Midweek Matchups (EST)
4/18: Eastern Illinois at Butler – 4 PM
4/19: Butler at Indiana – 6 PM
 
Projected Starters
Tuesday: RHP Danny Pobereyko vs. RHP Alex Cain
Wednesday: RHP Sam Hubbe vs. LHP Cam Beauchamp
 
INDIANAPOLIS – Butler will play two midweek games before traveling to Ohio this weekend to face the Xavier Musketeers. The 'Dawgs will host Eastern Illinois on Tuesday at 4 PM. The following day they will bat first at Indiana.
 
About Butler
The Bulldogs are coming off a tough weekend series that featured #22 St. John's winning all three games at Bulldog Park. The first game went 10 innings, game two included a one-hour and forty-minute lightning delay that eliminated each starter and Sunday's contest would also take extra innings to decide a winner. In the end, Butler moved to 22-12 on the year with a 2-4 record against conference foes. The lone home game this week will feature Butler hosting Eastern Illinois. Wednesday BU will play at IU and Sunday the gang will return to BIG EAST action with a three-game series at Xavier.
 
Redshirt Junior Michael Hartnagel continues to lead the team with his .411 batting average. Gehrig Parker and Jordan Lucio are next in line with averages just under .300. Hartnagel is running away with the team lead in total hits. He has 51 heading into Tuesday with the school record still sitting at 81. Dale Mueller set the BU record for hits recorded in a single-season during the 2003 season.
 
Hartnagel leads the team with 12 doubles and 31 runs scored. He is third on the team with 20 RBI and one of only two players to start in all 34 games this season. Parker is one double away from tying Hartnagel for a share of the team lead. His team-high three triples on the season have helped him rise to second on the team with 22 RBI.
 
Head Coach Dave Schrage will throw Danny Pobereyko at home against Eastern Illinois and send Sam Hubbe to the mound on Wednesday at Indiana. Pobereyko is 2-0 on the year with a 1.54 ERA. Tuesday will mark his first start of the season, but will go down as his 10th appearance. Sam Hubbe will be your Butler starter on Wednesday. Hubbe will make his second start and sixth appearance of the season at IU. He has only tossed six innings this year.
 
Scouting Eastern Illinois
The Panthers are 8-27 overall with a 4-11 record in the Ohio Valley Conference. They lost their first six games of the year, but snapped that streak with a 4-2 victory at Central Arkansas. Additional wins came against Jacksonville State, Murray State, Robert Morris Chicago, Southern Illinois, SE Missouri State, Illinois Springfield, and most recently Belmont.
 
Eastern Illinois holds a .242 team batting average and a 7.99 team ERA. The Bulldogs may need to pitch around junior Matt Albert. The right-hander has a .278 BA with six doubles and a team-high 12 home runs. Albert holds a .661 slugging percentage and is leading the team with 37 RBI. Joseph Duncan and Dougie Parks are two other student-athletes to keep an eye on. Duncan leads the team in hits with 41 while Parks is second on the club with 30 RBI.

Right-handed pitcher Alex Cain will get the start at Butler. Cain will make his third start of the year on Tuesday in a game that will go down as his 12th total appearance. Cain has 12 strikeouts in just 22 innings of work. The opposition is batting .287 against him this season.
 
Scouting Indiana
The Hoosiers are 19-14-2 this year with a 6-5-1 record against Big Ten opponents. They are 7-5-1 at home after taking two of three from Minnesota over the weekend. IU lost the opener 11-0, but came back for a 13-12 win on Saturday and a 4-0 victory on Easter Sunday.
 
As a team, IU is batting .264 in 2017 while holding onto a 4.51 team ERA. The Hoosier hit leader is Luke Miller. A starter in 31 of 35 games this year, Miller has 40 hits including seven doubles and six home runs. He is fourth on the team with 22 RBI.
 
Craig Dedelow and Matt Lloyd are the home run kings in the batting order. Dedelow has nine on the year while Lloyd is close behind with eight. Lloyd leads the team with 26 RBI and a .611 slugging percentage.

Cam Beauchamp will make his second start of the season on Wednesday evening. The left-hander is 1-1 on the year with a 2.63 ERA. Beauchamp has tossed 13.2 innings of ball and has 10 strikeouts.
 
Midweek Forecast
The weather for Tuesday is nearly perfect for baseball with temps reaching the upper 70's. There is no chance of rain although clouds will be moving around with 11 mph winds blowing southeast. Bloomington's forecast on Wednesday is not so promising with scattered thunderstorms expected to hit. There is a 50 percent chance of rain, but the temps will stay high nearing 80 degrees.
 
Lucio Locked In
Jordan Lucio has six hits and six RBI over his last four games. He went 1-for-3 at Fort Wayne with two RBI, two runs scored and two walks in the win over the Mastodons. Against St. John's, Lucio went 2-for-4 with an RBI in each of the first two games. He ended the series 1-for-6 with two RBI.
 
Hitting Streaks
Michael Hartnagel extended his hitting streak to 17 games by picking up a hit in each game vs. St. John's. His current hitting streak began on March 19 at home against Saint Louis. The longest hitting streak of Hartnagel's collegiate career came one year ago when he posted a 20-game hit streak, a total just four shy of the school record.
 
Reached Base Steak
Michael Hartnagel has reached base in 22-straight contests. He recorded at least one hit in 21 of those 22 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
Tyler Houston placed his name in the Butler record book after an outstanding performance at Ohio 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.
 
Team National Rankings
Stat, Ranking (Value)
Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings, 17th (7.56)
Earned Run Average, 16th (3.08)
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 82nd (8.3)
WHIP, 48th (1.30)
 
Individual National Rankings
Player; Stat, Ranking (Value)
Chris Myjak; Saves, 27th (7)**
Ryan Pepiot; Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 54th (11.00)
Jeff Schank; Earned Run Average, 18th (1.31)
Jeff Schank; Strikeouts, 28th (69)
Jeff Schank; WHIP, 66th (1.02)
Tyler Houston; Stolen Bases, 30th (15)
Michael Hartnagel; Batting Average, 9th (.411)**
Michael Hartnagel: Doubles, 85 (12)**
Michael Hartnagel: Hits, 69th (51)
Michael Hartnagel: On-Base Percentage, 30th (.483)
** - Leads BIG EAST Conference
 
Up Next
Butler will play a three-game series at Xavier this weekend. Action unfolds with a 3 PM first pitch on Friday, April 21.