff long to put his stamp on the Purdue baseball program.
Promoted last June after Mark Wasikowski left to become the new coach of the Oregon Ducks, Goff wants to add speed to the Boilermakers' game, and he hopes that will help get them back into the NCAA Tournament, where were the Boilers were in 2018 before stumbling to a 20-34 record a year ago.
"We're going to be stealing bases, we're going to take the extra bag. We're calling it the fastest show on dirt,'' senior outfielder Skyler Hunter said. "It could come back to bite us sometimes, but if you play the odds, it's going to be in our favor.''
Despite Purdue being picked 12th out of 13 Big Ten teams in the D1baseball.com preseason rankings, there is plenty of optimism up and down the roster now that Goff is in charge.
Purdue pitcher Trent Johnson said the transition from Wasikowski, who coached the Boilers for three years, to Goff has been seamless. Goss was his assistant that entire time.
“Coach Goff started making an impact since the first day of practice that we got out here with him,'' said Johnson. "He brings a lot of energy and just wants us to play with intensity and leave it all out on the field.
"There’s no shortage of passion when we’re playing for Coach Goff. He’s just a guy that you like to play for.”
The Boilermakers return six starters in the lineup and eight arms who saw action on the mound last season. The experience is plentiful, but new faces will appear at the plate and on the mound this year for Purdue, as well.
Goff said pitching will determine how far this team goes in 2020.
“We've got to be good on the mound if we’re going to get back to that part of it,'' Goff said about making the postseason again. "I do think we’re going to be better offensively, I think we’ve got some offensive guys that were not here last year, so I’m expecting those guys to kind of take some of the load of the offensive part and of course, you’ve got to play defense and I think we’re going to do that, for the most part.
"But I feel like pitching and defense is something that will carry us year in and year out, and if we can do a better job this year than what we did last year, I think that’s going to make a big difference.”
Purdue opens the season on Friday against Hofstra in Sanford, Fla. He is still unsure who will start and what roles will be defined with his pitching staff during the four-game series.
“We have a lot of depth, we have a lot of different guys that can do it,” reassured Goff.
Trent Johnson compiled a 2.83 ERA and a team-best 73 strikeouts last season, and the junior from Crawfordsville, Ind., will be relied upon heavily in the starting rotation.
Junior right hander Bo Hofstra, who operated as the go-to closer in the 2019 campaign and was just named to the preseason watch list for the Stopper of the Year Award, is another candidate to get a lot of big outs for Purdue all season. Freshman right hander Jett Jackson and redshirt freshman and local Lafayette product Jackson Smeltz could very well start for this club, as well. Andrew Bohm, Cory Brooks and Dalton Parker also bring experience to the table when called upon.
The bullpen roles are still to be determined, too, but names to watch are Matt Moore, Trevor Cheaney, Kyle Wade, and James Kulak, who have all seen previous action in key moments.
The closer role has been Hofstra's to manage, but if he enters the rotation early in the season, roles will have to be adapted. He had seven of the nine Boilermaker saves last season, but if he’s not available this year, Eric Hildebrand, the sophomore right-hander from Chesterfield, Mich., will most likely be called upon for his first collegiate action.
Goff’s lineup is a work in progress, too, but he's comfortable and confident that there's plenty of talent up and down the roster to play a lot of guys.
“I tell our guys all of the time, we’re going to find the best nine guys that fit into our system, that’s going to give us the best chance of winning,” said Goff.
Hunter, a four-year starter, is the top returning hitter. He hit .307 a year ago and scored a team-high 37 runs. He will be joined in the outfield by Ben Nisle, who only played in 19 games last season due to injury, and either Johnny Sage or JUCO transfer Miles Simington.
“When he’s in the lineup, he brings power, batting average, excitement, and he can do it all on the field,'' Hunter said of Nisle. "He’s a great guy, a great teammate and he’s someone that I love to look over to be able to see next to me.”
JUCO transfers Mason Gavre and Kyle LaPlante will see action in the Purdue infield, most likely at the corners, and will be joined by returnees Ryan Howe and Evan Albrecht. Zac Fascia bypassed the MLB Draft and returned for his senior season and brings back 54 starts as a catcher last season.
“Zac Fascia is one of the best catchers in the country, so getting to throw to him is always a really nice thing,'' Johnson said. "He’s got an absolute hose behind the plate and defensively he’s great, frames pitches very well, steals a lot of strikes, so as a pitcher, you love to throw to a guy like Zac.''
The Boilermakers open their season as the home team Friday through Sunday in Sanford, Fla. with a four-game series against Hofstra.
Their first couple of weekends should be a measuring stick to how they will compete come the ACC/B1G challenge in Minneapolis the third weekend of the season and conference play beginning in March.