Weekend Schedule (EST)
3/25: Western Michigan at Butler – 3:00 PM
3/26: Bradley at Butler – 12:00 PM
3/27: Bradley at Butler – 12:00 PM
3/27: Western Michigan at Butler – 3:30 PM

Projected Starters
Friday: LHP Jeff Schank vs. LHP Keegan Akin
Saturday: LHP Nick Morton vs. LHP Cameron Roegner
Sunday: RHP Quentin Miller vs. LHP Ben Olson
Sunday: RHP Brock Balderson vs. LHP Tanner Allison

INDIANAPOLIS – Butler will host two different opponents this weekend when Western Michigan and Bradley visit Indianapolis. The Bulldogs will play Western Michigan on Friday afternoon at 3 PM and then host Bradley on Saturday at noon. Sunday will feature a doubleheader with one game scheduled against each opponent.

About Butler (6-13)
The Bulldogs took a midweek loss at Indiana on Wednesday to move their overall record to 6-13. Connor Dall and Gehrig Parker continue to play at a high level for BU with Tyler Houston missing time recently. Dall has improved his batting average to .291 and is now tied for second on the team in RBIs with nine. Parker has seen more playing time in recent weeks and is now batting .295. He is second on the team with 11 runs scored and is near the team lead in on-base percentage (.392).

The projected weekend rotation is a little different this week with four games on the schedule. Jeff Schank and Nick Morton will still go 1-2, but the third start will go to Quentin Miller and the fourth to Brock Balderson.

Schank will go head-to-head against the Broncos on Friday. He will take his 4.97 ERA into the start in hopes of recording his first win of the season. Schank leads the team with 29 innings pitched and is second on the club with 16 strikeouts.

Saturday's start will go to Morton who currently holds the lowest ERA on the team at 3.54. Morton is 1-1 over five starts and is limiting foes to a .267 batting average. Sunday's doubleheader will begin with Miller, a freshman that started the year as the midweek arm. Miller is 1-2 overall with a 5.40 ERA. Sunday will be his nine overall appearance and his fourth start. The final game of the weekend will go to Balderson, another BU freshman. Balderson will make his first start of the season in an attempt to lower his 12.19 bullpen ERA.

Scouting Western Michigan (5-12)
The Broncos have recorded wins over Georgetown and Bowling Green this season. The year got off to a rocky start with WMU losing nine-straight, but the team is coming off a great weekend where they won all four games against Bowling Green splitting contests between the two campuses.

Players to keep an eye on this weekend include Grant Miller and Nick Vogelmeier. Both players have started for Western Michigan in all 17 games and both are batting over .300. Miller is the team leader in RBIs with 13 and currently holds the second-highest BA on the team at .357. Vogelmeier heads into the weekend batting .339 with nine runs scored and is tied for the team lead in steals with three.

Keegan Akin is the Bronco ace this season and therefore will get the ball on Friday afternoon's start vs. Butler. Akin is a 6-1 left-hander that leads the club with a 1.16 ERA. He is 1-2 in five starts and is far and away the team leader with 39 strikeouts.

Tanner Allison will also take the hill against Butler this weekend. Allison is a sophomore with a 9.00 ERA still in search of his first win of the year. He has been limited to just 16 innings of action over five starts and is second on the team in strikeouts with 23.

Scouting Bradley (9-7)
The Braves are 9-7 overall with signature wins coming against Notre Dame (4-3), and Gonzaga (5-4, 12 innings). The team most recently took a tough 7-6 midweek loss at Iowa on Tuesday as the Hawkeyes rallied for a walk-off hit in the ninth that allowed the team to score two runs for the win. Tuesday's setback broke up a five-game winning streak that showcased Bradley going undefeated in the Russ Matt Central Florida Invitational. They recorded wins over Bucknell, Lehigh and Dartmouth before having two games rained out at the end of the week.

