LIVE STATS  |  GAME NOTES
 
Pitching Matchup
RHP Sam Hubbe vs. RHP Nick Floyd
 
Gameday Information                                                                                  
Date: Wednesday, March 14
Time: 4 PM
Location: Indianapolis, Ind. / Bulldog Park
Live Stats: ButlerSports.com
 
INDIANAPOLIS – Butler and Ball State will compete at Bulldog Park on Wednesday afternoon. The in-state rivals will get started at 4 PM.
 
Bulldog Bits
- Dave Schrage (775) and Rich Maloney (770) combine for 1,545 collegiate wins
- BU and BSU have faced off in each of the last four seasons, series is split 2-2
- BU has 14 players on the roster from Indiana, Ball State has 17
- The Bulldogs have scored 105 runs this season while only allowing 46
- BU has outscored their opponent 38-6 in the 5th and 6th innings this year
- Garrett Christman is batting .548 with runners on base, .400 on the year (18-45)
- Michael Hartnagel and James Gargano have reached base in 14-straight games
- Gehrig Parker, Houston, Hartnagel, Gargano and Christman have started every game
- Houston, Gehrig Parker and Hartnagel have hit 2-3-4 in every game this year
- Jack Pilcher recorded his third save of the season vs. Fort Wayne on March 9
- Connor Schultz has only allowed four hits in 11 innings of work this season
- Schultz and Christman were named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
- Schultz and Josh Walker combine for 25 strikeouts out of the pen in 22.2 innings
 
Christman and Schultz Make BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
Garrett Christman hit .400 (4-for-10) in a 2-1 week for the Butler Bulldogs. His stat line included one double, one RBI, two runs and three walks. He had a .530 on-base percentage. In the 8-7 win against Fort Wayne, he went a perfect 3-for-3.
 
Connor Schultz came out of the bullpen to pitch 4.2 innings and shut down Fort Wayne for an eventual 8-7 win for Butler. He allowed no runs in 60 pitches. He struck out four batters and allowed just one hit.
 
Scouting Ball State
Ball State is one game over .500 this year (8-7) with wins over UMass Lowell, Iowa, Radford, Gardner-Webb and most recently Western Carolina. The Cardinals swept the Catamounts in a three game series. Two of the three games were close, but Ball State would erupt with 20 runs in game two to take the 20-8 win in just seven innings. Highlighting the offense this year is right fielder Jeff Riedel. The BSU lead-off man is batting .400 over the first 15 games of the 2018 season. He leads the team with seven doubles and is near the team lead in both RBIs (12) and runs scored (11). Seth Freed and Colin Brockhouse are the home run kings with four each and William Baker is the hit leader with 21.
 
Hubbe vs. Floyd
Sam Hubbe will face Nick Floyd on the diamond this Wednesday afternoon. Hubbe is 1-0 on the year with a 1.98 ERA. He has tossed 13.2 innings of work over three appearances. Floyd is a 6-2 right-hander with a 1-0 record. The junior has one of the best ERAs on the team at 1.93 and has 11 strikeouts in just 14 innings.
 
A Year Ago
Butler defeated Ball State 7-3 last year in Muncie. Gehrig Parker went 1-for-3 in the game with four RBI. His base-clearing triple in the third inning helped Butler score five runs which gave them the 5-0 lead. Ball State scored two in the bottom of three and added one more in the eighth, but it wasn't enough as Butler posted two more runs in the fifth to record the 7-3 win. BU used six pitchers on the mound while BSU settled on just four. Nick Floyd was the first Cardinal out of the bullpen. He allowed two earned runs off two hits in his two innings of action. He also struck out two and walked one.
 
Christman Connects Early
It only took Garrett Christman 14 games to match his RBI total from one year ago. The BU utility man has a team-high 18 RBI this year off 18 hits. He currently posts a .533 slugging percentage and a .446 on-base percentage to go along with his team-best batting average of .400.
 
Napoleon Had a Nice Weekend
Relief pitcher Kevin Napoleon picked up a win and a save over the weekend against Fort Wayne. Napoleon's first win of the year came on March 9 after recording just one out. The lefty was credited with his first save of the year just two days later by recording the final out against the Mastodons in Butler's 8-7 win.
 
Up Next
Butler will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. this weekend to face Western Michigan in a three-game series. Game one is slated for 3 PM on Friday afternoon. Saturday and Sunday will feature 1 PM start times. Butler will play at Dayton on Tuesday, March 20. Their next home game will follow against DePauw on March 21.