It’s mid-February, so that means the return of Purdue baseball. This year is year seven under Greg Goff, and with a 140-130 record since taking over in 2020 the Purdue Nine is looking to take a step forward this year. The season begins This weekend in Sugar Land, Texas, Where Purdue will begin the 2026 campaign with three games against Portland.
Purdue will then stay in the Lone Star State with a midweek game next Wednesday at Rice before stepping up in weight class at the Round Rock Classic next week in Round Rock, Texas. The Boilers are slated to play #20 Southern Miss, Baylor, and #12 Oregon State there, making for a tougher than usual opening slate.
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The last two seasons have seen Purdue start strong against a weaker non-conference schedule before fading late. Purdue was 33-24, 13-11 Big Ten in 2024, but it closed by losing seven of nine and fell out of first place with a late Sunday collapse against Indiana that started the spiral. Last year Purdue was 31-23, but went just 11-19 in the expanded 30-game Big Ten season.
They will open the season against a Portland Pilots team that was 22-30 last year and 13-11 in the West Coast Conference. They still played a challenging schedule that included two midweek wins over a top 25 Oregon team. The games this weekend will be at 5pm, Friday, Noon Saturday, and 1pm Sunday.
In terms of season expectations, they are not high. The Big Ten Preseason poll only projects the top six teams in the 17 team league and it is dominated by the new West Coast Schools. UCLA is the league favorite and preseason No. 1 team nationally in a few polls. Oregon is in the top 20 and is picked second, followed by USC, Nebraska, Indiana, and Iowa.
Purdue did have three players named on the preseason “Players to Watch” list from the conference. Friday starting pitcher Cole Van Assen will anchor the rotation. Dylan Drake and Aaron Manias will handle things in the infield behind him. senior righthander Jake Kramer was among the 104 pitchers nationally named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year preseason watch list. The honor recognizes the nation’s top relief pitcher. Kramer earned 11 wins and 27 saves in 59 appearances over his first three collegiate seasons at California (PA). He was a two-time NCBWA Division II All-American.
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The truth is that we really don’t know what to expect from Purdue. The lineup is loaded with promising JuCo transfers and just four players, one of them being Van Assen, are upperclassmen that started their careers at Purdue. Zach Erdman is a Texas Tech transfer expected to take over the Saturday spot in the rotation, while South Carolina transfer Jarvis Evans is expected in the Sunday spot. That gives Purdue three experienced starters on the mound.
In the lineup Manias is the top returning hitter from last year, as he batted .294 with 9 HR and 43 RBI. Brandon Rogers will look to hold things down in centerfield defensively. Jackson Bessette is an experienced catcher from Illinois-Chicago that was an all-Missouri Valley Conference selection.
Purdue should be a big favorite this weekend against Portland, but we’ll have an idea of how good the Boilers are early. The Round Rock Classic in Week 2 is a great challenge, and #23 Oregon opens the Big Ten season at Alexander Field March 6-8. That series is significant as Mark Wasikowski, who took Purdue to only its third ever NCAA Tournament in 2018, returns with the Ducks. The one West Coast trip will be at USC April 24-26, and Murray State, who was in last year’s College World Series, comes to Purdue May 1-3.
It’s hard to have any expectations with so many new names throughout the lineup, but it should be a fun season.
