Indiana dominates in-state rival Purude 9-1

So I decided that after sitting in the sun for game 1 and receiving sun burn, instead of blogging from my phone, I'd get in the shade plug in my laptop and get rolling.

Eric Arnett is on the mound for Indiana and has a quick 1-2-3 inning. Arnett in the first is already reaching 97 with the fastball.

Purdue counters with Matt Bischoff.

Appears more fans are in attendence for game 2. Both Indiana and Purdue are shorter drives to Columbus than East Lansing and Champaign. Throw in local boy returning home Arnett toeing the rubber and Indiana has a solid contingent.


Chris Hervy with a leadoff HR for Indiana. 1-0 Indiana

Sorry for 2 innings of MIA, chatting it up with a few fans, Eric Sorenson of College Baseball Today is in attendence, spoke to him, more of that later, and caught p with a few Ohio State players. Back to it

Bottom of the 4th, Bischoff in a bit of trouble.
A walk, two outs, an error, and a double scored a run. Runners on the corners 2 outs. Bischoff K ends the inning.

Top 5 Arnett is in control. Sitting hitting the high 90s, dropping it to 81/82 with the offspeed, Slider is nasty. Dominating the Boilermakers.

If you can, watch it on the Big Ten Network. Arnett is showing why he was co-Big Ten Pitcher of the year.

There are nearly 20 scouts with radar guns here to watch Arnett deal.

Bischoff is replaced in the top of the 5th. His line 4 IP 7 hits, 4 ER, 5 runs 3 K's, 2BB.


Bottom of the 5th Indiana puts 5 on the socreboard.

My covering of this game is awful I know I apologize. The stadium is incredible, the weather is perfect, kind of hard to sit in one place.

Final
Purdue 1-7-4
Indiana 9-15-1

Scouting the Field: Purdue

Photo courtesy the-ozone.net


It came down to the final the day of the regular season, but the Purdue Boilermakers were able to lock up the Big Ten's 6th and final Big Ten Tournament seed. The tournament appearance is the Boilers' 13th in program history, and 6th in the last 7 seasons. As a program Purdue has an 11-24 record in Big Ten Tourney play, with a high finish of 2nd place, two times occurring in 1987 and 2008, both times falling to host Michigan in the championship games. Head Coach Dan Schreiber's Boilers look to take it one step further than last years BTT runners-up.

The 2009 edition of the Boilermakers come into postseason play with a 11-12 Big Ten record, and an even 24-24 overall record. Purdue against the Big Ten Tournament field this season went 6-9. Purdue was swept by the tourney's top two seeds, Ohio State and Minnesota respectively in back-to-back Big Ten weekends in late April. But rebounded in a strong way over the last month, collecting 2-1 series wins over Indiana, Michigan State, and Illinois in order. Needless to say Purdue comes into the tournament pretty hot and should be a 6-seed to not take lightly.

As a team, in 48 games, Purdue batted .318, 4th best in the Big Ten scoring 350 runs, 6th best, also finishing in the half of the Big Ten in hits 555 (5th), doubles 102 (4th), triples 14 (4th) and free passes 227 (2nd). Purdue's 38 home runs was 7th best in the Big Ten, as was their 61 stolen bases in 83 attempts. Purdue's .457 slugging percentage was 5th in the 10 team conference, while their .406 on-base percentage paced the Big Ten.

Offensively Purdue is lead by the Big Ten's batting champion, outfielder Brandon Haveman, who on the strength of 70 hits, posted a robust batting average of .412 on the year. Haveman collected 23 RBI, and lead the team with 16 doubles.

Purdue's power threat resides in their stout third baseman Dan Black. Though he was walked a Big Ten high 59 times, and was hit by 13 other pitches, Black still managed to hit 14 home runs, and 13 doubles in his .303 batting average to lead Purdue with a .648 slugging percentage.

Eric Charles at .390, Alex Jaffee's .343, and Nick Overmyer's .317 batting average, gave Purdue 5 players with a .300 or batter batting average in qualified at-bats needed. Ben Wolgamont lead the team with 9 successful stolen bases in 11 tries. Charles had 7 swipes while Haveman had 6.

Purdue's hitting ability and offensive prowess was the force behind the Boilers reaching the Big Ten's postseason. As their pitching unfortunately wasn't able to consistently produce at a high level, accustomed to their hitting.

Purdue enters the tournament with a 5.75 ERA, seventh best during regular season play, and the highest of the six tournament teams. Purdue's ten saves are tied for fifth best. Purdue did allow the second-fewest hits with 525 on the year, but of those 525, 27 were for home runs, and 93 for doubles, both again fifth-most in the conference. The .305 opponents batting average against was third worst, but Purdue limited the damage that could be done, hitting a Big Ten low 27 batters, and the 188 base on balls issued were 4th lowest. Purdue pitchers struck out 331 hitters, which ranked sixth. Some of Purdue's pitching numbers are a bit skewed relative to others as in playing only 48 games, Purdue pitches pitched a total of 421 innings which tied Northwestern for the fewest.

The Purdue leaders from the mound include Friday night starter and team ace Matt Bischoff. Bischoff who was a 1st team All-Big Ten selection in 2008, went 4-4 on the year with a 5.38 ERA. In 87 innings Bischoff allowed 99 hits, and 52 earned runs. Struck out 77 batters while walking 20. Opponents batted .283 of the junior righty Bischoff did encounter problems in the form of extra-base hits, allowing 26 doubles, 2 triples and 6 home runs. The rest of the Purdue rotation is rounded out by Soph. Matt Morgan 6-4, 4.32 and Jr. southpaw Matt Jensen 4-6, 6.52. Junion Kevin Cahill has been Purdue's most decorated closer, collecting five of the team's ten saves, posting a 6.46 ERA, and 3-2 record in the process.

Defensively Purdue committed the third-most errors in the Big Ten this season with 82, resulting in the second lowest fielding percentage at .956. The Boilermakers turned 41 double players always ranking next to last, as was their 73.9% successful stolen bases against. Purdue catchers threw out 23 runners on the bases while allowed 65 stolen bases.

Purdue begins their quest to receive the Big Ten's automatic NCAA bid, and the program's first Big Ten Tournament championship, Wednesday in game two versus in-state rival Indiana. First pitch will be 30 minutes after the conclusion of game 1. Tenative game time is 7:05. Purdue is expected to send Bischoff to the mound. Indiana will counter with Eric Arnett.