By Tom Schott

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Men's golf starts play at the Big Ten Championships on Friday at the Baltimore Country Club. No. 35 Purdue, which shared the Big Ten Match Play Championship title with Michigan State in February, tees off at 9 a.m. ET.

The Boilermakers are coming off their second championship of the season at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate in Columbus on April 22. They tallied a 54-hole total of 3-under par 849, cutting 10 strokes off their score each round (293-283-273). Purdue edged No. 13 and defending Big Ten champion Illinois by six shots, overcoming the Fighting Illini's five-stroke lead entering the final round. Individually, junior Jarle Volden earned his first career medalist honors with a score of 9-under par 204, which ranks as the fourth-best 54-hole score in school history. That performance earned Volden Big Ten Golfer of the Week honors.

The Boilermakers have won 12 Big Ten championships, the third-most in conference annals behind Ohio State (22) and Illinois (15).

Under head coach Rob Bradley, Purdue has finished fifth (2014), eighth (2015) sixth (2016) and fourth (2017) at the Big Ten Championships.

The 54-hole Big Ten Championships run through Sunday. For live results, click here.

Surging Women's Tennis Begins Big Ten Championships

Winners of six of its last seven and seven of its last nine, women's tennis (14-9, 7-4 B1G) is the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Championships and begins play Friday against No. 4 seed Ohio State (13-7, 7-4) in Minneapolis. Action gets underway at 11 a.m. ET.

The Boilermakers, Buckeyes and Nebraska finished the regular season in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Big Ten standings. Ohio State defeated Purdue 5-2 on April 15 at the Schwartz Tennis Center.

9-Game Baseball Homestand Underway

Baseball (21-16, 7-4 B1G) has won the first two games of a nine-game homestand, including a nifty 5-3 non-conference victory over No. 15 Indiana on April 25. That game was played in front of an Alexander Field record crowd of 2,369.

The Boilermakers, who are tied for fifth place in the Big Ten standings, play host to Rutgers (22-15, 6-6) for a three-game weekend series. Game times are 6 p.m. ET on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday. A host of promotions are planned:

Friday: Little League Night (Little League players can purchase tickets for $1 by wearing their team jersey); player card set No. 1 to the first 500 fans
Saturday: Alumni Night; player card set No. 2 to the first 500 fans
Sunday: Purdue University Dance Marathon/Riley Family Day (limited-edition jerseys will be auctioned off with proceeds benefitting Purdue University Dance Marathon and Riley Hospital for Children); free ice cream sundae bar (while supplies last); fans can play catch in the outfield postgame

Senior reliever Ross Learnard closed out all four of Purdue's wins the week ending April 22, earning Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors. He is the conference's first reliever so recognized since March of 2015.

Learnard retired 18 of the 22 batters he faced over 6.1 innings. He earned the save in all three games of the series sweep at Maryland from April 20 to 22. Learnard subsequently picked up another save in the win over Indiana.

The Boilermakers are riding a five-game winning streak and have won six of their last seven.

Softball Senior Weekend

Softball (13-36, 4-12 B1G) plays its final three home games of the season Friday at 6 p.m. ET, Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at noon against Minnesota (29-14, 12-3) at Bittinger Stadium.

Throughout the weekend, the Boilermakers will celebrate the careers of their five seniors: pitcher Erika Beeler, outfielder Morgan Cavinder, catcher Kaylah Hampton, outfielder Maya Hughes and second baseman Stephanie Ramsey.

Here is the promotional lineup:

Friday: Sticker sheets and posters of Beeler and Ramsey to the first 100 fans; Purdue license plates to the first 200 fans
Saturday: Bark in the Park (all dogs admitted free and bone-shaped pet bag dispensers to the first 250 fans); Almost Home, a Lafayette shelter, will have dogs available for adoption; sticker sheets and posters of Cavinder, Hampton and Hughes to the first 100 fans; postgame autographs
Sunday: Senior Day; free ice cream sundae bar (while supplies last); kids in eighth grade and under can run the bases postgame; postgame autographs

Women's Golf NCAA Regional Bound

No. 22 women's golf earned the No. 6 seed in the Madison (Wisconsin) Regional, which will be played May 7 to 9. The top six teams (among 18) will advance to the NCAA Championships.

Purdue has qualified as a team for the NCAA Regionals in 21 of the last 22 seasons and has advanced to the NCAA Championships on 17 occasions.

In addition, the top three individual finishers (not on an advancing team) earn trips to the NCAA Championships.

