Tuesday, April 16
West Lafayette, Ind.
4 PM
Ball State University
at
Purdue
Photo by: Nick Lawler/Ball State Athletics
Cardinals and Boilers Set for 4 p.m. Tuesday Tilt in West Lafayette
April 15, 2024 | Baseball
The Ball State baseball team plays its fourth opponent from the Big Ten Conference this year when it takes on Purdue at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Alexander Field in West Lafayette.
The game was moved up from 6 p.m. for a bigger window of playing time in the event of inclement weather occurring Tuesday night. Links to the B1G+ broadcast, radio call and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
The Cardinals (23-13) are 11-1 since March 24 after sweeping Akron over the weekend at Ball Diamond, while the Boilermakers (23-13, 8-4 Big Ten) most recently outscored Michigan State 42-3 in a three-game sweep of the Spartans. Purdue took 1 of 3 games against Iowa from a March 22-24 weekend series in its other games featuring a common opponent with BSU.
Ball State established a program record with four sacrifice flies in Sunday's 14-9 win against the Zips. The Cardinals' seven home runs in the second game of the set (17-7 win on Saturday) were one away from tying the program record of eight in a single game.
Ball State and Purdue have met 95 times on the diamond with the Cardinals holding a 40-53-2 record in the in-state series history. The Boilermakers won 3-2 last April 19 at home in the first meeting since 2019 between the two teams. The Cardinals triumphed 6-0 on March 19 in Muncie in the first of two matchups that year.
In February, Ball State beat Illinois and Michigan State and fell to Iowa to begin the year with a 2-1 record against Big Ten schools. The Cardinals are scheduled to play Indiana on April 23 at Victory Field in Indianapolis for their fifth and final game of the regular season against the Big Ten.
Hunter Dobbins' Mid-American Conference Player of the Week performance led Ball State to the sweep of the Zips. Dobbins hit three home runs and five RBI in a Saturday doubleheader before blasting a grand slam among his three hits and five RBI in Sunday's series finale, all while starting every game at catcher.
Among NCAA Division I players, Dobbins led the country last week in batting average (.889) and slugging percentage (2.444) while ranking second in home runs per game (1.33), third in on base percentage (.833), fifth in RBI per game (3.33) and sixth in total home runs. Dobbins raised his batting average 52 points with the explosive weekend at the plate.
The duo of senior infielder Michael Hallquist (.722) and Dobbins (.699) rank 1-2 on the MAC slugging percentage leaderboard, while Hallquist also leads the league in total bases (104) to rank No. 29 in Division I. Hallquist ranks third in the conference in hits (52), home runs (13) and RBI (38) and fifth in batting average (.361) on the year while Dobbins has 12 homers of his own to stand at fourth in the MAC.
As a team, the Ball State offense ranks second in the conference in home runs (57, No. 33 nationally), doubles (64), runs (253) and slugging percentage (.495). The Cardinal pitching staff paces the league with a 5.83 ERA and 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings figure that's good for No. 38 in Division I.
SCOUTING PURDUE: The Boilermakers went 24-29 (11-13 Big Ten) last year in head coach Greg Goff's fourth leading the program.
Purdue's defense leads the country in total doubles plays turned (42) and double plays per game (1.17). The Boilermaker bats lead the Big Ten and rank 13th nationally with 86 doubles while ranking in the Top 50 in NCAA Division I in getting hit by pitches (67, No. 31), walks (191, No. 45), total hits (362) and scoring offense (8.2 runs per game). Purdue's pitching leads the league in shutouts (three) and sits at second in the Big Ten with a 4.55 ERA (No. 34 nationally) and 1.45 WHIP (No. 54).
Redshirt freshman infielder Luke Gaffney's 58 total hits rank 12th nationally and .411 batting average 24th nationally, while his 46 RBI and 96 total bases lead the Big Ten. Redshirt sophomore infielder Camden Gasser paces the conference with 35 walks (No. 15 in Division I), while senior closer Jackson Dannelley's five saves are also the most in the Big Ten.
