| WEEKEND STREAMING GUIDE (all times ET) |
| Baseball |
| Friday / 7 p.m. / vs. Houston (NCAA Tournament) / ESPN3 |
| Saturday / TBA / at North Carolina or vs. North Carolina A&T / ESPN3 |
By Tom Schott
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The extraordinary story that is Purdue baseball resumes Friday at the NCAA Tournament in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The No. 27 Boilermakers (37-19), who are the No. 2 seed in the regional, take on No. 21-ranked and No. 3 seed Houston (36-23) at 7 p.m. ET.
Fifth-ranked and top-seeded North Carolina (38-18) plays host to fourth-seeded North Carolina A&T (32-23) at 2 p.m.
The winners and losers square off Saturday in the double-elimination tournament, which continues Sunday and, if necessary, Monday.
The Chapel Hill Regional is paired with the DeLand Regional, hosted by Stetson. The winners of the Chapel Hill and DeLand Regionals will meet in a Super Regional beginning June 11.
Purdue, which finished in second place in the Big Ten Conference during the regular season and was runner-up at the conference tournament, has won 21 of 24 games since April 20.
Purdue has qualified for an NCAA Regional for just the third time in program history (also 1987 and 2012). The Boilermakers' 37 wins this season are tied for the second-most in program history (also 1986; 45 is the most in 2012).
Senior Ross Learnard earned third team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball, one of four relief pitchers so recognized. He boasts a school-record 15 saves this season.
Track & Field NCAA Championships-Bound
The men's and women's track & field teams have athletes competing in 12 events at the NCAA Championships, which will take place from June 6 to 9 in Eugene, Oregon:
WOMEN
Chloe Abbott - 400 meters, 4x400 relay
Symone Black - 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay
Savannah Carson - long jump
Devynne Charlton - 100 hurdles
Micaela Hazlewood - discus
Jahneya Mitchell - 4x400 relay
Janae' Moffitt - high jump
Brionna Thomas - 400 meters, 4x400 relay
MEN
Jaret Carpenter - 5,000 meters
Malcolm Dotson - 4x100 relay
Ashmon Lucas - discus
Gerald McGee - 4x100 relays
Shawndail McLaren - 4x100 relay
Waseem Williams - 100 meters, 4x100 relay
Three additional athletes will travel as alternates: Samara Miller, Savannah Roberson and Terry Wright.
First 6 Football Game Times Announced
The kickoff times for the first six games of the 2018 football season have been announced:
~ Aug. 30 vs. Northwestern at Ross-Ade Stadium, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)
~ Sept. 8 vs. Eastern Michigan at Ross-Ade Stadium, Noon ET (BTN)
~ Sept. 15 vs. Missouri at Ross-Ade Stadium, 7:30 p.m. ET (BTN)
~ Sept. 22 vs. Boston College at Ross-Ade Stadium (Homecoming), Noon ET (ABC, ESPN/ESPN2)
~ Sept. 29 at Nebraska (Homecoming), 3:30 or 4 p.m. ET (TV TBA)
~ Oct. 13 at Illinois (Homecoming), 3:30 or 4 p.m. ET (TV TBA)
Spring Academic All-Big Ten Honors
Seventy-nine Purdue spring sports student-athletes have been named Academic All-Big Ten. Women's track & field led the way with 25 honorees, followed by men's track & field (15), baseball (13), softball (8), men's and women's golf (5 apiece), and men's and women's tennis (4 apiece).
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, students must be on a varsity team, as verified by being on the official squad list as of May 1 for spring sports, who have been enrolled fulltime at the institution for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
All told for the 2017-18 school year, 201 Purdue student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition. That total is 16 more than a year ago.
Brees Secures Wooden Jersey for Purdue
As soon as Drew Brees found out that an authentic John Wooden Purdue basketball jersey was going to auction, the former Purdue All-American quarterback wanted to win it for his alma mater.
The auction closed in the early-morning hours May 18, and bidding was serious among several interested parties. Purdue memorabilia guru Orlando Itin made Brees aware of the jersey - at the suggestion of senior associate athletics director Tom Schott - and bid on his behalf.
Brees is a collector himself, but from the onset, his intention was to loan the circa-1930s Wooden jersey to Purdue for display at Mackey Arena. Schott will work with memorabilia experts and curators to determine an appropriate presentation location and to have it insured.
Brees won with a total purchase price of $264,000 to ensure that the jersey would be coming home to Purdue. That amount is in addition to the more than $3 million that Drew and his wife, Brittany, have contributed to Purdue since 2007.
The consigner of the museum-quality item, John Neff of Guerneville, California, received the jersey following the death of his grandfather, Frank, who attended Purdue at the same time as Wooden, and the two remained in touch through the years. According to the Neff family, Wooden gave Frank the jersey.
Memorabilia Evaluation and Research Services (MEARS), a leading sports memorabilia evaluation company, authenticated the jersey, which experts believe is the only one of its kind.
A standout player at Purdue from 1930 to 1932, Wooden was a three-time All-American and the 1932 National Player of the Year.
Etcetera
Purdue Athletics' 20 teams had an average finish of 6.35 in the Big Ten in 2017-18, good for fourth place and the best showing since 2009-10 at 5.75. A year ago, the Boilermakers' average finish was 7.20, which ranked seventh ... Men's golf graduate Brian Carlson was named to the PING All-Midwest Region team ... Men's basketball junior guard Carsen Edwards and sophomore guard Nojel Eastern withdrew from the NBA Draft and will return to the Boilermakers for the 2018-19 season ... Football senior Kirk Barron has been named to the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, presented annually to the most outstanding center ... For the third time in as many years, head wrestling coach Tony Ersland has secured a nationally ranked recruiting class. FloWrestling ranks the Boilermakers' incoming class 18th and The Open Mat has the class at No. 25 ... Season tickets are on sale for volleyball, men's basketball and women's basketball ... Volleyball alumna Val Nichol will begin her fourth year playing professionally overseas with LKS Lodz in Poland ... Tracking the Boilermakers will return June 15 ... Don't forget Flag Day is June 14.