SIUE COUGARS (15-20, 2-8 Ohio Valley)
VS. PURDUE BOILERMAKERS (17-22, 2-9 Big Ten)

Wednesday, April 12, 4 p.m. CT
West Lafayette, Ind./ BIttinger Stadium

Follow the Game
Video: Big Ten + (subscription)
Audio: None
Live Stats: SIUEStats.com

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: SIUE shortstop Paige Rocha has been named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week. The Platte City, Missouri, native drove in the game-winning run with a triple Saturday to secure the OVC series win against Tennessee State. She also blasted a home run and went 3 for 3 in game one Saturday as the Cougars blanked Tennessee State 8-0 in six innings. For the week, she batted .571 with four extra-base hits and a 1.143 slugging percentage.
DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP: SIUE swept Tennessee State Saturday for its first doubleheader sweep in conference play. Sydney Baalman tossed a shutout in game one. Rylie Pindel collected the win in game two in a reliever role.
SHOUT OUT SHUTOUT: SIUE leads the OVC in shutouts with seven and is ranked 70th nationally in that category.
.400 CLUB: SIUE's one-two punch of Rocha and Lexi King both are batting better than .400 this season. King, who has reached safely in 12 straight games, leads the team with a .414 average followed by Rocha's 408.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: King added three doubles this past weekend against Tennessee State and now has an OVC-leading 13. She also is ranked No. 11 nationally in that category and 14th nationally in doubles per game.
WHAT A SAVE: Kelsey Ray has three saves this season and is ranked 25th nationally in saves.
STEADY AS SHE GOES: Emma Neuman is hitting .313 for the season and is tied for the team lead in RBIs at 19 with King. Neuman is batting .314 over the last 10 games.
STEAL AWAY: SIUE has recorded 35 stolen bases in 35 games this season. King leads the team with 10 followed by seven from Sherri Mason. Ten different players have recorded a stolen base.
SERIES VS. PURDUE: SIUE is 2-0 all-time against Purdue. The only meetings were last season at the FAU Tournament in Boca Raton, Florida, where the Cougars bested the Boilermakers in back-to-back days 2-1 and 4-1.
SCOUTING THE BOILERMAKERS: The Boilermakers are batting .255 as a team in 39 games. Tyrina Jones leads the squad with a .333 batting average.
START OF AN ERA: After spending nearly the last decade as an assistant coach in the Big Ten Conference, Ben Sorden was tapped as the new leader of the SIUE softball program. Sorden comes to SIUE after holding positions at Michigan State and Indiana, helping the pitching staffs to national honors and top-notch results. The Lone Tree, Iowa, native most recently spent five seasons at Michigan State, where the Spartans sported a 2.38 earned run average and a 1.11 WHIP over 350 innings of play.