Purdue baseball heads to Wrigley Field in thick of Big Ten title race
WEST LAFAYETTE — Mike Bolton Jr. has a confession.
He's never been to Wrigley Field.
Bolton is a Chicago native and a diehard baseball guy but never did he venture into Wrigleyville.
"White Sox in my blood," the fifth-year Purdue baseball senior said.
More: Purdue basketball scheduling home-and-home series with Marquette, per report
Bolton played for the White Sox ACE (Amateur City Elite) travel baseball program and in his household, it was all about South Side when it came to Major League Baseball.
Bolton's first visit to Wrigley Field comes Friday when Purdue plays Northwestern in the iconic Chicago Cubs ballpark to start a three-game series, with the final two games at Northwestern.
When the Boilermakers take the field at Wrigley, Bolton will be leading off and playing left field.
And on the mound for Purdue, Jordan Morales, who will have the rare distinction of pitching in his second Major League stadium.
Morales, a graduate transfer from Penn State, helped the Nittany Lions defeat Pitt in a 2022 game played at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. That appearance came as a reliever, though. On Friday, he'll be handed the ball and asked to keep Purdue hot in conference play.
"It’s a huge series. We want to keep the momentum going forward," Morales said. "We have a job yet to finish. We take one game at a time. We want to win the Big Ten and we’ve got to be able to put teams away early and often."
The Boilermakers (26-15, 8-4) are in the thick of the Big Ten Conference race, two games back of first place Illinois, a surprising turnaround after going 24-29 a season ago.
Maintaining pace with the Illini and second-place Michigan may be more important than where Purdue's next game is played.
"It’s not really the stage, it’s just playing ourselves and to our ability and when we do that to the best of our ability, we’re a very good team," shortstop Camden Gasser 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: Purdue baseball to play Northwestern at Wrigley Field
