WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Twenty-one home dates and a stretch of our four consecutive weekend series at Alexander Field highlight Purdue baseball’s 2017 schedule, unveiled by first-year head coach Mark Wasikowski.
After beginning the season with six consecutive weekends on the road, the Boilermakers play their home opener March 28 against Kent State. But the schedule really turns home heavy in mid-April. From April 18 through May 14, Purdue plays 17 of its 18 games at Alexander Field. That stretch features a 12-game homestand and weekend series vs. Illinois (April 21-23), Saint Louis (April 28-30), Northwestern (May 5-7) and Michigan (May 12-14).
The Boilermakers finally get a chance to host Indiana (April 7-9) and Illinois at Alexander Field for the first time since the ballpark opened in March 2013. Purdue has not hosted the rival Hoosiers since May 2011 when it swept a three-game series at Lambert Field. Meanwhile, the last three Purdue-Illinois series dating back to 2013 were all played in Champaign.
The pre-Big Ten portion of the schedule is highlighted by a four-game series at Texas State (Feb. 17-19) and a spring break trip to California. The Boilermakers will visit both the San Fernando Valley and the South Bay on the West Coast trip for four-game series at Cal State Northridge (March 10-13) and Santa Clara (March 16-18). Purdue has not spent a full week in California since the 1998 spring break trip to San Jose and Fresno.