Top notch players on the Bradley roster include Tyler Leffler, Evan Gruener, and Andy Shadid. Leffler currently leads the club with a .324 batting average. He has a team-high nine doubles and has helped the team by recording 11 RBIs. Gruener is second on the team with a .317 average. The power hitter has five homeruns already this season giving him a team-high 13 RBIs. The final member of this trio is Shadid, a player that hits .314 with five doubles and triple and two homeruns.

The defense will play behind Cameron Roegner and Ben Olson. Roegner is a fifth year senior with a 5.16 ERA and a 1-2 overall record. The 6-6 left-hander has 20 strikeouts in 22.2 innings. Opponents are batting .284 against him this season.

Olson, penciled in as Sunday's starter, is quite similar to Roegner in that he is a 6-6 left-hander. The main difference is his age as Olson will take the mound in his rookie campaign. So far this season, Olson is 1-1 on the hill with a 5.29 ERA. He has 17 K's in 17 innings pitched.

Recent Matchups
Butler and Western Michigan faced off in a three-game series during the 2014 season with the Broncos winning two of three games at Bulldog Park. The first game was a lopsided 11-1 win for the visitors while the second day featured the two teams splitting a doubleheader.

The last meeting between Butler and Bradley came during the 2011 season with the Braves defeating the Bulldogs 8-5 on March 19.

BIG EAST Baseball Weekly Honor Roll
Connor Dall, Butler, Fr., INF
Hit .467 in four starts, two of his seven hits went for extra bases. Dall also added four RBI, .600 slugging and .471 on-base percentage in a 2-2 week for the Bulldogs against Saint Louis and IPFW.

BIG EAST Standings
1) Creighton, 13-4 Overall
2) Seton Hall, 14-6 Overall
3) Georgetown, 11-11 Overall
4) St. John's, 8-9-1 Overall
5) Villanova, 8-15 Overall
6) Xavier, 7-13 Overall
7) Butler, 6-13 Overall

National Rankings
As a team Butler ranks 58th in the NCAA in double plays (17) and 62nd in triples (6). Individually, Connor Dall ranks 31st in sacrifice flies while Zach Barnes comes in at 68th with his three saves.

Team Leaders
BA: Tyler Houston (.349), Hits: Tyler Houston (22), RBI: Tyler Houston (12)
ERA: Nick Morton (3.54), Wins: 6 Players Tied (1), Strikeouts: Danny Pobereyko (19)

Spring Break
Butler played six games in Port Charlotte Florida over spring break (March 5 – 12) against tough competition. The 'Dawgs won two of their first three games on the trip, but ended by falling in each of their last three contests. The field included Northwestern, Indiana, Boston College, Central Michigan, Michigan State and Illinois State.

Signature Win
Butler defeated an ACC team for the first time in 20 years with a 12-10 win over Boston College on March 7. The last time BU came out on top vs. an ACC team was in 1996 when the 'Dawgs won 3-1 at North Carolina.

Extra Innings
Butler is 2-0 this year in games that reach extra innings. Their first win of the season was a 4-3 victory at Charleston Southern that ended in the 11th inning. The second victory came against BIG TEN foe Northwestern as the Bulldogs knocked off the Wildcats in 10 innings.

Grand Slam 2x
The Bulldogs won in style this year in the 2016 home opener vs. Marian. Playing at nearby Grand Park due to field and weather conditions at Bulldog Park, Butler posted 15 runs off 13 hits to earn the lopsided victory. The first grand slam of the game came in the third inning when Chris Maranto sent a ball over the fence in leftfield. The 'Dawgs didn't stop there as Michael DiViesti came to the plate in the fifth to deliver the second grand slam of the game. The hit was the first of the year for DiViesti, who got the start at catcher while Chris Marras played as the DH. 

Not So Fast
The Bulldogs lead the BIG EAST Conference in runners picked off. Through the first 19 games of the season, Butler has picked off nine baserunners. Danny Pobereyko and Zach Barnes share the team lead with two each.

Up Next
Butler will end the month of March with a single game at Northern Kentucky. The two teams will come together on Wednesday, March 30 at 3:00 PM.