Injury provided opportunity for Purdue baseball's Luke Gaffney, who is smashing records

WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue baseball coach Greg Goff constantly relays the message to his players to be ready because you never know when your opportunity will come.

Now, Goff has evidence. And his name is Luke Gaffney.

In the fall, the redshirt freshman first baseman was behind Breck Nowik on the depth chart.

"Breck Nowik is a guy who was probably one of our better players in the fall and he got hurt," Goff said. "Luke took advantage of it."

That's an understatement.

Gaffney leads the Boilermakers in batting average (.412), runs (54), home runs (11), triples (3), runs batted in (60) and slugging percentage (.727).

"The kid raked in the fall. The kid raked all year," said Purdue shortstop Camden Gasser, the Big Ten leader in on base percentage. "I think it became kind of evident right before the season that this dude needs to be in the lineup, especially with the injury to Breck Nowik. Once he got in there, he didn’t let it slip by.

"He’s boosted our whole offense. He’s boosted our whole team."

With Gaffney leading the way, Purdue is the Big Ten's biggest surprise.

The Boilermakers have won 10 straight conference games and are tied with Illinois atop the Big Ten standings entering Wednesday's non-conference home game against DePauw and with rival Indiana coming to Alexander Field for a weekend series.

"It points to the fact that this team is legit. It’s something Purdue hasn’t seen in awhile," Gaffney said. "That builds the hype if you will. It just makes it fun. It makes you want to keep performing to your own best standards. That’s always cool to get to do that."

This isn't new for Gaffney.

At Boone County High School in Danville, Ky., Gaffney was first-team all-state during his senior season after hitting .462 with 13 doubles, 10 home runs and 46 RBI. As a junior, Gaffney broke Boone County's RBI single-season record with 49.

Oh, and he was Boone County's valedictorian.

"That dude’s got a bright future ahead of him," leadoff hitter Mike Bolton Jr. said. "Everything he’s doing is working."

While this production isn't uncommon for Gaffney, it most certainly is for Purdue freshmen.

Gaffney owns Boilermaker freshman records for RBI, total bases and runs scored. He's yet to play a game in May.

With still 11 regular season games on the schedule, Gaffney has a realistic chance to break Purdue single-season records for runs, RBI, doubles and slugging percentage. Gasser also pointed to what Gaffney has done defensively, where he has just one error and is fielding .997.

Gaffney leads the Big Ten in runs, triples and RBI and is hitting .414 in league games. He's been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week five times this season.

The stat Gaffney is most proud of, though, is Purdue's 29-15 record and 11-4 mark in the Big Ten.

"This group of guys, we want to win and we are going to do what it takes to win," Gaffney said.

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Freshman phenom Luke Gaffney is rewriting Purdue baseball record book