Last season Purdue made some national baseball news, as it was the last undefeated team in the country with a 15-0 start. Yes, it was against some very weak competition, but 15-0 had them ranked in a few of the top 25 polls. The team faded to a 29-21 mark and had a number of weather cancellations, but it finished 9-12 in Big Ten play and still qualified for the Big Ten Tournament.

Today the athletic department released the 2023 schedule, and it is a doozy.

February 17-19 – Holy Cross (Sugar Land, TX, four games) – Once again, Purdue will start its season at the home of the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys in a neutral site four game series. Holy Cross was 17-37 last year.

February 24-26 – NJIT (Holly Springs, NC, four games) – This is essentially another warm-up series, again at Ting Stadium in Holly Springs where Purdue played some games last year. NJIT was 26-27 a year ago.

March 3-5 – Akron (Holly Springs, NC, four games) – The team will stay in North Carolina as part of an eight game stand at Ting Stadium. Akron finished dead last in the MAC last year at 14-39.

March 10-12 – at Ole Miss (three games) – There is a very good chance Purdue is 12-0 and should be at least 10-2 before it faces a gigantic test in week four. Ole Miss was the consensus “last team in” to last year’s NCAA Tournament. They squeezed into the field as a 3 seed in the Coral Gables Regional, then ripped off five straight wins to win that regional and a Super Regional at Southern Miss….