Purdue Sports Update: May 21

Baseball Remains Alive in Big Ten Tournament

THURSDAY UPDATE: PURDUE BEATS IOWA AND WILL FACE NO. 1 UCLA ON FRIDAY.

Eli Anderson delivered a go-ahead, two-run single with the bases loaded in the eighth inning as Purdue extended its season with a 3-1 victory vs. Illinois on Wednesday in the first elimination game of the Big Ten Tournament.

The Boilermakers (36-19) posted their first victory at the Big Ten Tournament since also beating Illinois in the semifinals in 2018. Purdue had not won a loser’s bracket game since 2010.

The Boilermakers will play Iowa, a team that swept Purdue this past weekend, on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET for the opportunity to advance to the single-elimination knockout round and square off with top-seeded UCLA.

For the 21st time this season, Purdue won a game in which it trailed at some point. The Boilermakers came back to win for the fourth time when trailing after seven innings. It was also their seventh victory in their last at-bat, three of those being since May 8.

Purdue was victorious despite recording a season-low three hits, facing a second-team All-Big Ten starting pitcher – freshman lefty Aidan Flinn – for the second day in a row. But Zach Erdman helped keep the Boilers in it with a quality start (6 IP, 5 H, BB, 4 K) of his own, surrendering two earned or fewer for the eighth time in his 15 outings this season. Thomas Howard and Jake Kramer backed up Erdman with three scoreless innings of relief, teaming up to retire nine of 10 batters faced.

Kramer struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his 10th save, becoming the sixth Boilermaker to record a double-figure total in a season. Howard (6-0) joined Cole Van Assen and Austin Klug with six victories this season.

Purdue’s pitching staff posted eight zeros in a game for the 14th time this season, with three of those wins coming against Illinois. The Boilermakers have surrendered one run in a game seven times this year. Four of those victories were started by Erdman.

An early 7-0 deficit after two innings put Purdue in a hole it could not overcome this time, falling to Michigan State 8-4 Tuesday in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament.

Purdue scored four times over the final two innings but was unable to overcome a 8-0 deficit entering the bottom of the eighth. The Boilermakers have rallied back from seven runs down twice this season, including March 28 at Michigan State (23-31). But on this day, the game ended with the potential tying run standing on deck.

More on Purdue baseball: Grit Defines Purdue’s Season

Men’s Golf Punches Ticket to NCAA National Championships

The men’s golf team shined brightest when it needed to late in the round, holding off charges by three different teams to advance to the NCAA National Championships next week in Carlsbad, California.

The Boilermakers didn’t play their best, but made enough shots down the stretch to advance to its third straight NCAA National Championships. It marks the first time since making 19 straight appearances from 1949 to 1967, that the Boilermaker golf program has made three straight National Championship showings.

“They don’t call it survive and advance for nothing. It was a really stressful day, but obviously the goal was to advance to the National Championships and we were able to accomplish that,” said head coach Andrew Sapp. “I’m just really proud of this team’s grit. We were able to get a great cushion after 36 holes and we needed all of it.”

The Boilermakers finished fourth after sitting in second place after 36 holes, 12 shots ahead of the cutline, posting a 54-hole tally of 10-under par 842 (272-276-294=842). Oklahoma won the Regional at 34-under par 818, while UCLA finished second at 14-under par 838. No. 6-ranked Arkansas was third at 11-under par 841 and San Diego defeated Liberty in a playoff for the fifth and final spot at 9-under par 843.

The Boilermakers were seeded eighth, but reached the National Championships for the sixth time since 2014. Only once during the six advancements, has Purdue been a top-five seed. The five “underdog” advancements to the National Championships are tied for the most in the country during that span (BYU – 5).

Purdue started off round three in decent shape, playing the first four combined holes in 1-under par. However, from holes five to 13, Purdue’s five players played the nine-hole stretch in a combined 17-over par to fall back to the pack and at one point, on the outside looking in.

However, Purdue counting team played the two par-5’s on the back nine in 7-under par, then got monster birdies from Will Harvey on 17 and 18 to hold off any threat.

Harvey was one of three players in round three to birdie both 17 and 18, and his birdie on 18 was as clutch as it gets. After Oregon State had cut the Purdue lead to one shot with a birdie of its own on the hole, Harvey rolled in a downhill 10-foot birdie putt, that if it slipped by the hole by 18 inches, rolls down the hill to 25 feet.

It ended an incredible stretch for the freshman from Westfield, Indiana, playing the last five holes in 3-under par with birdie-par-birdie-birdie-birdie.

