| WEEKEND STREAMING GUIDE (all times ET) |
| Baseball |
| Friday / 6 p.m. / Minnesota / BTN Plus |
| Saturday / 2 p.m. / Minnesota / BTN Plus |
| Sunday / Noon / Minnesota / BTN Plus |
| Softball |
| Friday / 4 p.m. / at Nebraska / BTN Plus |
| Friday / 6 p.m. / at Nebraska / BTN Plus |
| Sunday / 1 p.m. / at Nebraska / BTN Plus |
| Women's Tennis |
| Friday / 3 p.m. / Penn State / PurdueSports.com |
| Sunday / Noon / Ohio State / PurdueSports.com |
By Tom Schott
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Both golf teams host home tournaments this weekend in their final tune-up before the Big Ten Championships.
For the No. 39 men, it is the 15th-annual Boilermaker Invitational on the Kampen Course. Seventeen teams begin play Saturday at 9 a.m. ET and conclude Sunday starting at 8 a.m. Purdue is looking for its first Boilermaker Invitational title since 2011 and welcomes Big Ten rivals Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
For the No. 21 women, it is the Lady Boilermaker Classic, the first Purdue-hosted tournament since the Ackerman-Allen Course was redesigned in 2015. The six-team field includes two squads coached by former Purdue assistants - Carolina Hegg (2010-15) of Augusta and JoJo Robertson (2005-09) of Texas Tech. Play is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. both days.
Admission is free to both tournaments.
Senior Brian Carlson has paced the men's squad with a season stroke average of 71.71. That figure has improved from 72.47 last fall to 70.44 this spring. He is coming off medalist honors at the John Hayt Invitational in Ponte Vedra, Florida, on March 19.
Freshman Inez Wanamarta tops the women's team with a 73.08 stroke average. She shared medalist honor at the Minnesota Invitational in September and has been the Boilermakers' top finisher in two other tournaments.
The Big Ten Championships are April 20 to 22 for the women in Maineville, Ohio, and April 27 to 29 for the men in Baltimore.
Track Teammates Share B1G Weekly Award
For the first time in Big Ten history, two females from the same school shared the conference Track Athlete of the Week recognition.
The history makers are Boilermakers - seniors Symone Black and Devynne Charlton.
Black won the 400-meter hurdles at the LSU Battle on the Bayou on April 7 with a time of 56.58 seconds, which ranks second in the NCAA and 14th in the world this season. She also led off the 4x400-meter relay that won with a time of 3:33.48.
Charlton was a winner in the 100-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash, while helping the 4x100-meter relay team take second. In the hurdles, Charlton broke her own school record with a wind-legal (+1.2) time of 12.70 seconds. That clocking is second in the NCAA this year and third in the world among wind-legal times. The 4x100-meter relay finished with a time of 44.39 seconds, tops in the Big Ten this season.
The Boilermakers compete at the Louisville Invitational on Friday.
Minnesota Returns to Alexander Field
Due to less-than-ideal weather conditions in Minneapolis last weekend, the Minnesota baseball team hosted its three-game series with Penn State at Alexander Field on the Purdue campus - with the approval of the Boilermaker administration.
The Golden Gophers (21-10, 5-1 B1G), who swept the Nittany Lions, return to Purdue this weekend for a three-game series against the Boilermakers (15-13, 4-2). Game times are 6 p.m. ET on Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. There are promotions are all three days: duffle bags, caps and trading cards.
Purdue is tied for fourth place in the Big Ten standings, two games behind Michigan (6-0). The second-place Gophers are one game out.
Surging Women's Tennis Home for a Pair
Women's tennis (11-8, 4-3 B1G) has won three straight matches and five out of six to climb to tied for fifth place in the Big Ten standings and No. 50 in this week's national rankings. Purdue's most recent victory was a 4-3 verdict at Indiana on April 7.
The Boilermakers host their final two home matches of the regular season Friday against Penn State (7-11, 2-5) at 3 p.m. ET and Sunday against Ohio State (10-6, 4-3) at noon. Admission is free to the Schwartz Tennis Center.
There will be a racquet giveaway Friday and T-shirts to the first 50 fans Sunday.
Junior Silvia Ambrosio is 5-1 in Big Ten play, competing exclusively at the No. 1 position. Her wins include a three-set victory over 86th-rankaed Jaclyn Switkes of Illinois on March 11. Freshman Seira Shimizu is 4-2 in conference matches, leading all underclassmen.
Purdue wraps up the regular season April 20 and 22 at Rutgers and at Maryland, respectively. The Big Ten Tournament begins April 26 in Minneapolis.