On April 24, Inez Wanamarta earned first team All-Big Ten honors and was named the conference Freshman of the Year. Sophomore Micaela Farah was a second team All-Big Ten honoree.

The Boilermakers finished sixth at the Big Ten Championships on April 22.

Track & Field at Drake Relays

Both track & field teams have their final meet before championships season at the prestigious Drake Relays. Competition in Des Moines, Iowa, began Thursday and continues through Saturday against some of the nation's fiercest competition.

The women's team enters the meet ranked No. 11 in the country, while the men are No. 26.

The Boilermakers are looking to defend four titles from last year's Drake Relays: senior Symone Black (400-meter hurdles) and the women's 4x200-meter relay, 4x400-meter relay and 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay.

The Big Ten Championships are May 11 to 13 in Bloomington, Indiana.

Evans, Amaltdinov receive Big Ten Medal of Honor

Senior volleyball player Ashley Evans and senior swimmer Marat Amaltdinov were awarded the prestigious Big Ten Medal of Honor to highlight the sixth-annual Golden Pete Awards show April 23 at Holloway Gymnasium.

Evans, a setter from Liberty Township, Ohio, was a four-year letterwinner for the Boilermakers. As a senior, she earned All-America and Academic All-America honors, becoming just the fourth student-athlete in program history to do so in the same season. Evans is the first Big Ten volleyball student-athlete to be named an Academic All-American three times. She is merely the fourth Purdue volleyball student-athlete to garner four Academic All-Big Ten selections and the third three-time academic all-district honoree. Evans is the only Boilermaker to amass 4,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs. During her senior year, Evans set the offense to the most-efficient hitting percentage in school history as Purdue hit .301, ranking ninth in the nation, en route to its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. She was a first team All-Big Ten and all-region selection. Evans will be a four-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and as a senior was recipient of the Guy "Red" Mackey Award for volleyball (presented to a player on each varsity team at Purdue that exemplify the overall success of the university's intercollegiate athletics programs). Evans jumpstarted the Boiler-Maker-Wish Foundation and served as vice president of the Boiler Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for the 2017-18 school year. Evans will graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, boasting a 3.86 grade-point average.

Amaltdinov was the Big Ten champion in the 200 breaststroke as a sophomore and a junior, becoming Purdue's first men's swimmer to repeat at Big Tens since 2004 to 2005. He qualified for the NCAA Championships four years in a row, but opted to pass on his bid in 2016 to train for the Russian Olympic Trials. The following year, Amaltdinov was a championship finalist in the 200 breast at NCAAs, becoming the program's first swimmer to earn full-fledged All-America honors since 2006. Amaltdinov was a second team Academic All-American as a junior (the first Boilermaker men's swimmer so honored), earning his bachelor's degree in finance in just three years with a 3.81 grade-point average despite English being his second language. He is set to complete his master's degree in finance this spring. Amaltdinov established program records in the 200 breaststroke and 400 medley relay during his career. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, he again is an Academic All-America nominee and is line to earn Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors for the third year in a row. The two-time first team All-Big Ten performer was recognized as the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week four times in his career.

The Big Ten, the nation's oldest collegiate conference, commemorates the 104th anniversary of a very unique tradition - the Big Ten Medal of Honor. The conference's most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." It was expanded in 1982 to include one female student from each institution. Big Ten schools currently feature more than 9,500 students competing in intercollegiate athletics, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In more than 100 years of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, almost 1,400 students have earned this distinction.

Etcetera

Head football coach Jeff Brohm has agreed to a contract extension securing his presence on the Boilermaker sideline through the 2024 season ... The 2018 NFL Draft began Thursday night and runs through Saturday in Arlington, Texas. Purdue has had at least one player selected in the draft for 20 straight years, dating to 1998 ... Former Purdue golfers Tyler Duncan (2009-12) and Adam Schenk (2011-14) are paired together at this week's Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana in New Orleans ... During Purdue Day of Giving on April 25, a record 1,510 donors contributed more than $1.6 million to Purdue Athletics. Campus-wide, the fifth-annual online, social-media-driven event raised a record $37.6 million from 18,640 donations in 24 hours to claim, for the fourth year running, the record for most dollars raised for higher education through a single-day campaign. Thanks to all the generous givers ... Congratulations to head soccer coach Drew Roff and his wife, Stephanie, on the birth of their daughter, Carmen, on April 18 ... Guests on this week's Purdue Athletics Podcast are John Purdue Club director of annual giving and premium seating Ben Kewman and baseball senior Alec Olund.