Live Stats at Butler | Live Stats at Illinois State
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GAME NOTES
INDIANAPOLIS – Butler and Illinois State will play a two-game series this weekend with each program hosting one game. Butler will host on Saturday with the contest streaming in Facebook Live. Sunday's tilt at Illinois State can be viewed on ESPN 3.
Bulldog Bits
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Zach Jarosz delivered a walk-off single to help BU defeat Miami in 11 innings
- Butler is 3-0 in extra-inning games this season
- Butler's last win over Illinois State came in 2015; 5-4 victory in 10 innings
- Illinois State defeated Butler 9-2 in the last meeting (3/12/16)
- Split series; Butler is 7-5 at home and 9-4 on the road this season
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Garrett Christman is hitting .356 on the road and .268 at home
- Christman has reached base safely in 26-straight games
- BU is 6-0 on the road during the month of April
- BU hasn't lost to a non-conference opponent since March 31 at #11 Indiana
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Connor Mitchell has struck out 19 batters over his last three starts
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Jack Pilcher recorded three of his team-high six saves in April
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Michael Hartnagel has missed the last two games with an injury (hand)
BIG EAST Standings
St. John's 9-0, 26-10
Seton Hall 5-1, 17-15-1
Butler 4-4, 26-11
Creighton 3-5, 24-11
Xavier 3-6, 14-27
Georgetown 2-4, 14-23
Villanova 0-6, 6-26
Scouting Illinois State
Illinois State is 14-23 overall after dropping their last six games of the season. Owen Miller and John Rave are the top two bats in the lineup. Miller is a 6-0 shortstop batting .362 during his junior season. He has 11 doubles and three home runs on the year to help generate 21 RBI. Rave has power with 12 doubles, two doubles and six home runs for a team-high 35 RBI. The Redbirds use the long ball to score runs. They have 34 homers on the year compared to just nine for BU. They are also sound defensively with a .980 fielding percentage.
Midweek Marathons
Butler played two extra-inning games this week in back-to-back days. The 10-inning win at IU-Kokomo lasted three hours and forty-five minutes. The 11-inning win at home over Miami Ohio lasted three hours and forty-seven minutes. The longest game of the season was played at Fort Wayne on April 10. BU picked up a 9-5 win in three hours and fifty-four minutes of action.
Hartnagel Update
Senior shortstop
Michael Hartnagel missed each midweek game for Butler with a hand injury. He is listed as day-to-day and is questionable for the weekend series.
Weekend Warriors
Butler is 6-3 on Friday's, 6-5 on Saturday's and 6-3 on Sunday's.
BIG EAST Rankings
Tyler Houston leads the BIG EAST conference with 56 hits. He ranks second in total bases (87), second in doubles (13) fourth in runs scored (35), and fifth in both batting average (.346) and slugging percentage (.537).
Garrett Christman ranks third in the league with 36 RBIs. He also ranks fifth in on-base percentage (.422). On the mound,
Connor Mitchell ranks fourth in strikeouts with 63.
What's Left?
Butler is at the halfway point of their conference schedule. They split a two-game series with Creighton, swept Villanova and then were swept by Seton Hall. Their upcoming home weekend series against Xavier will kick-off the month of May. BU will host Georgetown the following weekend and end the year at St. John's.
Up Next
Butler will host Indiana State at Victory Field on Tuesday, May 1. The game features a 6PM start time. The pivotal weekend series against Xavier will follow from May 4-6.
