WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (April 18, 2024) – Coming off back-to-back wins, the ETSU baseball team will have its first non-conference road series of the season this weekend when it visits Purdue for a three-game set. The series between the Buccaneers and Boilermakers begins at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Probable Pitching Matchups
RHP Carter Fink (ETSU) vs. LHP Jordan Morales (PUR) – Friday @ 6 p.m. | Live Stats | B1G+
LHP Kenny Keller (ETSU) vs. LHP Luke Wagner (PUR) – Saturday @ 5 p.m. | Live Stats | B1G+
RHP Michael Harpster (ETSU) vs. LHP Jonathan Blackwell (PUR) – Sunday @ 1 p.m. | Live Stats | B1G+
Last Time Out – The Bucs knocked off Radford by a score of
5-2 on Wednesday night from Thomas Stadium. With Wednesday's win, ETSU boosts its overall record to 22-12 and its home record to 17-5.
Sisneros Slams Another Home Run – For the fifth time in the past four games,
Cameron Sisneros hit a home run as he slugged another in last night's win vs. Radford. Sisneros is now hitting .375 this spring and leads the team with 13 home runs and 53 RBI. Sisneros' 53 RBI ranks ninth in Division I baseball entering this weekend's action. Furthermore, ETSU's first baseman is just six RBI shy of matching his total from last season (59).
More Run Production from Noah – Speaking of driving in runs,
Noah Gent has been one of ETSU's top hitters with runners on base recently. Gent has driven in at least one run in 10 straight games and has brought his RBI total up to 38 on the season. Gent will also bring an 11-game hitting streak with him into this weekend's series at Purdue.
ETSU's offense continues to click – Entering this weekend's action, ETSU ranks ninth in Division I baseball with a team batting average of .322. Seven different Buccaneers have batting averages over .300 with
Nick Iannantone leading the charge checking in at .409 among hitters with at least 50 at-bats. Additionally, the Bucs are 20
th in the country in doubles (84), 23
rd in on-base percentage (.425) and 28
th in slugging percentage (.521).
Bucs against the Big 10 – ETSU does not face members of the Big 10 conference very often. The Bucs have played a total of 14 games against the current members of the Big 10 with an 8-6 record in those games. This will be the first ever road series for ETSU at a Big 10 school as well.
About Purdue – Purdue has racked up 24 wins so far in 2024 and has won four straight coming into this weekend's series with the Bucs. The Boilermakers split a four-game series against fellow SoCon team Samford earlier this season. As a team, Purdue leads the country in double plays turned and paces its conference with 309 runs scored. A player to watch for the Boilermakers is Luke Gaffney. Gaffney is tied for the fifth-most hits in the nation with 60 in 36 games played.
Series Rewind vs. Purdue – ETSU and Purdue played a four-game series in 2016 at Thomas Stadium. The Bucs won three of the four games in that series by scores of 4-2, 9-8, 8-2.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
