Butler travels to South Bend, Ind., for its last non-conference contest of the 2017 season. The Bulldogs and Notre Dame will meet Wednesday afternoon in a game that will air through the WatchESPN app.

The Bulldogs are 20-27 on the season and are in the hunt for one of four spots in the 2017 BIG EAST Tournament. Butler is currently in fourth in the league standings at 8-9. Two teams – Providence and Creighton – are a half-game back as the teams enter the final series of the season this weekend. Butler will host Georgetown for a doubleheader Saturday and single game Sunday.

The Wednesday match-up with Notre Dame comes as Finals Week concluded Tuesday in Indianapolis. Butler's graduation is Saturday.

Butler took two of three games at Seton Hall over the weekend in the team's most recent action. Kaitlin Doud picked up the win in the circle in both contests as Butler won 9-3 in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader and then 4-3 on Sunday. Brandyce Sallee had five RBIs in Saturday's win. On Sunday, Butler led 4-1 entering the seventh and Seton Hall pushed across two runs and had runners on first and third with one out. Mikeila Boroff came on in relief at that point, shutting the door with a strikeout and inducing a pop-out for the final out and the save.

The win Sunday at Seton Hall continued a season-long trend as Butler is 17-0 when leading after six innings.

Leadoff hitter Jenna Foreman leads the Bulldogs in batting (.368), hits (50) and stolen bases (26). Those figures are among the top five in the BIG EAST.

Sarah Dixon is just off Foreman's pace with a .338 average and 49 hits. The junior leads the team in runs (30, one better than Foreman), home runs (five), doubles (10), and RBIs (25). Foreman has 16 multi-hit games, one better than Dixon. Both players have been selected as the BIG EAST Player of the Week once this season. Foreman's week was highlighted by a 9-for-10 performance in the three-game series sweep against Villanova April 1-2.

Butler is 20-9 this season when scoring three or more runs. The team is 0-18 when scoring two runs or fewer. The Bulldogs had a six-game winning streak earlier in the season (March 24-April 8), but also dropped nine straight immediately following (April 8-22).

Sallee (.347) and freshman Madi Christiansen (.324) are two other Bulldogs also hitting better than .300. Sallee missed 12 games earlier this season with varying injuries, but has been arguably the most consistent Bulldog over the past four seasons. She reached base safely in her first 24 games of the season. Christiansen leads the team with 20 walks and an on-base percentage of .439. She is on a current five-game hitting streak.

Butler's 22 home runs are spread among 10 players. Freshman Kennedy Minko is second on the team with four long balls, which comprise nearly half of her nine hits on the season.

Doud is batting .341 in BIG EAST play, including eight extra-base hits in the team's 17 conference games. Doud's BIG EAST average is more than .100 points higher than her 2017 total. Junior Alyssa Lach (.311) has also been much more efficient at the dish in BIG EAST contests.

Juniors Lach and Dixon have picked up their respective 100^th career hits in recent weeks, while Sallee has gone over the century mark in both runs and RBIs. Statistically, Lach is the toughest batter to strike out in the BIG EAST, fanning only six times in 117 at-bats.

Five of Doud's team-best seven wins have come in BIG EAST play. Boroff's ERA drops to 3.08 against conference foes (compared to 3.92 overall).

Injuries shuffled Butler's defensive line-up midway through the season and it took the Bulldogs a bit to get comfortable in the field. The team has committed 71 errors in the team's 47 games, going error-free in only 16 contests this season. Butler had a clean sheet in two of the three games over the weekend at Seton Hall. The defensive shuffling has moved 2016 shortstop Cheyenne Thompson behind the plate, where senior Sallee has also seen time when not roaming the outfield. Dixon, who played every contest in the outfield in 2016 has taken over shortstop for the second half of this season.