Maryland Sweeps Purdue Baseball

Coming into the weekend Maryland had a lot more to play for this year than Purdue. The Terrapins were on the good side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, but with series against league leaders Michigan and Indiana in the final two weeks they needed a strong showing against Purdue to solidify their spot.

It is safe to say they got it.

There is really no need to do individual game recaps for this one. Maryland swept Purdue with ease by scores of 11-0, 6-1, and 7-2. Purdue did at least lead each of the last two games with first inning runs, but getting outscored 24-3 over 27 innings is really bad. It is not like Purdue can’t be competitive with these teams, either. Indiana, Nebraska, and Iowa are all probable NCAA Tourney teams and Purdue was able to at least win a game against each of them.

Instead, the offense continued to struggle, and Purdue is now 1-15 in games in which it has scored two runs or less. That has happened 16 times now in 35 games.

The star of the weekend for Purdue was Ben Nisle. He was 6 for 11 on the weekend with three doubles and drove in all three runs. Skyler Hunter had 4 hits and scored all three runs, but outside of those two the Purdue offense did little to nothing.

Purdue will head on the road this week to face last place Minnesota, who is a dismal 4-28 on the year and has lost 15 straight. Purdue will play them three times in Minneapolis, then twice more the following week in West Lafayette. Purdue also has two games left against Penn State (15-21) and will try to reschedule a game or two from the cancelled Northwestern series (12-18), so there is the potential there to finish strong. Overall, however, it has been a disappointing year.