Weekend Schedule (EST)
4/17: Butler at Seton Hall  – 6:00 PM
4/18: Butler at Seton Hall  – 1:00 PM
4/12: Butler at Seton Hall  – 12:00 PM

Projected Starters
Friday: LHP Jeff Schank vs. RHP Zach Predergast
Saturday: LHP Peter Nyznyk vs. RHP Shane McCarthy
Sunday: LHP Nick Morton vs. RHP Zach Schellenger

INDIANAPOLIS – Butler will visit South Orange, N.J. this weekend to play a three-game series at Owen T. Carroll Field against the Seton Hall Pirates. Action will begin with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday, April 17.

About Butler (13-22, 0-3 BIG EAST)
The Bulldogs helped West Virginia break in their brand new ballpark last weekend by playing in the first-ever game at Monongalia County Ballpark. The first game of the series was without a doubt the most exciting as the two teams went into 13 innings to find a winner. In the end, West Virginia protected their home field and came up with a three-game sweep.

Butler will wrap up an eight-game road trip with the completion of the three-game series at Seton Hall. The stretch of road contests began with a single game at Dayton on April 8. Since that time, the Bulldogs have been led by Quincy Quintero and Ryan Wojciechowski from the dish, while Michael Fries and Tyler Houston have also stepped up in their respective roles.

Quintero is batting .364 over Butler's last five games. He has eight hits in 22 at-bats with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored. Teammate Wojciechowski is right behind Quintero with a .353 average that includes three doubles and two runs scored. Wojo has three RBIs over his last five games, increasing his team-high RBI total to 28.

The weekend rotation will feature Jeff Schank, Peter Nyznyk and Nick Morton. Schank will get the nod as the Friday starter due to his impressive weekend stats. The sophomore is 2-5 on the year with a team-best ERA of 2.91. Friday will be his 10th start of the season as he enters the contest with a team-high 48 strikeouts. Schank's last outing at West Virginia included 5.2 innings of work and six strikeouts. He left the game without a decision after giving up four earned runs off eight hits.

The next left-hander to get a game ball will be Nyznyk, a player that recently changed roles from a bullpen ace to a weekend starter. Nyznyk is 1-2 on the year with a 5.49 ERA. He will be making his sixth start of the year which will give him 16 appearances. Nyznyk has 32 K's in 39 innings and has kept runners off base by only walking 13 on the year. Nyznyk took the loss in his last outing at WVU. The senior tossed six full innings that resulted in five earned runs off eight hits.

The Sunday starter for Butler will be another left-hander in Nick Morton. The 5-9 California native is 2-4 on the year with a 7.48 ERA. He is second on the team with 36 strikeouts and like Nyznyk he doesn't issue many walks (13).

Scouting Seton Hall (17-13, 4-2 BIG EAST)
The Pirates are 17-13 overall as the baseball season approaches the final two weekends of April. A slow start to the season was followed up with a long winning streak helping SHU stay four games above .500. Seton Hall lost eight of their first nine games of the season, but was able to steer the ship in the right direction by winning their next five-straight.

Seton Hall's longest winning-streak of the season climbed to nine games, but that streak was recently snapped with the Pirates losing two of three to St. John's. SHU has two BIG EAST weekend series under their belt as they swept Xavier in the BIG EAST opener to grab a 4-2 mark in conference play.

Playing at Seton Hall favors the Pirates as the team is 7-3 at home compared to 6-9 on the road. SHU enters the weekend with a team batting average at .252 and a team ERA at 3.78. Kyle Grimm highlights the offense while Predergast and McCarthy highlight the defense.

Grimm is the top offensive player on the team with a .367 batting average. He has a team-high 33 hits on the year, eight of which have been doubles. The senior is one of four players to have 20 RBIs or more midway through the season. Additional players to keep an eye on include Derek Jenkins who leads the team with 17 steals, Sal Annunziata the team's home run leader with four and DJ Ruhlman who leads the team in doubles and is also tied for the team lead with 22 RBIs.

Seton Hall's weekend rotation is loaded with talent as McCarthy and Predergast each enter the weekend with four wins. McCarthy currently has the best ERA on the team at 1.83. Friday's starter Predergast isn't far behind at 2.85. Predergast has more strikeouts (31), but McCarthy doesn't seem to make many mistakes as he posts a .207 batter's against average. McCarthy has 39.1 innings of action to his credit and has only walked six batters. The third member of the trio is a new face as Zach Schellenger sets up to make his fifth start of the season. Schellenger will start on Sunday with his 2-1 record that includes a 4.41 ERA.

