Projected Starters
RHP Quentin Miller vs. LHP Damian Helm
 
INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler baseball team will face the Fort Wayne Mastodons on Tuesday afternoon at Mastodon Field. The Bulldogs will be looking for the season sweep against Fort Wayne having already won the previous two meetings this year. First pitch is slated for 3 PM.
 
About Butler
The Bulldogs took two of three games from Seton Hall last weekend by winning conference matchups on Friday and Sunday. Jeff Schank slowed down the Pirate bats on Friday while the combo of Connor Mitchell and Garrett Christman took care of business in the getaway game.
 
The Bulldogs are led by redshirt junior Michael Hartnagel who enters Tuesday with a .409 batting average that includes a team-high 10 doubles. Hartnagel is one of only two players to start in all 30 games for BU, with the other being Tyler Houston. Houston is batting .264 on the year with a team-high seven home runs.
 
Quentin Miller will earn the start against Fort Wayne on Tuesday. The sophomore right-hander is 0-2 in his two starts so far this season with a 4.82 ERA. He has only thrown 9.1 innings of action and heads into the tilt with 10 strikeouts.
 
Scouting Fort Wayne
The Mastodons lost three games to Oral Roberts over the weekend to move to 6-23 on the year. Jake Weber leads the team with a .359 batting average, although Jackson Boyce has the most hits on the team with 36. Boyce leads the team with 10 doubles and 19 RBI. He is also a threat on the base paths with 12 stolen bases. The home run king is Brock Logan with four.
 
Fort Wayne will throw Damain Helm on Tuesday. The 6-5 junior is 2-1 on the year with a 7.04 ERA. He will be making his seventh start of the year. Over 30 innings of work, Helm has tossed 28 strikeouts, the third-highest total on the team.
 
First Time vs. Fort Wayne
Butler and Fort Wayne squared off for the first time this season on March 10, a game that went down as the 2017 home opener at Bulldog Park. Jeff Schank was the difference as he lifted BU to victory after throwing a complete game shutout that included 11 strikeouts. Schank limited Fort Wayne to just four hits and got run support from Garrett Christman, Gehrig Parker and Zach Jarosz.
 
The second game of the weekend series was canceled due to rain, but the Bulldogs would return to the diamond on Sunday to post a 13-3 victory. Butler came up with 12 hits to score 13 runs and were led by Michael Hartnagel who went 3-for-3 with three runs scored. Harrison Freed, Chris Maranto and Tyler Houston all posted two RBI in the win which featured Connor Mitchell on the mound.
 
Fort Wayne Forecast
Tuesday's forecast in Fort Wayne calls for a high of 60 degrees with a 20 percent chance of rain. Thunderstorms could roll through the area on Monday night, but the game on Tuesday should not be in jeopardy.
 
Hitting Streaks
Michael Hartnagel will take a 13-game hitting streak into Tuesday's contest at Fort Wayne. He went 4-for-11 at Seton Hall last week to move his season average to .409. His current hitting streak began on March 19 at home against Saint Louis.
 
Reached Base Steak
Michael Hartnagel has reached base in 18-straight contests. He recorded at least one hit in 17 of those 18 games and was able to keep the streak alive by drawing a walk on March 18 vs. Saint Louis. This streak started on March 8 when he went 5-for-5 at Furman.
 
Houston Makes History
Junior outfielder Tyler Houston placed his name in the Butler record book after an outstanding performance at Ohio in game one of a doubleheader on Saturday, March 25. Houston went 5-for-5 from the plate with three home runs, six RBI and three runs scored.
 
Three home runs in a single-game ties the school record as Houston will now place his name alongside Gordon Hansen and Joe Pauley. Hansen hit three home runs vs. Southeast Missouri State during the 1983 season and Pauley posted three home runs in a single contest at Valparaiso during the 2008 campaign.
 
Houston will stand alone in the BU Record Book for most total bases recorded in a single game. His three home run game that included two other hits gave him 14 total bases, a number that broke the old record of 13 set by Hansen and Pauley in the games mentioned above.

For the week, Houston hit .429 with six of his nine hits going for extra bases. He scored seven runs and led the team with 10 RBI. Those numbers allowed Houston to receive BIG EAST Player of the Week honors, an announcement made by the league office on Tuesday, March 28.
 
Team National Rankings
Stat, Ranking (Value)
Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings, 9th (7.11)
Earned Run Average, 15th (2.96)
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 52nd (8.8)**
WHIP, 46th (1.28)
 
Individual National Rankings
Player; Stat, Ranking (Value)
Chris Myjak; Saves, 21st (7)**
Ryan Pepiot; Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 40th (11.60)
Jeff Schank; Earned Run Average, 13th (1.13)**
Jeff Schank; Strikeouts, 18th (66)**
Tyler Houston; Stolen Bases, 55th (12)
Tyler Houston: Home Runs, 78th (7)
Michael Hartnagel; Batting Average, 12th (.409)
Michael Hartnagel: Hits, 80th (45)
Michael Hartnagel: On-Base Percentage, 50th (.477)
Connor Mitchell: Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings, 37th (5.72)
Gehrig Parker: Triples, 50th (3)
** - Leads BIG EAST Conference
 
Up Next
Butler will host #22 St. John's this weekend in a three-game series to be played at Bulldog Park. The conference foes will play Thursday, Friday, Saturday this week with Easter falling on Sunday.