INDIANAPOLIS – It all comes down to this. Butler will host Creighton in a three-game series at Bulldog Park for a chance to jump into the top four of the conference standings and earn a trip to the 2017 BIG EAST Baseball Championship Tournament. Thursday and Friday will feature 4 PM start times, but Saturday's contest has been pushed up to 12:30 PM.
 
Probable Starters
Thursday: RHP Ryan Pepiot vs. RHP Rollie Lacy
Friday: RHP Garrett Christman vs. LHP Jeff Albrecht
Saturday: RHP Sam Hubbe vs. RHP Keith Rogalla
 
BIG EAST Standings
1) Creighton 10-3, 22-22
2) St. John's 11-4, 37-8
3) Seton Hall 10-8, 28-21
4) Xavier 7-6, 26-25
5) Butler 6-9, 30-19
6) Georgetown 4-11, 27-24
7) Villanova 4-11, 13-30
 
About Butler (30-19, 6-9 BIG EAST)
The Bulldogs took a lopsided loss to Eastern Illinois on Wednesday afternoon to move their overall record to 30-19. BU will look to get back on track this Thursday when they host Creighton for game one of a three game home series at Bulldog Park.
 
The probable starters on the mound for Butler include Ryan Pepiot, Garrett Christman and Sam Hubbe. Pepiot will take the game ball on Thursday with his 4-3 overall record. He only lasted three innings in his last start at Georgetown, but was fantastic in his last home start vs. Villanova. Against the Wildcats, Pepiot struck out a season-high 11 batters. He has 73 strikeouts on the season, just one shy of the team lead.
 
Christman has found his groove on the mound for Butler over his last three starts. The right-hander has pitched seven innings or more in his last three outings and has limited the opposition to just eight combined hits while striking out 25. He is now 2-2 on the year with a 2.91 ERA. Friday will go down as his seventh start of the season.
 
The last arm to be used by Butler will be Hubbe, a 6-2 sophomore with a 2-0 record. Hubbe was fantastic for Butler at Georgetown and will look to build off that momentum on Saturday, a game that will signal his sixth start of the year.

Hubbe tossed eight full innings in his last outing helping BU win the weekend series against the Hoyas. Hubbe doesn't overpower guys with strikeout pitches, but his ERA has dropped to 3.16. He hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in a single game all year (25.2 innings).
 
Offensively the Bulldogs are batting .257 as a team. Michael Hartnagel holds the highest average at .337 and Jordan Lucio isn't too far behind at .319. Hartnagel leads the conference with 16 doubles this season. He also has two triples and two home runs for 28 RBI. Lucio has 26 RBI during his senior campaign, an impressive total when you take into consideration that he only has five extra base hits.
 
Power at the plate is provided by Tyler Houston and Gehrig Parker. Houston has a team-high 11 home runs to go along with 13 doubles. Parker is tied for second on the team along with Houston with 13 doubles. The left-hander is up to 31 RBI with four home runs and three triples. Houston remains the team's RBI leader with 35.
 
Scouting Creighton (22-22, 10-3)
The Bluejays opened the 2017 season by losing 11 of their first 12 games, but they have climbed all the way back to .500 on the year with a 22-22 overall record. Their 10-3 conference record is the best in the BIG EAST and puts them on top of the standings with just three games to go.
 
Butler will face Rollie Lacy, Jeff Albrecht and Keith Rogalla on the mound over the next three days. Lacy is 3-2 with a 2.91 ERA. The strikeout king on the staff, Lacy has 74 K's in 74.1 innings pitched. Albrecht is another great option for Creighton as a weekend starter. The lefty has a team-high five wins to go along with four losses. He has 60 strikeouts in 71 innings of work, and has limited the opposition to a .231 BA. Rogalla is yet another experienced arm in the CU rotation. The junior is 2-4 on the season with a 4.03 ERA.
 
At the plate, Creighton hits .261 as a team. The balanced lineup has seven everyday starters hitting .251 or higher. Michael Emodi has the best numbers of the group with a .283 average that includes 12 doubles and seven home runs for a team-high 36 RBI. Emodi is one of four players to record 10 doubles or more this year for Creighton.
 
Last Year vs. Creighton
Creighton swept Butler last year although all three games combined were separated by just four runs. The opener went to the home team who pulled out a 2-1 win with Rollie Lacy on the hill. Game two was a two-run difference as Creighton held off a late BU charge to claim a 6-4 win. The finale was another entertaining matchup that included Creighton scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extras. BU went quietly in the top of 10 and the Bluejays would walk away winners, 4-3.
 
