Butler hosts St. John's for a three-game series this weekend, matching up the top two teams in the BIG EAST standings. The teams will play a Saturday doubleheader (first pitch at noon), followed by a single game Sunday starting at noon. Sunday's game will air on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
St. John's leads the BIG EAST with a 7-2 mark. Butler enters the weekend with a 5-3 record, good for second place. Butler is a half-game clear of 5-4 Seton Hall.
The game is also a rematch of the 2016 BIG EAST Tournament championship game, which Butler won, 10-8, in eight innings. The win gave Butler its first NCAA Tournament appearance. It was
Brandyce Sallee's two-run double in the eighth inning that proved to be the game-winner for the Bulldogs, who entered the four-team, single-elimination tournament as the No. 4 seed. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, earlier this week the New York Mets became just the third team in Major League Baseball history to allow a grand slam in back-to-back games and win both games. Butler actually did that in the 2016 BIG EAST semifinals and championship game.
Sallee entered the week leading the BIG EAST in batting. She stands at .400 after a mid-week game against Eastern Illinois. Sallee is one of five Bulldogs hitting better than .300, joining
Jenna Foreman (.381),
Sarah Dixon (.360), freshman
Madi Christiansen (.316), and
Cheyenne Thompson (.305). Foreman and Dixon join Sallee in the Top 10 of the BIG EAST rankings.
Sallee has reached base safely in 24 of her 25 games this season, with the team's Tuesday game against Eastern Illinois as the only exception. She has hits in 20 of her 25 games.
Dixon paces the Bulldogs in hits (41), runs (40), home runs (four), RBIs (21), doubles (six), extra-base hits (12), and slugging percentage (.553). After starting the season in the outfield, injuries to teammates have forced her to shortstop. She is the only Bulldog to start all 37 contests this season. That same positional rotation has put Thompson behind the plate for 20 games this season after playing almost exclusively at shortstop in 2016.
Dixon and Foreman have each been recognized as the BIG EAST's Player of the Week at a point in the season. Foreman's came April 3 as she batted .846 for the week, including 9-of-10 in the three-game series against Villanova. Dixon's honor came in the first week of the season, largely due to a three-hit, five-RBI performance in the season-opener against Miami (Ohio) Feb. 10. Dixon went 6-of-11 in last weekend's series at Providence. She has 13 multi-hit games this season, one better than Foreman's 12 for the team lead.
Foreman had both of Butler's hits in the 2-0 loss to Eastern Illinois Tuesday afternoon in Indianapolis, so she is the only Bulldog to enter the weekend on a hitting streak. She has gone 4-for-4 in two games this season (Feb. 18 vs. Jackson State and April 2 vs. Villanova). She holds the team lead with 19 stolen bases (only being caught four times). She is second in the BIG EAST in swiped bags.
Freshman
Christina Candotti has seen extended time at second base since BIG EAST play began March 25. All three of her home runs and seven of her 13 RBIs this season have come in the team's most recent nine games. Her batting average has climbed 50 points over that stretch. Classmate
Kennedy Minko had a pinch-hit grand slam over the weekend at Providence, her second career home run.
Alyssa Lach has seven RBIs in the team's last five games. She has started 36 of the team's 37 games this season.
Kaitlin Doud has a 4-4 record and 3.39 ERA to lead the Bulldogs in the circle. She entered the week ranked third in the BIG EAST in ERA. Freshman
Gabbi Schnaiter has logged the most innings for the Bulldogs this season, posting eight complete games among her 87.1 innings.
Doud has been heating up at the dish recently, posting hits in seven of her last nine games. Her batting average has climbed almost 50 points since March 25 when BIG EAST play began.
Prior to Tuesday's 2-0 loss to Eastern Illinois, Butler had scored at least four runs in each of its games dating back to the BIG EAST opener with DePaul March 25, a span of eight games. The Bulldogs were shut out for the first time since March 17 against Toledo.
Following the three-game series with St. John's, the Bulldogs travel to Illinois for a single game Wednesday before returning to BIG EAST play with a three-game series at Creighton April 22-23.