2015 Preseason Baseball All-BIG EAST Team and Awards
Preseason Player of the Year - Reagan Fowler, Creighton, Jr., 1B
Preseason Co-Pitchers of the Year - Luke Cahill, Seton Hall, Jr., SP; Matt Warren, Creighton, Jr., SP 

Preseason All-BIG EAST
^ Dan Rizzie, Xavier, Jr., C
^ Reagan Fowler, Creighton, Jr. 1B
^ Todd Czinege, Villanova, So., 2B
^ D.J. Ruhlman, Seton Hall, Sr., SS
Robbie Knightes, St. John's, So., 3B
Nick Collins, Georgetown, Jr., DH
Sal Annunziata, Seton Hall, Sr., DH
^ Michael Donadio, St. John's, So., OF
Derek Jenkins, Seton Hall, Jr., OF
Zach Lauricella, St. John's, Sr., OF
Alex Caruso, St. John's, Jr., OF
^ Matt Warren, Creighton, Jr., SP
^ Ryan McCormick, St. John's, Jr., SP
Luke Cahill, Seton Hall, Jr., SP
Matt Hollenbeck, Georgetown, Sr., SP
Eric Stiene, Xavier, RS-Jr., SP
^ Joe Kuzia, St. John's, Sr., RP
^ - denotes unanimous selection

Preseason Coaches' Poll
First place votes in ( )
1. St. John's - 32 pts. (3)
2. Creighton - 31 pts. (2)
3. Seton Hall - 29 pts. (2)
4. Xavier - 22 pts.
5. Villanova - 12 pts.
6. Butler - 11 pts.
7. Georgetown - 10 pts.

Ball State Recap (4/15)
The Bulldogs took a tough loss at Ball State on Wednesday afternoon by surrendering two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the 3-2 setback. Ryan Wojciechowski recorded each RBI for the Bulldogs while Michael Fries went 3-for-3 from the plate while also drawing one walk. Butler was in great shape heading to the bottom half of the inning with Kyle Allen on the hill. Allen retired each of the first two batters he faced, but two costly errors would extend the inning, leading to the walk-off hit for Ball State.

Series History
April 4, 2014: Butler 6, Seton Hall 1
April 5, 2014: Seton Hall 7, Butler 3
April 6, 2014: Butler 7, Seton Hall 6

BIG EAST Standings
1) Creighton, 5-1 BIG EAST… 20-10 Overall
2) St. John's, 5-1 BIG EAST… 20-12 Overall
3) Seton Hall, 4-2 BIG EAST … 17-13 Overall
4) Georgetown, 3-3 BIG EAST… 16-15 Overall
5) Villanova, 1-2 BIG EAST… 13-18 Overall
6) Butler, 0-3 BIG EAST… 13-21 Overall
7) Xavier, 0-6 BIG EAST… 9-27 Overall

Winning Streak
Butler won nine-straight games from March 15-29, setting the longest winning streak in school history. The previous record of seven-straight wins was recorded five times (2003, 2002, 2000, 1998, and 1993). During that stretch Butler defeated Illinois State, Marian, Cleary, Wabash, Indiana Tech and Dayton in single games while sweeping Purdue in a three-game series at Bulldog Park.

Hitting Streak
The longest individual hitting streak of the season came to an end at West Virginia with Garrett Christman going hitless in game two of the three-game series. Christman pushed his hitting streak to 17 games before going 0-3 vs. the Mountaineers on Saturday. His streak still marks the longest of the season although designated hitter Quincy Quintero is currently streaking with a hit in 13-straight games.

Weather Update
The weekend weather forecast for South Orange New Jersey shows a chance of rain on Friday, followed by two beautiful days on Saturday and Sunday. Friday's high is 69 degrees with a 60 percent chance of rain. That cell moves out of the area as Saturday and Sunday currently show a zero percent chance of rain. Saturday should have highs in the 70's with sunny skies and Sunday will cool off a bit with temps in the 60's due to cloud coverage.

Team Leaders
BA: Garrett Christman (.352), Hits: Drew Small (44), RBI: Ryan Wojciechowski (28)
ERA: Jeff Schank (2.91), Wins: Four Tied (2), Strikeouts: Jeff Schank (48)

BIG EAST Leaders
Butler has the highest batting average of any team in the BIG EAST Conference (as of April 16). The category is just one of many that belong to the Bulldogs early in the season. BU leads the BIG EAST in BA (.286), Slugging % (.388), On-base % (.369), runs scored (204), hits (348), RBIs (181), doubles (75), home runs (13), total bases (472), total plate appearances (1,424), and walks (135).

NCAA Team National Rankings
Stat - National Rank (Conference Rank)
Base on Balls – 110 (1)
Batting Average – 78 (1)
Double Plays – 116 (3)
Doubles – 28 (1)
Fielding Percentage – 76 (4)
Hits – 75 (1)
On-Base % - 92 (1)
Runs – 99 (1)
Sacrifice Bunts – 82 (1)
Scoring – 99 (1)
Shutouts – 17 (1)
Slugging % - 129 (1)

NCAA Individual National Rankings
Stat, Player - National Rank (Conference Rank)
Doubles, Drew Small – 49 (1)
Hit By Pitch, Austin Miller – 30 (1)
Runs, Tyler Houston – 30 (1)

Up Next
Butler will open up an eight game home stand next week starting with a single game against Northern Kentucky on April 21. The weekend will feature BU hosting Creighton with Sunday's game slated to air on the BIG EAST Digital Network. The following weekend Butler will stay at Bulldog Park to host the Villanova Wildcats and the final game of the home stand will be a single contest against Dayton on May 6.