“That finish by Will Harvey was so clutch. To birdie the last three holes as a freshman when advancing is on the line is very, very impressive,” said Sapp.

The Boilermakers then made clutch, testy par putts on 18 from Sam Easterbrook and Supapon Amornchaichan to lock up Purdue’s 32^nd National Championship appearance.

Leading the way was junior Sam Easterbrook, who recorded yet another top-10 finish with a ninth-place placing at 5-under par 208 (67-69-72). It marked his seventh top-10 finish of the season, now just one shy of the school-record eight set by Lee Williamson in 2001-02.

Harvey had an outstanding week in his first NCAA competition, placing T-13 at 4-under par 209 (70-68-71), shooting even- or under-par in all three rounds. It marked his sixth top-20 finish of the season.

Supapon Amornchaichan was tied for 21^st at 2-under par 211 (68-68-75). Kentaro Nanayama was tied for 40^th at 1-over par 214 (67-71-76) and Jenson Forrester was 72^nd at 12-over par 225 (75-74-76).

The NCAA National Championships will be May 29 to June 3, at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.

3 of Purdue’s Hitters Earn All-Big Ten Honors

Sam Flores, Dylan Drake and Avery Moore all produced 1.000 OPS seasons as three of Baseball’s top offensive performers this year, earning All-Big Ten honors while being recognized among the league’s best at their positions.

Flores was honored as a second-team third baseman. Drake (second base) and Moore (outfield) earned spots on the All-Big third team. They helped lead the Boilermakers to 35 regular-season wins, the program’s most since the 2012 Big Ten championship team was 41-12 entering the Big Ten Tournament.

Purdue had three hitters named All-Big Ten for the third time in the last decade, also producing three such honorees from the lineup in 2021 and 2024. Flores is the Boilers’ first All-Big Ten honoree at third base since future big leaguer Cameron Perkins was first-team All-Big Ten as the 3-hole hitter on the 2012 team.

Senior Aaron Manias was recognized as the program’s Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree. As a team leader and Academic All-American, Manias has started games at three different positions (DH, LF, 1B) this year while playing through a back injury and producing another 1.000 OPS season.

Flores has been the team’s top run producer and clutch hitter while starting every game at third base. He entered the Big Ten Tournament with 11 home runs, 16 doubles, 27 extra-base hits and 53 RBI – all team highs. He’s batting .462 (30-for-65) with runners in scoring position, .124 points higher than Purdue’s impressive .338 team mark in run-scoring opportunities. The native Texan was even better in Big Ten play (17-for-34, .500 with RISP). With a runner on third and less than two outs, he plated that runner in 14 of his 15 opportunities and was a perfect 10 of 10 in league play. Flores also stole eight bases and performed well defensively as a constant at the hot corner.

Moore batted .418 and posted a 1.270 OPS in Big Ten play while reaching base safely in more than half of his plate appearances (48 of 94, .511 OBP). He did it despite being 2-for-20 on the season entering play on March 28. By batting .418 with 19 extra-base hits and 31 RBI over the final 28 games of the regular season, the senior enjoyed one of the finest second halves for a Purdue hitter this century. He also helped the Boilermakers keep winning even after losing four position players, including three outfielders, due to injury for much of April. Moore enjoyed the finest Senior Day game in Alexander Field history – 4-for-4 with four extra-base hits and four RBI – as Purdue completed its first sweep of rival Indiana since 2011. It highlighted a stretch in which he went 8-for-8 with seven extra-base hits and a hit by pitch across nine consecutive plate appearances from May 9-14.

Drake was among the Big Ten’s top offensive performers at second base, posting a .350/.435/.598 slash line along with 16 extra-base hits and 23 RBI in only 117 at-bats. Headlined by a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning of the series-opening comeback win at Maryland on March 13, 12 of those 16 extra-base hits came in Big Ten play. He went on to post a 10-game hit streak in March, registering multiple hits in six consecutive games during the surge; his average has not dipped below .340 since. A broken hamate bone in his wrist suffered during the April 11 win at Northwestern kept him out of the batter’s box for over a month, but he managed to extend an on-base streak to 10 consecutive games when he returned to the lineup last weekend.

The Boilermakers won six consecutive Big Ten series this season for the first time since 2012 and have enjoyed 11 winning weekends. Their fifth-place finish in the 17-team league represented the program’s best since taking second in 2018.

