As I wrote earlier this week, Purdue has an excellent chance to finish strong and make the NCAA Tournament for only the third time ever. Fluctuations in the RPI this week due to midweek games around the country saw Purdue’s mark actually improve from 58 to 54. That is now two spots ahead of Michigan and three behind Iowa, both teams that D1Baseball.com has as “in the tournament”. That makes this weekend crucial.
Purdue is hosting Northwestern, who is one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. They come to Alexander Field this weekend with a 4-14 conference mark, and three of those wins came last week when they swept Penn State, who is now a dismal 1-17 in conference play.