By Keith Thomas
Staff Writer

With a dozen conference games left and the Boilers comfortably in fourth place, they begin a key four-game series this afternoon with Big Ten-leading Illinois in Lambert Field.

Purdue (24-14, 9-7 Big Ten) and its Big Ten-leading pitching staff will put its 3.88 team ERA on the line at 3 p.m. today against the second-best offense in the conference.

Illinois (27-12, 13-3) is batting .323 as a team this season and is second in the conference in on-base percentage (.407) and slugging percentage (.458).

Purdue coach Doug Schreiber said that despite the offensive capability of the Fighting Illini, he is not worried about the overall implications of this weekend's series.

"The only record I'm thinking about is being 1-0 (today)," said Schreiber. "We just need to go in and play our style of baseball and not get caught up in wins and losses."

The Boilers' style of baseball thus far has been an aggressive one. Purdue is leading the Big Ten in stolen bases with 75, which is seven more than the next closest team in this category.

Part of being aggressive, according to Schreiber, is the ability to come out and establish an early lead. Center fielder Nate Sickler, who hit a grand slam against Illinois State in Purdue's 8-2 victory in Wednesday's weather-shortened game, agreed that the Boilers must start quickly against the Illini.

"I like coming out and scoring a lot of runs early," said Sickler, who leads the Boilers in home runs (10) and RBI (33). "That just deflates the other team. It takes the wind right out of them."

If the Boilers are to score early this afternoon, it will certainly be an accomplishment. Facing Illinois right hander Jason Anderson, whose 7-1 record leads the Big Ten, will not be an easy task for Schreiber's Boilermakers.

However, for the rest of the weekend series, which consists of a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday, pitching match-ups will be a slightly different story for the two teams.

Purdue leads all Big Ten pitching staffs in ERA (3.88 — the only team ERA under four) and saves (13). The Boiler hurlers also have allowed the fewest hits (293), runs (159) and walks (107). The Illini are ranked sixth overall in team pitching with a 4.55 ERA.

The solid starting rotation consists of Jeremy Ballard, Ben Quick, Russ Morgan and David Gassner, who have all made key contributions to the Boilers' No.1 conference pitching staff. Ballard's 5-2 record leads the Boilers, while Quick leads the team in strikeouts with 38. Morgan leads the group with nine starts, and Gassner is the only Boiler with two complete games.

The starting staff, however, is not solely responsible for the recent success. Closer Andy Helmer, who leads the Big Ten with 12 saves this season and had two last year, needs just one save to tie Purdue's all-time save record of 15.

"The old saying is 'good pitching beats good hitting,'" said pitching coach Gary Adcock. "We'll have to test that theory out this weekend."

Adcock also predicts a low-scoring game this afternoon despite the fact that the Illini have accumulated 597 total bases this season — good enough for second in the conference.

"We know they can hit the ball," said Adcock. "We're not going to be intimidated by them swinging the bats."

The schedule does not get much easier for Adcock and the Boilers following this weekend's series. Eight of Purdue's next 12 conference games are against Illinois and Minnesota, who are No. 1 and No. 3 in the Big Ten, respectively. The combined overall record of the two teams is 49-28 and they have a total conference record of 22-7.

Despite this fact and realizing the importance of this weekend's series, Adcock said the Boilers aren't looking ahead.

"We are trying to narrow the focus to single games," Adcock said.