By Keith Thomas
Staff Writer

With the season barely half over and following a disappointing series with Iowa, Purdue's schedule is not going to get any easier.

Tonight Purdue (18—12, 6—6 Big Ten) takes on the Fighting Irish in South Bend, Ind., for the lone matchup between the teams this season.

This evening's game with Notre Dame (22—7) is just the first of a demanding late April schedule for the Boilers. Purdue plays 17 games in the next 19 days — culminating with a three—game series against an always—talented Oklahoma State team in Stillwater, Okla.

"We're going to find out what we're made of," said assistant coach Todd Murphy. "We went to Iowa feeling good about ourselves with a chance to put ourselves in a good position in the conference but just didn't produce."

After dropping three of four games with Iowa over the weekend, the Boilers have dropped from a third—place tie in the Big Ten to a tie for fifth place with the Hawkeyes.

"Now that we didn't get it done, we have to see how we face adversity," said Murphy. "It's gut check time."

With the Purdue offense unable to produce enough runs to win more than one game against Iowa, it has to face a tough Notre Dame ball club, led by junior Aaron Heilman's five complete games and his 6—1 record, at 6:05 tonight.

"Notre Dame's a good team — we've just got to go and play our game," said Murphy.

The Boilers' game of late has been one consisting of too many men left on base. Murphy points to the lack of run production as a direct result of leaving too many men in scoring position.

"We've got to learn to hit with men on base," said Murphy. "As soon as we can learn to do that, we'll be alright."

In a season during which pitching has held Purdue together, Murphy would like to see the Boiler bats come alive this evening.

"I'd like to see us come out with some energy and put together some strings of hits," said Murphy.

On the bright side for the Boilers, despite the solid starting pitching, is the fact that although they are playing 17 games in 19 days, 10 of them are at home. However, they begin this stretch on the road in a night game that has them travelling late — getting done with the Irish just in time to take on Valparaiso on Wednesday afternoon.

Following the game with Valparaiso, the Boilermakers return home for a four—game weekend series with Indiana.