C. Edwards Wins West Award
Men's basketball sophomore Carsen Edwards received the Jerry West Award as the nation's top shooting guard at the College Basketball Awards Show on April 6 in Los Angeles.
The other finalists were Duke's Grayson Allen, Creighton's Marcus Foster, Oakland's Kendrick Nunn and Boston College's Jerome Robinson. Edwards was not on the preseason list of 20 players for the award but was named one of 10 finalists in February.
It marks the first time that a Boilermaker has won a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame position award.
Edwards averaged 18.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field, including 40.6 percent from three-point range.
Edwards also earned the Boilermakers' John Wooden Most Valuable Player Award. For a complete list of team awards, click here.
New Boilermakers
Men's basketball, softball and volleyball have added to their rosters for 2018-19.
Men's Basketball: Evan Boudreaux, a transfer forward from Dartmouth College, where he graduated in three years and has two years of eligibility. He averaged 17.6 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 54 games with the Big Green.
Softball: Two incoming freshmen - Kaeley Hallada from West Lafayette (her father, Daryl, played baseball for the Boilermakers from 1996 to 2000, and Kasey Wilhoit from Trafalgar, Indiana.
Volleyball: Two incoming freshmen - setter Joy Chen from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and defensive specialist Emma Terwilliger from Valparaiso, Indiana.
Joe McConnell: 1939-2018
Joe McConnell, who served as the radio voice of Purdue football from 1994 to 2009, passed away April 8 at the age of 79 in Indianapolis.
McConnell enjoyed a long and distinguished career. He was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame in November of 2017.
Beyond Purdue, McConnell's experience included 23 seasons in the National Football League as the voice of the Denver Broncos (1969), Minnesota Vikings (1971-76 and 1985-87), Chicago Bears (1977-84), Indianapolis Colts (1992-94) and Tennessee Oilers (1997-98); seven seasons in the National Basketball Association as the voice of the Phoenix Suns (1970-72) and Indiana Pacers (1972-77); and seven seasons in Major League Baseball as the voice of the Minnesota Twins (1978-79) and Chicago White Sox (1980-84).
McConnell also spent five seasons (1991-95) as lead voice for the NBA's National Game of the Week. He has broadcast three Super Bowls, the NBA and ABA championships, the NBA All-Star Game and the American League Championship Series.
Additionally, McConnell broadcast Northwestern football (1988) and Indiana State (1978-79), DePaul (1984-88), Illinois (1987-88), Notre Dame (1987-88) and Northwestern men's basketball (1989-94).
McConnell was honored with the AP/UPI Play-by-Play Sportscaster of the Year Award five times and was the Indiana Sportscaster of the Year in 2000 and the Illinois Sportscaster of the Year in 1981.
Upon his retirement as the voice of the Boilermakers, Purdue Athletics named the visiting team radio booth at Ross-Ade Stadium for McConnell.
McConnell is a 1962 graduate of Franklin College. His broadcasting career began in 1962 at Purdue's campus radio station, WBAA. He served as assistant sports information director at Purdue from 1965 to 1967.
McConnell is survived by his wife, Suzi, three children and eight grandchildren.
Purdue Challenge 5K Saturday
The 11th-annual Purdue Challenge 5K run/walk that benefits the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research is Saturday.
The race, which is open to the public, will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET at the north end of Ross-Ade Stadium and ends in the south end zone of the football field. Registration is $30. Participants may register in person at the north end of Ross-Ade from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Friday or from 7 to 8 a.m. Saturday.
This year marks the first time the race route will finish on the field at Ross-Ade. Registration includes a T-shirt, pizza from Arni's and a beer for participants ages 21 and above.
Etcetera
Congratulations to senior quarterback Aaron Banks being elected Purdue student body president ... Softball (11-29, 3-6 B1G), which won two of three games against Northwestern last weekend, plays a three-game weekend series at Nebraska (28-14, 6-5). Due to a dicey weather forecast for Saturday, the teams will play two games Friday and one Sunday ... Men's tennis (9-13, 1-6 B1G) earned its first conference win April 7 against Wisconsin at home. The Boilermakers play at Nebraska (9-10, 0-7) on Friday and at Minnesota (12-6, 5-2) on Sunday ... Volleyball plays a pair of spring matches Saturday at Holloway Gymnasium - Fort Wayne at 11 a.m. ET and Bal State at 2:30 p.m. ... Soccer welcomes Wright State To Folk Field on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET in spring action ... Finalists for the Golden Pete Awards have been revealed. Winners be announced at the sixth-annual event April 23 ... Former Purdue wrestler Al Vega (1952-54), an All-American and Big Ten champion, passed away April 8 ... Guests on this week's Purdue Athletics Podcast are head men's golf coach Rob Bradley and women's golf senior Marta Martin.