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Boiler Up: Tampa Bay Rays center fielder dedicated his scoreboard factoid to Purdue

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Anyone in Tampa attempting to claim they’re the biggest Purdue fan in the area is going to have to go through Kevin Kiermaier first.

Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Rays were taking on the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Divisional Series. When Kiermaier’s name and image popped up on the jumbo scoreboard at Petco Park, the center fielder wanted to make it well known how much he supports the Boilermakers.

“Calls himself ‘Tampa’s most dedicated Purdue fan,'” the scoreboard read.

Kiermaier is a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is about 115 miles away from Purdue’s campus in West Lafayette. While he didn’t go to school at Purdue, he’s still supporting the Boilers from Florida.

This season, Kiermaier has totaled 30 hits with 22 RBIs, 16 runs and 3 home runs. He has a pair of hits, an RBI and a run scored during the postseason.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB