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Baseball: Purdue Faces Road Test at Western Kentucky

Purdue baseball has dropped four straight games after a 6-1 start and it doesn't get easier as they travel to Bowling Green, Ky. to face Western Kentucky.

Purdue's baseball team began the season 6-1, but since then have faced some elite competition against three top-25 ACC teams and a good Indiana team that has beaten three ranked teams this year. Against the last four squads they have faced, the Boilermakers have dropped all four and look to get back on track this weekend. 

Purdue faces its first true road test of the year in a three-game weekend series versus Western Kentucky, the Boilermakers' first trip to Bowling Green since 2008.

Here are the particulars on this weekend's series:

  • OPPONENT
  • Who: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (8-4) vs. Purdue Boilermakers (6-5)
  • When: Friday, March 6, 4 p.m. ET; Saturday, March 7, 2 p.m. ET; Sunday, March 8, 2 p.m. ET
  • Where: Bowling Green, Ky. at Nick Denes Field
  • Probable starters: Game 1: Michael Darrell-Hicks (WKU) vs. Bo Hofstra (Purdue); Game 2: Sean Bergeron (WKU) vs. Cory Brooks (Purdue); Game 3: Dalton Shoemake (WKU) vs. Jett Jackson (Purdue)
  • All-Time Series: Purdue leads the series over Western Kentucky, 5-4, WKU won last meeting in 2008.
  • TV: Free Video Streams of Friday & Sunday live on HSSN on Facebook
  • Radio: WSHY, 104.3-FM

Here are three things to know about the weekend series:

1. Knowing the opponent

The Hilltoppers opened their season with an eight-game homestand, winning two of three in weekend series against Valparaiso and Wright State and taking midweek games against Murray State and Ausitn Peay. Western Kentucky also won two of three last weekend at USC-Upstate. They’ve scored at least six runs in all eight of their victories this season.

2. Key to the series

Run support will be huge this weekend for Purdue as their bats have gone relatively quiet recently. In the Boilermakers' first seven games, they scored six or more runs in every game, going 6-1 in that span.

Since then, Purdue has just scored eight runs in the last four games, compared to their opponents' 34 runs in that period. The Boilermakers have lost all four of those games, as well.

3. Player to watch

Purdue junior ace Trent Johnson will accept a new role, this time from the bullpen instead of starting on the mound for the first time this season for Purdue coach Greg Goff and company. 

With the Boilermakers tweaking their plan on the mound this weekend, moving Bo Hofstra from closer to Friday starter in the rotation, Johnson is projected to take on Hofstra’s featured role in the bullpen. Johnson excelled as a reliever during the first half of the 2019 campaign before finishing the year as a starter. 

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