The next two teams to play a series in The Friendly Confines will be Purdue and Northwestern this weekend.
The Boilermakers (26-15, 8-4 Big Ten) are tied for second in the Big Ten standings, whereas the Wildcats (13-23, 2-10 Big Ten) are in last. Last season, the Boilers hosted the encounter and dropped two of the three games, giving Northwestern half its Big Ten wins that season.
Despite the Cats’ conference track-record recently, they’ve been successful in the past at Wrigley. In 2020, Northwestern shut out that year’s Big Ten champs in Michigan 6-0, and in 2023 beat Notre Dame in extra innings to snap their seven-game losing streak.
Northwestern hosted Illinois State earlier this week, beating the Birds 7-6 in extra innings. As for Purdue’s midweek matchup, Wednesday’s doubleheader against Evansville ended with the _
The Boilermakers dropped last weekend’s home series 1-2 against Eastern Tennessee State, but otherwise the team has been on a roll. Purdue won its last two conference series via sweep, outscoring its most recent Big Ten opponent in Michigan State 42-3 over the course of the weekend.
Regardless of last weekend’s outcome, it didn’t stop the league office from handing Luke Gaffney back-to-back Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards, and his fifth this season. In the Boilers’ 18-run win on Saturday, Gaffney broke the Purdue freshman RBI record on a grand slam. He ended the week batting .625 and was 6-of-7 with runners in scoring position, according to a Purdue release.
Gaffney leads the team at the plate with a .403 average, a .708 slugging percentage and 54 RBIs. The team’s second-best batting average belongs to sophomore shortstop Camden Gasser, who said Gaffney has “raked all season” in the batter’s box.
“He’s boosted our whole offense; he’s boosted our whole team,” Gasser said. “He’s great out there in the field, I think that’s the most under-looked thing. If you listen to him at first base, he’s constantly in the pitcher’s ear, giving them mental encouragement.”
As for this weekend’s trip to the Windy City, Gaffney said the team is excited for the chance to play at Wrigley, but at least for him, it’s more about the environment than the ballpark itself.
“I think that’s something every kid dreams about, playing in a big league stadium. And getting the chance to do that is obviously pretty cool.”
Other teammates such as fifth-year Mike Bolton Jr. expressed similar sentiments, sharing they were excited to be playing in an MLB stadium, but the Cubbies had nothing to do with it. In fact, Bolton and freshmen Cole Van Assen and Amir Gray all went to Brother Rice for high school in southwest Chicago, and all three pull for the White Sox.
“The Cubs weren’t really a big thing talked about in my house,” Bolton said. “Being able to play (at Wrigley) would be cool, but the White Sox are in my blood.”
According to the player’s bios on Purduesports.com, six Boilermakers list their favorite professional sports team as the White Sox, and only the Lake Forest, Illinois native Breck Nowik roots for the North Side team.
Players agreed on one thing about the upcoming weekend series though: the team would need to stay focused and not take Northwestern’s track record for granted.
“Baseball’s a crazy sport when it comes to standings,” Gaffney said. “Anybody can beat you on any day — that’s why you play a series.”
The three-game weekend gets underway Friday at 8 p.m., under the last lights to be installed in a major league stadium. The last two games are at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and all three of the series will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
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