Very little info on Purdue, but this should get things started...
The Rice Baseball Owls enter the second weekend of the season looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss on Wednesday to our crosstown rivals. Save for the final five innings in Sunday's loss at Stanford, the pitching has been outstanding-- both starters and relievers, and it was encouraging to see both true Freshman Jon Duplantier and JUCO transfer Trevor Teykl rebound strongly from their shakey Rice debuts. Unfortunately, save for Skyler Ewing, who was named both CUSA and National Player of the Week (by two different publications), and some late-inning heroics on Tuesday vs. Texas State to nail down Coach Graham's 1000th win at Rice, the hitting has suddenly gone silent after opening the season with back to back strong offensive performances. Once again, our nemisis appears to be left-handed pitching. This is a puzzle we simply must find a way to solve if we hope to achieve our goals for 2014. This weekend would be a great start!
Purdue comes into The Reck this weekend (game times schedule for 4:30pm CST on Friday, 2:00pm on Saturday and 1:00pm on Sunday) as a Northern team with minimal outdoor practice time (if any given the brutal winter weather in the midwest this year). They were swept at Tennessee in their season-opening series (0-3, 2-20, 2-8), and have yet to play a midweek game.
Here's the official game notes from the Purdue site...
http://www.purduesports.com/sports/m-bas...14aab.html
Our weekend rotation will be the same as last week: Jordan Stephens on Friday, Blake Fox on Saturday and Kevin McCanna on Sunday. Purdue are trying some gamesmanship by moving their ace (So LHP Jordan Minter) to Saturday this week, with the Friday starter listed as So RHP Patrick Kenney, who will be making his first career start after struggled mightily with his control in a relief appearane against Tennessee, when he didn't record an out (0.0 IP, 1 hit, 4 runs, double, 3 BBs, 1 balk, 0 Ks). He's apparently "The Wild Thing" incarnated, with a very lively fastball, but control issues. Purdue's Sunday starter is still TBD.
And for something a little different (well, at least a different perspective), here's a preview of the upcoming weekend series from a Purdue blog site, "Hammer & Rails", courtesy of Alan Shelby...
http://www.hammerandrails.com/2014/2/20/...-rice-owls
Here's the Purdue roster and stats covering their first three games...
http://www.purduesports.com/sports/m-bas...l-mtt.html
http://www.purduesports.com/sports/m-bas...mcume.html
They are hitting just .172/.287/.230 as a team, with only two players batting above .200. And, yes, the Boilermakers' staff ace (Soph Jordan Minter) is a left-hander, and they have two other southpaw pitchers on the roster(RS Soph Kyle Wood, Soph Tim McElroy). Minter pitched well vs. Tennessee in the season-opener (4.2 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 BBs, 1 HBP, 3 Ks, 1 balk), while Wood started on Saturday and couldn't get out of the first inning (0.1 IP, 3 hits, 4 runs, double, 2 BBs, 0 Ks). McElroy pitched shutout ball in two short-stint relief appearances, but he too struggled with his control (2 app, 1.2 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 BBs, 1 HBP, 2 Ks). The only Purdue pitcher to have a truly quality opening weekend was Soph RHP Gavin Downs, who came on in relief (1 app, 5.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 2 BBs, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 0 Ks).
Interestingly, the Boilermakers defense committed just one error against Tennessee, but their pitching staff balked three times, while the Volunteers stole 3-6 bases against Purdue.
We need to pitching to stay consistently strong, and for the offense to reawaken from it's 3-game slumber. Let's bounce back from the loss to UH. Time to gain confidence and momentum heading into Minute Maid next week (vs. Texas, TCU and Tech). Go Owls!
Kendall Rogers/Perfect Game picked Purdue to finish 8th in the Big 10, with no player named to his preseason all-conference team...
http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View...ticle=9369
Quote:Purdue: After such a strong campaign two years ago that ended with an NCAA Regional host, it was absolutely no surprise when the Boilermakers struggled on the way to a 17-34 overall record last season. With that said, look for coach Doug Schreiber’s club to be much improved this year with the return of several key players, specifically on the mound. For instance, the Boilermakers have a rising prospect as an ace pitcher in sophomore lefty Jordan Minch, who had a 4.98 ERA in 81 1/3 innings last season. Meanwhile, Gavin Downs sees his role evolve from someone with five total appearances last year to a weekend starter, while rising sophomore two-way player Kyle Wood will round out the rotation. Wood also is expected to be much improved offensively after only hitting .247 last year … In terms of newcomers, keep an eye on junior college transfer and righthander Brett Hahn, who will close for Purdue, while freshman outfielder Ted Snidanko is expected to be an immediate contributor … Last but not least, the Boilermakers get a big return in sophomore righthanded pitcher Connor Podkul, who’s coming off Tommy John surgery. Podkul had a 4.84 ERA in 12 appearances and nine starts two seasons ago.
Eric Sorenson ranked Purdue all the way down at #191 in his preseason Top 302...
Quote:191- PURDUE (17-34, 6-18)
2013 ISR: 215
Starters Returning: 7
Weekend Starters: 1
Mid-Week Starters: 1
Key Relievers (15+inns.): 6
As happens a lot in the Big 10, the Boilers couldn’t sustain their rousing success of 2012, going from 45 wins to just 17 last year. Pitching was the big bugaboo as PU had a team ERA of 6.46. Of all the returnees on the bump, only Jordan Minch (5-5, 4.98) has a sub-5.00 ERA.
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Purdue Baseball Preview-- Early Season Bounce Back
