FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue baseball team will open its 2010 schedule at the second annual Big Ten/Big East Challenge in St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Fla., and host 23 games in West Lafayette over the course of the spring.
Including the trip to Florida, the Boilermakers will begin the season on a 15-game road swing that will take them Carbondale, Ill., to face Southern Illinois, Evansville, Ind., to play three different teams at a neutral venue, Richmond, Ky., to square off against Eastern Kentucky and finally Athens, Ohio, to face the Bobcats of Ohio University.
Purdue will open its home slate with a non-conference contest against IPFW on March 23 and will also host Illinois State and Chicago State during a six-game home stand.
A midweek trip to Columbia, Mo., to face Missouri will close out the month of March and pave the way for the Big Ten schedule.
The Boilers will host Minnesota, a 2009 NCAA regional participant, on the first weekend of April to being conference play, and will also welcome Penn State, Northwestern and Michigan State to West Lafayette for league play.
Big Ten road trips include visits to Michigan, Big Ten Tournament champions Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. The Boilers will not face 2009 Big Ten regular season champions Ohio State.
Coming off a 25-26 season, a sixth-place finish in the Big Ten and an appearance in the league tournament, the Boilermakers return eight position players, all three weekend starting pitchers and a bevy of talent in the bullpen.
