Purdue baseball earns spot in Big Ten tourney after Maryland game canceled

WEST LAFAYETTE – Now that Purdue’s baseball team is in the Big Ten tournament, can the Boilermakers put together a run?

Coach Greg Goff’s team will make its first appearance in the league’s postseason event since 2018 starting Wednesday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. The eight-team, double-elimination tournament returns after a two-year absence due to COVID-19.

Purdue is the No. 7 seed, thanks to Indiana’s loss to Iowa late Saturday, and will face No. 2 seed Rutgers in the first round. 

“It’s huge,” Goff said. “These guys, I love this team and what they’ve done. They’re building this program and how they’ve done it every day and there’s not another team more deserving than this team going to the conference tournament, to be honest.”

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Goff’s team reached the postseason without playing Saturday after the regular-season finale against No. 14 Maryland was canceled because of weather and a travel curfew.

Purdue finished 9-12 (.429) in conference games, percentage points better than Northwestern and Nebraska, the two teams still in contention when Saturday started. Both finished with 10-14 (.417) records.

The Wildcats and the Huskers needed the Terrapins, who clinched the outright Big Ten title on Friday, to beat the Boilermakers. Maryland had put up 32 runs in the first two games and appeared headed toward a series sweep.

But if Saturday’s game wasn’t played, the advantage went to Purdue.

Husker fans used social media to blame the Boilermakers for not wanting to play and protect their position in the standings. Maryland had nothing to play for from a Big Ten standpoint but needed to leave West Lafayette by 5:30 p.m. to make their flight out of Chicago’s Midway Airport.

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According to Big Ten rules, each conference series must be finished within 48 hours after it starts. Saturday was the deadline for the games this weekend across the league.

“One day doesn’t dictate the season and we got two games lost because of cold weather a month ago,” Goff said. “It’s part of baseball and part of being outside and you hate to finish the season without a chance to play but it’s out of your control.”

Purdue had eight games canceled this season, including two against Ohio State. The same protocols used in March were the same ones implemented Saturday to determine whether the game was played. 

“It’s just the biggest weekend of the year when it’s coming down to the last weekend,” Goff said. “We have administration, game management, weather people and all that stuff that makes all those decisions and that’s what was done (Saturday).”

The scheduled start time of 1 p.m. was pushed to 1:30 p.m. and later delayed when the forecast called for a significant line of thunderstorms to hit the area between 2:30 and 3 p.m. Rain started to fall after 3 p.m., but the storms didn’t materialize.

Both coaching staffs didn’t want to start the game, stop it and try to resume with the travel curfew looming. Purdue preferred to play the full nine innings and not see its season potentially end in a rain-shorten game. Games are official after five innings.

The game was officially canceled at 3:27 p.m.

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When the series started, the Boilermakers were looking to secure the No. 8 seed but now they've moved up one spot and avoid playing the powerful and talented Terrapins in the first game.

“That’s what is so crazy,” Goff said of getting the No. 7 seed. “When you don’t play everybody … today we got a break. When Ohio State was here, we thought we were going to get to play that game and cold temperatures never got to a point where we needed them to.

“We thought we were going to play (Saturday). I woke up at 5 this morning ready to go. I made a lineup out. I really thought were going to get a chance to play (Saturday).”

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT

Charles Swab Field, Omaha

TV: BTN

Wednesday

Game 1 - Iowa (33-17) vs. Penn State (25-27), 10 a.m. 

Game 2 - Rutgers (41-14) vs. Purdue (29-19), 2 p.m.

Game 3 - Maryland (44-10) vs. Indiana (25-30), 6 p.m.

Game 4 - Illinois (31-20) vs. Michigan (28-25), 10 p.m. 

Thursday

Game 5 - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 10 a.m. 

Game 6 - Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2 p.m. 

Game 7 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.

Game 8 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 10 p.m.

The tournament continues Friday and Saturday with the championship game Sunday at 2 p.m.