Boiler Trio Earns Big Ten Conference Awards

Three Boilermakers were honored as third-team All-Big Ten Conference performers: starting pitcher Khal Stephen, second baseman Paul Toetz, and first baseman Jake Parr. Sophomore Camden Melvin was selected as Purdue’s Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree.

Stephen is the first pitcher to be All-Big Ten as a sophomore since Bo Hofstra in 2019 for the Boilermakers. This is the first time since 2012 when Purdue won the Big Ten Championship, the Boilers had two infielders make all conference.

Stephens helped Purdue to a 6-2 record on Fridays in conference play. He led the team with 7 wins in 76 innings and 66 strikeouts. He helped propel the Boilers to be the first visiting team to when at College park since 2019. He struck out at least 7 batters in 5 of his 14 starts including career high 8 in the win over Minnesota on April 7.

Parr batted .385 with 15 RBI and 12 extra base hits in Big Ten play. He had the top batting average in league play since 2012. He was the most consistent hitter riding a season-best 27 game-on-base streak. The Alabama native led the team with a .382 batting average and .481 on-base percentage and 1.055 OPS at Alexander Field.

Toetz led Purdue with 20 multi-hit game and 13 multi-RBI while being a starter for every game two years in a row. He became the fastest Purdue hitter ever to reach 30 RBI on March 21^st. He was Big Ten Player of the week after a monster showing against Akron going 9-15, 3B, 4HR, 11 RBI, and 8R. This was the first time a Purdue player received this award since 2018.