Purdue travels to Valpo
Boilers seek to extend winning
streak against non-conference
teams
By Greg Doddridge
Staff
Writer
The Purdue baseball team has won every mid-week,
non-conference game it has played this season since Big Ten competition
began on March 23 against Minnesota.
And the Boilers (23-16, 14-4 Big Ten) will be looking
to keep that streak alive this afternoon as they travel to Valparaiso
to take on the Crusaders (20-13, 10-2 Mid-Continent Conference).
Valparaiso is the team that the Boilers started
this current trend against. Purdue beat the Crusaders March 27 (15-4),
Ball State on April 4 (7-6), Butler on April 11 (10-2) and Illinois
State last Wednesday (16-6). Purdue is 4-0 against non-conference teams
during the middle of the week during Big Ten season.
"It's a nice break to face something different,"
said senior second baseman Dave Blomberg. "The mid-week games help us
to prepare for the upcoming weekend against Big Ten teams."
Purdue takes on Xavier at home on Wednesday in
another mid-week, non-Big Ten game before traveling to Bloomington to
take on Indiana in a four-game series this weekend.
"We have to respect Valparaiso," said Blomberg.
"It is not a letdown to be facing them. It is good competition for us
to prepare for Indiana."
Valparaiso split a conference doubleheader with
Oakland this weekend while Purdue took three of four from Illinois in
Champaign, Ill. The Boilers have won 16 of their last 18 games since
beating Valparaiso in late March.
Junior outfielder Brian Wolotka has been a leader
at the plate for the Crusaders. He is batting .355 with 37 RBIs and
14 home runs on the season. His 14 homers have tied the Valparaiso single-season
record. Junior Mark Pedersen complements Wolotka at the plate. Pedersen
is batting .400 with 31 RBI's and 10 home runs on the season.
"There is a little in-state rivalry with Valparaiso,"
said Blomberg. "They schedule Big Ten teams. They can sneak up on us
and bite us in the butt.
"We have to show we are better than they are."
Purdue will counter with its solid hitting core
of junior David Harrell (.382 with 34 RBIs), senior Nate Sickler (.381
with 43 RBIs), Blomberg (.363 with 18 RBIs), sophomore Nick McIntyre
(.358 with 31 RBIs) and sophomore Daniel Underwood (.355 with 21 RBIs).
Since an 11-10 loss to Minnesota on March 24, Purdue
has won 18 of its past 20 games. This momentum has given the team optimism.
"We try to take it game by game," said Blomberg.
"We have known our goals since the start of the season."
Purdue wants to win the Big Ten tournament, which
is May 16-19 at the home for the school that wins the regular-season
title, and advance to the NCAA Regionals.
"We can't worry about other teams," said Blomberg.
"We worry about us."
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