Polar, Moore Named Softball America All-Americans

For the first time in program history, Purdue earned two names on Softball America’s All-American teams, with Moriah Polar landing on the second team and Anna Moore on the freshman team.

The All-American Second Team honor is the first national award for Polar, who finishes the season as the nation’s leader in two major categories.

The USA Softball Top 25 Player of the Year finalist put together one of best campaigns seen in Purdue softball history, breaking two individual Purdue records (single-season hits, single-season runs scored), tying the career-triples record, and writing herself into the Big Ten record book and NCAA record book, tying for second in single-season hits and taking the seven spot for single-season batting average, respectively. 

The current national leader in hits (101), and the Big Ten leader in hits, batting average (.555), and stolen bases (31), Polar adds to her postseason awards resume after already being named First Team All-Big Ten and First-Team NFCA All-Region. 

Moore, alongside Polar, etched herself into the Purdue record book as one the program’s top first year players. The NFCA Top 25 Freshman of the Year finalist broke Purdue’s freshman home run record, broke the single-season RBI record, and tied the program’s single season record.

The Indianapolis native finished the season hitting just below .400 (.393) with 59 hits, 61 RBI, and a team-leading 14 home runs. Moore earned her fourth and fifth Big Ten accolades this year, landing on both the All-Big Ten First Team, and the All-Big Ten freshman team.

Aniamaka Takes B1G Gold, Purdue Earns 5 Medals in B1G Finale

Track & Field’s Praise Aniamaka took home gold in the triple jump to lead the Boilermaker’s five medal finishes on the final day of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.  

Men’s Notes
• Aniamaka captured the triple jump gold after he jumped a wind-aided 16.73m (54-10.75). He was the B1G Champion in the event in 2023 and 2024 before he redshirted the 2025 outdoor season. Aniamaka concludes his Big Ten career with four titles, one silver medal and two bronze medals across indoor and outdoor. His true freshman season in 2022 outdoors was the only season he did not medal in the triple jump.
• The 4x400m relay of Jax Coleman, Victory Achakpoekri, Zach Mylenek and Samuel Vessat finished with a silver medal after running 3:04.84. The first time this relay ran together this season placed the group fifth in school history.
• Chidozie Kalu joined Aniamaka near the top of the podium when he earned bronze in the triple jump with a wind-aided 16.30m (53-05.75). Kalu concluded his 2026 Big Tens campaigns with silver indoors and bronze outdoors.
• Zion Jackson took fifth in the 110mH finals after he ran a wind-aided 13.84 (+4.5 m/s). He improved his positioning four places after he was ninth in the prelims to earn the last spot in the finals.
• Achakpoekri (46.87) and Zyan Greene (48.10) earned sixth and eighth in the 400m finals one day after they ran the second and third fastest times in program history in the prelims.
• Seamus Malaski earned eighth in the shot put when he threw 18.61m (61-00.75). The performance comes two days after he finished fifth in the hammer throw. Malaski scored in four of his five Big Tens entries between the indoor and outdoor championships.
• Purdue finished 11th out of 17 teams with 39 points.

Women’s Notes
• Alexia Smith took silver in the 400m after she ran 51.50 in the finals. It was the first medal of her collegiate career and comes on the heels of a 51.22 in the prelims that ranks second in school history. She has scored in all five of her 400m entries at Big Ten Championships indoors and outdoors.
• The 4x400m relay of Taiye Ayenuro, Smith, Marissa Palmer and Gia Clay claimed silver after running 3:30.30. The relay featured two of the Big Ten’s top seven runners in the open 400.
• Twin sisters Britannia Johnson (55.06m / 180-08) and Britannie Johnson (54.60m / 179-01) finished sixth and seventh in the discus. Britannie Johnson scored twice at the Big Ten Championships after she took seventh in the shot put on Saturday.
• Blessing Gideon finished sixth in the triple jump with a wind-aided 13.20m (43-03.75). She scored in both the long and triple jump after she was seventh in the long jump on Saturday. She was one of three athletes to score in both events.  
• Clay took seventh in the 400m finals after she ran 52.98 to earn two points. In the prelims, Clay ran 52.55 to earn the last finals spot.
• Marissa Palmer took eighth in the 200m finals in a wind-aided 22.83 (+6.0 m/s) in her first Big Ten Championships after transferring in from Georgia State.
• Purdue finished ninth out of 18 teams with 34.5 points.

