Purdue Baseball Gains Huge Sweep of Murray State

The tournament also has a new format this season. The field will still feature the top 12 teams in the league standings, but the top four will receive a bye to the the quarterfinals, with will then be single elimination beginning on Friday, May 22. In the five spot Purdue would have to come out of a four-team double elimination pod to reacht he quarters as things stand now. Also, Purdue lost series this year to Oregon and USC, so those schools have the tiebreaker if the Boilers tie with them.

Overall Purdue is a healthy 32-15 with eight games remaining in the regular season, and the RPI took a big jump to 52 as of right now. Last week the big three projections of On3, Baseball America, and D1 baseball had Purdue on the radar for a bid, but out of the field. D1 Baseball is often the most accurate and they had Purdue as a “Four to watch team, with Virginia Tech, Kansas State, and Louisville in there, along with Michigan, Miami (OH), Kentucky, and Arkansas State as ”First Four Out”. Texas State, NC State, Pittsburgh, and Vanderbilt were their “Last Four In”. Here is how those 11 teams did this weekend:

Texas State – Their RPI fell to 58 after they were swept at home by South Alabama and lost a midweek game tih Texas A&M Corpus Christi. This probably knocks them out for now.

NC State – The Wolfpack improved their position with a home series win over Miami (FL) two games to one. With an RPI of 37 they are solidly in now.

Pittsburgh – The Panthers suffered a midweek loss to a VERY good Kent State team that might earn an at large bid out of the MAC. They then got swept at Florida State. Their RPI now sits at 48, but they have a huge opportunity this coming weekend at No. 2 North Carolina.

Vanderbilt – The world would be a much better place if the Vandy Whistler missed the field, and this weekend they saw their RPI tumble all the way down to 71 after getting swept at Alabama. That makes three of the four “Last Four In” teams victim of sweeps this past weekend.

Michigan – Purdue would not get a chance to go head-to-head with the Wolverines until the Big Ten Tournament, and any matchup could end up being a de facto play-in game. They received a boost by sweeping Maryland on the road and theor RPI jumped to 42.

Miami (OH) – The Redhawks have a nice one-run midweek win over Purdue a few weeks ago and this weekend they took two of three from Western Michigan to stay a game behind Kent State in the MAC with an RPI of 47. Both Kent State and Miami could earn at large bids, and Northern Illinois could end up with the automatic bid. This might be one Purdue regrets losing at home. Midweek games often do not carry the same weight as weekend series, but Miami coming on the road and winning at a major conference Bubble team is hard to ignore.

Kentucky – The Wildcats saw their RPI move to 35 with a series ine 2-1 over Tennessee this past weekend. They close the year with series agaisnt ranked teams Florida and Arkansas too.

Arkansas State – The Red Wolves are one spot ahead of Purdue in the RPI, but are coming off of a series loss at Old Dominion that dropped them to 27-19 and 11-13 in the Sun Belt.

Virginia Tech – The Hokies had a long road trip to Cal and won two of three to improve to 36 in the RPI. They have a shot at a nice midweek win this week at Liberty, who is a fringe top 25 team.

Kansas State – The Wildcats took a big hit and fell to 62 in the RPI as they are now on a seven game losing streak. All seven games were to current top 25 teams in Kansas, Nebraska, and West Virginia, and they go to a very good Missouri State this week in the midweek before hosting Cincinnati.

Louisville – The Cardinals are probably done, as a sweep at the hands of Wake Forest saw their RPI plummet into triple digits. They also have a tough week ahead at Vanderbilt then a three-game roadie to Miami (FL)

Among the 12 teams battling for the last few spots NC State, Michigan, Purdue, Virginia Tech, and Kentucky did the most to imrpove their profiles this past weekend. It is going to be very close for our Boilers as things stand now, and every game is critical. There are no high RPI possibilities left before the Big Ten Tournament, so Purdue needs a volume of wins. The three times Purdue has made the field it has had 36, 38, and 44 wins, so it probably needs to win at least 5 of the last 8 to have a shot. Purdue’s last two midweek games are a home and home iwth Ball State (19-26) and this weekend’s final home series against Indiana (21-27) comes against one of the five teams currently in the relegation zone from the Big Ten Tournament.

Purdue has built its record on those bottom five teams, as it has gone 9-3 against the likes of Penn State, Maryland, Northwestern, and Michigan State in said relegation zone. The final series of the year against Iowa in Des Moines is at least against a top 80 RPI team.

Additional Note:

Purdue baseball is not the only spring sport that might make the NCAA Tournament. Softball finds itself also on the Bubble after taking two of three at Iowa this past weekend in the regular season finale. The program has not made the postseason since 2009, but it is currently 32-19 and 11-13 in the Big Ten. They will be the 10 seed in the single elimination tournament starting Wednesday at Maryland against 7 seed Wisconsin. Purdue lost 2 of 3 tot he Badgers earlier, so it likely needs a win this week to stay alive. They would then play 2 seed Oregon, who also took two of three from the Boilers earlier.

NCAA.com has Purdue’s softball RPI at 48.