The race for the Big Ten crown is heating up as the Ohio State baseball team looks to improve its conference record this weekend.
The Buckeyes (26-8, 6-3 Big Ten) are looking to rebound from a narrow loss to Kent State Wednesday by traveling to West Lafayette, Ind. to take on the Purdue Boilermakers. OSU sits tied for third place with Illinois, only one game behind Minnesota and Indiana in the Big Ten.
"This is definitely another huge weekend," sophomore outfielder Zach Hurley said. "Every game is huge in the Big Ten."
Purdue (16-15, 5-3) comes to the game with wins in 14 of its last 22 games. The Boilermakers are only half a game behind the Buckeyes in the conference.
"Purdue's a sound ball club. They got everybody back from last year and they have one of the highest RPIs in the Big Ten," OSU coach Bob Todd said.
Christian Lautenschleger/THE LANTERN
Sophomore Tyler Engle throws the ball to hit base to complete the double play..Todd knows the team will have to play smart baseball with the help of good pitching to win the series this weekend.
"When we go to West Lafayette we struggle," he said. "There are always surprises over there, so we got to avoid any mistakes when we play Purdue."
To help get things started for the Buckeyes, pitcher Alex Wimmers, who has been lights out this season, will start. The first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday at Lambert Field.
Wimmers was honored again this week by the Big Ten as Co-pitcher of the Week for the third time. He joins two other former Buckeyes who were honored three times in a season.
In nine appearances Wimmers is 6-1 with an ERA of 3.32.
Purdue will counter with right-handed pitcher Matt Bischoff, who comes into the game with a 3-2 record and a 5.65 ERA.
Both team's offenses are in the top five of the Big Ten, so big offensive numbers are a possibility. OSU's batting average is .308, second in the Big Ten. Purdue's average is fourth at .300.
The following game of the weekend will take place at noon Saturday and OSU will be starting Dean Wolosiansky. The series finale will take place at noon Sunday. Eric Best gets the call for that game.
This year, weekend pitchers have fared well against Big Ten opponents with a combined record of 6-2.
Under the direction of coach Todd, the Buckeyes have played 15 series against Purdue, winning nine and splitting five. The Buckeyes lost the series last year for the first time.
Nathan Schlabach can be reached at schlabach.15@osu.edu.
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