Next Up
Qualified Boilermakers prepare to compete for a spot at nationals when they travel to the NCAA East First Round from May 27-30 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Women’s Golf Places 10th at NCAA Regional

Women’s Golf carded a 10-over 298 for the third straight day to finish 10th at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional. The Boilermakers (+30) saw their season come to an end, as the top five teams advanced to the 2026 NCAA Championships.

Lauren Timpf led Purdue for the second straight day, firing a 1-under 71 for the team’s best round of the tournament. The sophomore paced the Boilermakers throughout the regional, tying for 23rd on the individual leaderboard (76-73-71—220). Making a team-high 36 pars over three rounds, Timpf ranked sixth in the field.

Fellow sophomore Samantha Brown was right behind her classmate at 5-over (72-76-73—221). Luana Valero (+13), Michaela Headlee (+14) and Ashley Kim (+15) rounded out the Purdue lineup at Seminole Legacy Golf Club.

While the Boilermakers could not make a third straight trip to the NCAA Championships, the young team, consisting mostly of underclassmen, had a strong year. Purdue finished in the Top 3 in each of the last three tournaments ahead of NCAA postseason play, starting with a title defense at the Coach Mo Classic. Winning the event for the second straight year marked the sixth victory under head coach Zack Byrd and assistant coach Lauren Guiao, the most in a four-year span since winning 10 from 2011-14. Purdue followed up the win with a runner-up performance at the Boilermaker Spring Classic before finishing third at the Big Ten Championships. The third-place showing was the Boilermakers’ best finish at the conference tournament since 2019.

Individually, Brown tied a single-season program record with six rounds in the 60s on her way to Second Team All-Big Ten honors. Timpf and Valero made the Big Ten All-Championships Team, while Valero also earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

Purdue Launches Cathy Wright-Eger Legacy of Leadership Program

Purdue Athletics has launched the Cathy Wright-Eger Legacy of Leadership Program, a $22.5 million scholarship endowment initiative that will create permanent full-ride scholarship support for Boilermaker student-athletes across all 18 sports while honoring one of the most influential figures in department history.

The program aims to establish 18 full-ride scholarship endowments, one for each Purdue Athletics varsity program, at $1.25 million each. Early commitments of $5 million have already been secured, including a $2.5 million lead gift from New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and former Purdue swimmer Susan (Wolfle) Stoker.

Each endowment will provide annual scholarship support for a Purdue student-athlete in perpetuity, strengthening the department’s ability to recruit, retain and develop championship-caliber programs. As college athletics continues to shift from scholarship limits to roster-based models, this initiative positions Purdue to expand scholarship opportunities while maintaining a strong investment in the student-athlete experience.

This program honors Cathy Wright-Eger, whose 33-year career at Purdue Athletics shaped generations of Boilermaker student-athletes. Wright-Eger served as head coach of the women’s swimming and diving program for 21 years, earning Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 1990, before transitioning into a leadership development role that extended her influence across all 18 sports.

As a driving force behind the John R. Wooden Leadership Institute, Wright-Eger helped student-athletes develop the confidence, accountability and perspective needed to succeed beyond competition. Her influence reached student-athletes at every stage of their Purdue experience, from freshmen learning what it meant to be part of a team to seniors preparing to lead in their careers and communities.

“Cathy Wright-Eger’s impact on Purdue Athletics extends across generations of student-athletes and every one of our programs,” said Mike Bobinski, Executive Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “She has helped bring to life what it means to lead at Purdue, and the permanent scholarship support provided by this program will amplify that legacy.”

“Cathy Wright-Eger has had a tremendous impact on Purdue Athletics and on so many student-athletes over the years,” said L. Dick Buell Men’s Basketball Head Coach Matt Painter. “She’s helped student-athletes grow as leaders, teammates and people, and she’s had a real impact on the culture of our program throughout my time at Purdue. Cathy has always cared deeply about helping young people succeed, and this program is a chance for all of us to help continue that legacy for future Boilermakers.”

Stoker’s leadership gift helped launch the Cathy Wright-Eger Legacy of Leadership Program and establish early momentum for the initiative, including the creation of both the Susan (Wolfle) Stoker Women’s Swimming Scholarship and the Darlene (Warta) Renie Women’s Swimming Scholarship, named in honor of longtime Purdue Swimming & Diving staff member and former All-American Darlene Renie. Additional early commitments include the King Dillon Swim Scholarship, funded by Michael and Mary King, and the P2SD Women’s Swimming and Diving Scholarship Endowment, established through an estate gift commitment from Julie and John Dussliere. Together, these commitments provide a strong foundation as the initiative expands across all 18 Purdue sports.