WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Coming off a victory in their home opener, Northwestern baseball is set for their first Big Ten series of the season this weekend against Purdue. The ‘Cats will match up with the Boilermakers in a three-game series beginning Friday at Alexander Field.
First pitch in Friday’s series opener is set for noon CT, while action on Saturday will begin at 1:00 p.m. CT and Sunday’s game will start at noon CT.
The Wildcats (2-17, 0-0) will visit Purdue (10-13, 1-2) for the first time since 2018, when the Boilermakers swept a three-game series in West Lafayette. The programs have played two series in Evanston since then, including their most recent meeting last season, a series Purdue took two games to one at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park. The ‘Cats are 93-118-2 against the Boilermakers all time.
Northwestern heads into the series fresh off a 15-11 victory over NIU in their home opener this Tuesday. The ‘Cats collected season highs in runs, hits (18), doubles (7) and extra-base hits (9) against the Huskies en route to the win. Alex Roessner and Luke Tanner both hit their first home run of the season in the game, making it Northwestern’s first multi-homer game of 2023.
The home run was part of an impressive offensive day for Tanner, who went 4-for-5 with four extra-base hits, four RBI and three runs scored. Tuesday’s game marked the outfielder’s second start of the 2023 campaign, and he has now gone 5-for-9 when in the starting lineup.
Tanner was one of six ‘Cats to log a multi-hit game on Tuesday. Alex Calarco and Griffin Arnone both continued their hot streaks with three hits apiece, while Roessner and Michael Elko both collected their first multi-hit games of the season. Owen McElfatrick rounded out the group, good for his third multi-hit effort in his last five games.
On the pitching side, Northwestern will send Matt McClure and Michael Farinelli to the mound, with Sunday’s starter still to be determined. McClure will make his Big Ten-leading seventh start of the season, while Farinelli will start his sixth game of the year.
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