Tournament Talk
With one weekend series left in league action, three of the four tournament tickets to Omaha have been punched as Creighton, St. John's and Seton Hall return to the BIG EAST Baseball Championship Presented by Jeep for the fourth-straight year.  Current standings have Creighton in first place currently with a 10-3 record and a 0.769 winning percentage. St. John's is in second at 11-4 (.733) and Seton Hall in third at 10-8 (.556). Seton Hall is finished with their conference play. The tournament field is decided by league winning percentage.
 
Vying for the final spot in the tournament field are Xavier, who will go into the final weekend of play with a 7-6 record (.538) and Butler at 6-9 (.400). The 2017 BIG EAST baseball tournament returns to TD Ameritrade Park Omaha this year and will take place May 25-28. Tickets are available for purchase now online. The final weekend of league action starts on Thursday. St. John's hosts Villanova; Xavier hosts Georgetown and Butler hosts Creighton.
 
What Needs to Happen
Butler needs to have a better winning percentage than Xavier to earn the No. 4 seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Baseball Championship Tournament. In order for that to happen, Butler will need to go 3-0 against Creighton and Georgetown will need to sweep Xavier. If Butler goes undefeated against the Bluejays and Xavier goes 1-2 at Georgetown the tie-breaker will still belong to the Musketeers due to the head-to-head matchup with BU earlier in the season. If Xavier is swept by Georgetown, Butler could still get in with two wins over Creighton.
 
BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
Sam Hubbe, Butler, So., RHP/Starter (St. Charles, Ill.)
Went 2-0 last week in two starts at Purdue and Georgetown. He was the starter in Butler's no-hit victory over Purdue on Wednesday (4-2). He threw game three of the weekend series at Georgetown, the series' clincher. He tossed eight innings, limited the Hoyas to just one earned run off five hits. For the week, he posted a 1.64 ERA over 11 innings.
 
Tyler Houston, Butler, Jr., OF (Brownsburg, Ind.)
Batted .455 in a big BIG EAST series at Georgetown this weekend with five hits, 4 RBI and five runs. In the series clincher on Sunday, Houston went 1-for-4 with two runs and a homer in a 7-1 win.
 
Big Wins in the BIG EAST
Butler is 6-9 this year vs. conference opponents with wins over Seton Hall (2x), Villanova (2x) and Georgetown (2x). Two wins against Creighton would tie Butler's best win total against conference foes since joining the BIG EAST. The 2015 team went 8-10 against conference peers and the 2014 team was one game away at 7-11.
 
Oh, What a Night
Butler won in style at Purdue on May 10 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 for most strikeouts recorded in a single-season. The 2017 team broke the record at Purdue on May 10 and added to their overall total on Wednesday vs. Eastern Illinois. Butler pitchers have combined for 390 strikeouts over the course of the year. That is 13 more strikeouts than the old record set by the 2001 team. The 2001 Bulldogs were led by current Philadelphia Phillies reliever Pat Neshek who had 118 strikeouts that season, a BU school record.
 
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.
 
Race to 30
Butler's doubleheader sweep over Georgetown on May 14 pushed their overall win total to 30 games. This group will go down in history as the fifth team in program history to reach 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. Each club posted 34 wins tying the school record for most wins reached in a single-season.
 
Fundamentals in the Field
Butler currently holds a .973 fielding percentage, the second-best mark in the conference behind Xavier's .977. If the team can stay mistake free over the final three games of the season they can break the old BU school record of .970 set by the 2015 team.
 
Indianapolis Forecast
Thursday's forecast calls for a high of 83 degrees with just a 20 percent chance of rain. Unfortunately, that percentage jumps to 50% for Friday and 60% for Saturday with each day slated for afternoon thunderstorms. Temps will dip to the mid-70's on Friday, but will go up over 80 again on Saturday.
 
Hitting Streaks
Michael Hartnagel is at it again. The BU shortstop has a hit in seven-straight games and has moved his reached base streak to 10. Hartnagel went on a 19-game hitting streak from March 19 to April 19, the longest streak of any Butler player this season.
 
Team National Rankings
Stat, Ranking (Value)
Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings, 14th (7.66)
Shutouts, 28th (5)
WHIP, 47th (1.32)
Earned Run Average, 50th (3.78)
Fielding Percentage, 90th (.973)
Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 92nd (8.1)
 
Individual National Rankings
Player; Stat, Ranking (Value)
Ryan Pepiot; Strikeouts Per Nine Innings, 36th (11.01)
Tyler Houston; Stolen Bases, 51st (18)
Chris Myjak; Saves, 57th (8)**
Michael Hartnagel; Doubles, 102nd (16)**
Tyler Houston; Home Runs, 108th (11)
** - Leads BIG EAST Conference
 
Up Next
The 2017 BIG EAST Baseball Championship will take place May 25-28 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.