INDIANAPOLIS – The Bulldogs will travel to Washington D.C. this weekend to face the Hoyas of Georgetown University. This important matchup will most likely eliminate one team from playoff contention as only the top four teams in the conference standings make up the tournament field.
**Schedule Change**
Friday's contest at Georgetown will be postponed due to rain. Butler and Georgetown will now play a single game on Saturday, followed by a doubleheader on Sunday. Game one of the doubleheader will be seven innings. Game two will be a full nine inning contest.
Probable Starters
Saturday at Georgetown: RHP
Ryan Pepiot vs. RHP Simon Mathews
Sunday at Georgetown: RHP
Garrett Christman vs. RHP Jack Cushing
Sunday at Georgetown: TBA vs. RHP Kevin Superko
BIG EAST Standings
1) Creighton 10-3, 22-19
2) Xavier 7-3, 25-22
3) St. John's 8-4, 34-8
4) Seton Hall 7-8, 25-20
5) Butler 4-8, 28-17
6) Villanova 4-8, 13-27
7) Georgetown 3-9, 25-22
About Butler (28-17, 4-8)
The Bulldogs have won five of their last six games to improve their overall record to 28-17, a win total that doubles the amount of victories they earned one year ago.
Butler will look to carry momentum into the weekend after notching a 4-2 win at Purdue on Wednesday night.
Michael Hartnagel and
Gehrig Parker each hit home runs against the Boilermakers to help lift the team to victory. Hartnagel recorded three RBIs on Wednesday to raise his season total to 24. He continues to lead the team with a .345 batting average that includes a team-high 14 doubles. Parker went 2-for-3 from the plate Wednesday with one RBI and two runs scored. He is now batting .307 on the year with 29 RBI.
On the mound, Butler will look to
Ryan Pepiot and
Garrett Christman, a pair of right-handers coming off brilliant starts against Villanova. Pepiot notched his fourth win of the season on May 6 with Butler claiming a 4-1 win at home over the Wildcats. The freshman tossed eight full innings and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Pepiot now has 69 total strikeouts in 2017 to go along with a 3.65 ERA.
Christman was able to keep the train rolling against Villanova on Saturday by throwing 8.1 innings of action to help BU claim the 2-1 win. His nine strikeout performance included just three hits and no walks. He left the game with no decision, but was able to lower his ERA to 3.43.
Scouting Georgetown (26-22, 3-9)
The Hoyas added another tally to the win column on Wednesday night by knocking off Maryland Eastern Shore 8-5. Third baseman Ryan Weisenberg put a charge in the offense with a team-high four RBI.
Weisenberg hit his fourth home run of the season during his first at-bat and would add to his RBI total in the fourth and seventh with sacrifice flies. He now has 22 RBI on the season to go along with his .284 batting average.
Offensively, Georgetown is led by a trio of players that have started in all 48 games this season. Jake Kuzbel, Michael DeRenzi and Zach Racusin hold the three highest batting averages on the team and are near the team lead in most offensive categories. DeRenzi and Kuzbel bat 2-3 in the order and share the team RBI lead with 41 each. DeRenzi has some series speed that has allowed him to score a team-high 42 runs and steal a team-high 12 bases.
The Hoyas are four games above .500 entering the final stages of the 2017 season. Common opponents between BU and Georgetown include Dayton, Chicago State, and Ball State. They lost 8-7 to the Flyers, but shut out both Chicago State (11-0) and Ball State (3-0) on a neutral field.
A snap shot of the Georgetown conference schedule includes three losses to Creighton and three losses at Seton Hall. They took two of three at Villanova, but most recently went 1-2 against the Red Storm with game three going into extras.
Head Coach Pete Wilk will use three right-handers on the mound this weekend. Simon Mathews, Jack Cushing and Kevin Superko make up the probable starters. Mathews will take the hill on Friday with his 4-7 record that includes a 4.83 ERA. He has a team-high 74 strikeouts over 12 starts, yet the opposition is batting .304 against him this season.
Cushing is just two strikeouts shy of tying Mathews for the team lead. A starter in 12 games, Cushing is 5-5 on the year with a 4.89 ERA. The third member of the trio is Superko, a Sunday arm that doesn't have the strikeout numbers like Mathews and Cushing, but does have the highest win total on the staff. Superko is 6-2 this year with a 3.89 ERA. The opposition is batting .261 against him this season.
