DETROIT -- The Wayne State University baseball team (26-18 overall, 15-11 GLIAC) will host Purdue Northwest (17-25 overall, 7-19 GLIAC) in a four-game series on Friday through Sunday to conclude the 2024 regular season.  The Warriors and Pride have faced off three times this season (one non-conference game) with WSU claiming all three, 4-0, 9-1 and 6-2.

Series Storylines
Entering this series, Wayne State holds a half-game lead on Grand Valley State (22-22 overall, 14-11 GLIAC) for second place in the league while Purdue Northwest sits in last place.  With GLIAC Tournament seeding still up for grabs, GVSU won four of six against WSU for the head-to-head tiebreaker.  The Lakers have five contests remaining in their regular season, all of which will be against Davenport.

All-Time Series
Wayne State leads the all-time series with Purdue Northwest 21-7 including seven wins in a row and nine of the last 10.  With that being said, five of those seven Warrior losses have come in Detroit where WSU has gone 6-5 against PNW.  The Warriors took three of four from the Pride their last four-game set in Detroit, April 29 to May 1 of 2022.

Scouting the Pride
Purdue Northwest is hitting .248 as a team, last in the conference, and has been paced by a pair of players in Cole Olson and Luke Montgomery.  Among the team's everyday players, Olson leads the way in average at .299 while Montgomery is right behind him at .290.  Olson has brought in a squad-best 28 RBI, but Hayden Matulich and Jayden Smith have accounted for three home runs apiece.

Pitching wise, the Pride's team ERA of 5.59 is good for third in the GLIAC.  Four players have pitched at least 14 innings with an ERA below 4.00 including Conor Pangburn (33.1 IP, 3.51 ERA), Blake Newell (32.2 IP, 3.31 ERA), Ryan Radanovich (14.2 IP, 3.07 ERA) and Andrew Petsche (14.2 IP, 3.07 ERA).  Pangburn has notched three pitching victories with a record of 3-3 in seven appearances.

NCAA Regional Rankings
The season's second edition of the NCAA regional rankings were released on Wednesday and Wayne State was ranked ninth.  The top seven will qualify for regional play while the top two will host, respectively.  The rest of the top nine, in order from the top, consisted of Saginaw Valley State, UIndy, Maryville, Ashland, Northwood, Drury, Findlay and Illinois Springfield.  The next installment, which comes out on Wednesday, May 8, will be the final rankings before the NCAA Selection Show on the night of Sunday, May 12.