Up Next
Ball State is scheduled to play a three-game series at Western Michigan beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday.
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The game was moved up from 6 p.m. for a bigger window of playing time in the event of inclement weather occurring Tuesday night. Links to the B1G+ broadcast, radio call and live stats can be found above and on the schedule page.
The Cardinals (23-13) are 11-1 since March 24 after sweeping Akron over the weekend at Ball Diamond, while the Boilermakers (23-13, 8-4 Big Ten) most recently outscored Michigan State 42-3 in a three-game sweep of the Spartans. Purdue took 1 of 3 games against Iowa from a March 22-24 weekend series in its other games featuring a common opponent with BSU.
Ball State established a program record with four sacrifice flies in Sunday's 14-9 win against the Zips. The Cardinals' seven home runs in the second game of the set (17-7 win on Saturday) were one away from tying the program record of eight in a single game.
Ball State and Purdue have met 95 times on the diamond with the Cardinals holding a 40-53-2 record in the in-state series history. The Boilermakers won 3-2 last April 19 at home in the first meeting since 2019 between the two teams. The Cardinals triumphed 6-0 on March 19 in Muncie in the first of two matchups that year.
In February, Ball State beat Illinois and Michigan State and fell to Iowa to begin the year with a 2-1 record against Big Ten schools. The Cardinals are scheduled to play Indiana on April 23 at Victory Field in Indianapolis for their fifth and final game of the regular season against the Big Ten.
Hunter Dobbins' Mid-American Conference Player of the Week performance led Ball State to the sweep of the Zips. Dobbins hit three home runs and five RBI in a Saturday doubleheader before blasting a grand slam among his three hits and five RBI in Sunday's series finale, all while starting every game at catcher.
Among NCAA Division I players, Dobbins led the country last week in batting average (.889) and slugging percentage (2.444) while ranking second in home runs per game (1.33), third in on base percentage (.833), fifth in RBI per game (3.33) and sixth in total home runs. Dobbins raised his batting average 52 points with the explosive weekend at the plate.
The duo of senior infielder Michael Hallquist (.722) and Dobbins (.699) rank 1-2 on the MAC slugging percentage leaderboard, while Hallquist also leads the league in total bases (104) to rank No. 29 in Division I. Hallquist ranks third in the conference in hits (52), home runs (13) and RBI (38) and fifth in batting average (.361) on the year while Dobbins has 12 homers of his own to stand at fourth in the MAC.
As a team, the Ball State offense ranks second in the conference in home runs (57, No. 33 nationally), doubles (64), runs (253) and slugging percentage (.495). The Cardinal pitching staff paces the league with a 5.83 ERA and 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings figure that's good for No. 38 in Division I.
SCOUTING PURDUE: The Boilermakers went 24-29 (11-13 Big Ten) last year in head coach Greg Goff's fourth leading the program.
Purdue's defense leads the country in total doubles plays turned (42) and double plays per game (1.17). The Boilermaker bats lead the Big Ten and rank 13th nationally with 86 doubles while ranking in the Top 50 in NCAA Division I in getting hit by pitches (67, No. 31), walks (191, No. 45), total hits (362) and scoring offense (8.2 runs per game). Purdue's pitching leads the league in shutouts (three) and sits at second in the Big Ten with a 4.55 ERA (No. 34 nationally) and 1.45 WHIP (No. 54).
Redshirt freshman infielder Luke Gaffney's 58 total hits rank 12th nationally and .411 batting average 24th nationally, while his 46 RBI and 96 total bases lead the Big Ten. Redshirt sophomore infielder Camden Gasser paces the conference with 35 walks (No. 15 in Division I), while senior closer Jackson Dannelley's five saves are also the most in the Big Ten.
Up Next
Ball State is scheduled to play a three-game series at Western Michigan beginning at 3 p.m. on Friday.
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Players Mentioned
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