The Hoyas have options in the bullpen for the later stages of the game. Jimmy Swad (Jr. / RHP) has six saves in 22 appearances for Georgetown and Noah Abdalla (Fr. / RHP) should be available with his five saves. The man with the most appearances out of the pen is right-handed freshman Nick Morreale (26).
Last Year vs. Georgetown
Butler went 2-1 against Georgetown last year to win the weekend series at Bulldog Park. Game one went 13 innings before deciding a winner. Butler took the opener 3-2 in extra's, but would fall 3-1 on Saturday. The Sunday matinee was a lopsided 12-6 win for the 'Dawgs.
Oh, What a Night
Butler won in style at Purdue on Wednesday night by recording the seventh no-hitter in program history.
Sam Hubbe (3.0),
Quentin Miller (2.0),
Luke Johnson (1.2),
Jack Pilcher (0.1), and
Ottavio Dattolo (2.0) were each part of the no-hitter. Butler's last no-hitter came on April 10, 2004 with Craig Costello on the mound against Milwaukee.
He Gone
Butler set a new school record on Wednesday night at Purdue for most strikeouts recorded in a single-season. Five different arms touched the rubber against the Boilermakers to combine for six strikeouts. That number pushes their season total to 378, breaking the old record of 377 set by the 2001 team. The 2001 Bulldogs were led by current Philadelphia Phillies reliever Pat Neshek who had 118 strikeouts that season.
Perfect Against In-State Rivals
Butler went undefeated (7-0) against in-state rivals this year by posting wins over Fort Wayne (3x), DePauw, Ball State, Indiana and most recently Purdue. The 'Dawgs haven't defeated both Indiana and Purdue in the same season since 1995.
All Right vs Righties
All three weekend arms for the Hoyas are right-handed and that's good news for
Michael Hartnagel. The team's overall hit leader is batting .386 against right-handers this year and just .259 against lefties. 44 of his 58 hits are against righties.
Race to 30
The Bulldogs have 28 victories heading into the weekend series at Georgetown. With six games left in the regular season, BU will aim for at least two more wins to reach the 30-win plateau. Only four teams in Butler baseball history have reached 30 wins. The first was the 1998 team that went 33-21 on their way to winning both the MCC regular season and the conference tournament. The 2000 Bulldogs went 31-28 and were tournament champs. Other teams to hit 30 wins include the 2002 and 2003 squads.
Fundamentals in the Field
Butler currently holds a .972 fielding percentage, the second-best mark in the conference behind Xavier's .979. If the team can stay mistake free over the final six games of the season they can break the old BU school record of .970 set by the 2015 team.
Washington D.C. Forecast
The weekend forecast for Washington D.C. isn't promising for baseball. Temps drop to the mid-50's and rain is expected for two of the three days. Friday calls for a 90 percent chance of rain and that number just to 100 percent on Saturday. Skies clear up on Sunday with temps climbing to 70 degrees and just a 10 percent chance of rain.
Hitting Streaks
Jordan Lucio went 0-2 at Purdue with a walk to end his team-best nine-game hitting streak. The walk moves his reached base streak to 10-straight games, but the longest hitting streak on the team now belongs to
Michael Hartnagel and
Zach Jarosz who are currently tied at three. Hartnagel still holds the longest streak of the year. He went on a 19-game hitting streak from March 19 to April 19.
Team National Rankings
Stat, Ranking (Value)
Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings, 11th (7.44)
Earned Run Average, 25th (3.46)
WHIP, 32nd (1.29)
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 59th (8.5)
Individual National Rankings
Player; Stat, Ranking (Value)
Chris Myjak; Saves, 49th (8)**
Ryan Pepiot; Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 46th (10.96)
Jeff Schank; Earned Run Average, 36th (2.01)
Jeff Schank; Strikeouts, 94th (74)
Tyler Houston; Stolen Bases, 74th (16)
Connor Mitchell; Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings, 50th (6.41)
** - Leads BIG EAST Conference
Up Next
Butler will host Creighton to wrap up the 2017 regular season. Game one will be pushed up to Thursday, May 18 with the finale set for Saturday, May 20. The Bulldogs will try to climb into the top four of the BIG EAST standings to earn a trip to the upcoming conference tournament. The 2017 BIG EAST Championship will take place May 25-28 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
