Kevin Kiermaier gave Purdue basketball a shout-out after their March Madness win
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Kevin Kiermaier has made no secret of his college basketball loyalties. Having loved Purdue since he was a kid growing up in Indiana, he's a Boilermaker fan, through and through. He would have played baseball there, too, had the Rays not drafted him out of Parkland College in 2010.
Kiermaier's fandom was in full force on Friday, as he sent out a tweet in the morning cheering on the Boilermakers ahead of their NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament game against Cal State Fullerton:
Purdue won its first-round game in a rout, 74-48, so even after Kiermaier went 2-for-3 with a pair of stolen bases in the Rays' own victory over the Twins, he still had the Boilermakers on his mind. "Shout-out to Purdue basketball squad for a big W today," he said in a postgame interview. "I was playing, I couldn't support, but I might have come in here to check the score a couple times between innings."
Kiermaier went on to address the Purdue team itself. "The show goes on, and hopefully I'll be able to watch you guys in a couple days."
Let's just hope that Kiermaier doesn't get too overwhelmed. He has them going to the Elite Eight, and as he's alluded on Twitter, the emotions of being a Boilermaker fan can be tough.