'Titan'ic Rivalry

After being eliminated from the six-team Big Ten tournament, IU's baseball team will travel to West Lafayette looking to spoil Purdue's postseason hopes. The four-game series begins Friday, followed by a doubleheader Saturday and before the season finale Sunday.\nWith just four more conference games left for the Big Ten, the Boilermakers presently sit in sixth place in the conference standings with Northwestern looming three games behind in seventh place. If IU sweeps Purdue, or even wins just three of the four games, they will open the door for Northwestern to tie Purdue in conference play and climb to sixth place by virtue of the overall record tie-breaker.\nIn addition to attempting to spoil the Boilermakers' season, this weekend's series is important for the seniors, who would like nothing more than to end their careers on a good note. \nThe Hoosiers (24-28, 8-20) have struggled through the Big Ten season, but a series win this weekend will provide the outgoing seniors with some consolation. \n"Right now I'm not trying to count days, but rather make the days count," senior outfielder/designated hitter Ryan Donely said. "This will be an emotional weekend for us (seniors)."\nIU will be led this weekend by senior shortstop Seth Bynum, who leads the Big Ten in hitting with a .397 batting average and ranks first in the conference in hits (77), RBIs (63) and total bases (127). \n"This series is a big one for us, we gotta just play hard and try to pull this one out," Bynum said.\nAdditionally, the Titan Series is on the line this weekend. The series is an annual competition between Purdue and IU varsity sports where one point is awarded for each head-to-head varsity competition, both men and women. This year the schools have competed against each other 20 times in 14 sports with Purdue currently leading the series 10-9, but with the baseball point yet to be determined. \nIf the Hoosiers win at least three games this weekend, IU will score a Titan Series point and end the year deadlocked at 10 points a piece.\nIn recent years, the competition has played to a near stalemate as the series is rarely decided prior to the last sporting event of the year. Last year, IU claimed the Titan Series, edging the Boilers 10-9. The previous year, Purdue's baseball team was able to secure the Titan win for the Boilers 10.5 to 9.5.\n"The Titan series is important for us," Donely said. "We also really want to ruin their season."\nThe Hoosiers will have to reverse their current losing trend in order to spoil their rivals' season. \n"We've been on this slide like we fell off of a cliff," IU coach Bob Morgan said. "We've been beaten up with losing and injuries."\nThe Hoosiers were 7-9 in Big Ten play after beating Illinois April 25, but have gone 1-11 since and currently sit in last place.\n"We need to put together pitching, defense and offense in order to win," Morgan said. "We scored 30 runs (in the Michigan State series) and lost four games."\nThe Hoosiers lost three of four last weekend to Michigan, but played the Wolverines tight in the series' first three games. \nPurdue and IU have been competing against each other since 1897, with the Hoosiers holding a 127-107-2 all-time series lead. Despite IU's recent struggles, the Hoosiers have taken six of the last 10 meetings between the two schools.\n-- Contact staff writer Benjames Derrick at \nbderrick@indiana.edu.