INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler baseball team will face Purdue Fort Wayne on Tuesday at Mastodon Field. The 3 PM contest will steam live on the PFW YouTube channel.
About Butler
The Bulldogs are now 21-20 overall with a 3-8 record against conference opponents. BU leads the BIG EAST in base on balls (227), hit by pitch (60), runs (262), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.28). Individual efforts from
Harrison Freed and
Ryan Pepiot have impact at the national level. Freed ranks fifth in the NCAA in RBI (57) and 21st in home runs with 14. Pepiot ranks sixth in the NCAA in strikeouts (103) and third in strikeouts per nine innings (14.79). The junior right-hander is now the all-time leader at Butler with 283 career strikeouts. He broke the record this past weekend at Seton Hall.
Last Week
Butler went 3-2 last week with wins over Northern Kentucky, IU Kokomo and Seton Hall. Each mid-week home game went down as a victory with
Joe Graziano and
Jack Pilcher picking up wins on the mound. BU dropped two of three at Seton Hall over the weekend. The lone win went to
Jack Myers in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
Connor Christman was impressive at the plate with his .600 BA. Christman made four starts, recorded nine hits in just 15 at-bats and produced four RBI.
Harrison Freed hit .375 with a double and a home run for a team-high seven RBI.
Robbie McCargar was also a top performer for BU with a .300 BA and four RBI.
Smith Sets School Record
Kyle Smith was hit by a pitch four times last week to move his season total to 19. Smith now leads the BIG EAST and ranks sixth in the NCAA in that category. Smith now owns the Butler baseball single-season record for most times being hit by a pitch. The old record was held by Austin Miller who was struck by a pitch 17 times in 2015.
Senior Day
Senior Day will land on Saturday, May 4 this year when Butler hosts Villanova.
Connor Dall,
Quentin Miller,
Sam Russo,
Zach Parker,
Sam Hubbe and
Kyle Smith will all be recognized prior to first pitch.
2019 BIG EAST Standings
Xavier 9-1, 19-23
Creighton 5-3, 24-10
Georgetown 5-4, 16-27
Seton Hall 4-5, 18-22
St. John's 5-7, 23-17
Villanova 3-6, 11-29
Butler 3-8, 21-20
Scouting the Mastodons
Purdue Fort Wayne won their first four games of the 2019 season, but now rest at 5-36 overall. Losers of 15-straight, the Mastodons are winless in the Summit League (0-21) and have not been able to find the win column since April 3 vs. Goshen (11-9). The probable starter for PFW is senior Shane Odzark. The right-hander is 0-7 on the hill this season with a 13.50 ERA. His longest outing of seven innings came on March 17 at Oral Roberts. Odzark struck out a season-high eight batters that day, but the Mastodons would fall 7-5. Odzark threw 3.2 innings vs. Butler earlier this season on March 10. He allowed four earned runs off three hits. He walked four batters and struck out two.
Round 4 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Butler traveled to Northern Kentucky in the early stages of March to face Purdue Fort Wayne at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex. The 'Dawgs swept the Mastodons 7-1 (6 innings), 18-3 and 16-0 (8 innings).
Ryan Pepiot,
Connor Schultz and
Sam Hubbe were all credited with wins on the mound. Pepiot and Hubbe each struck out 10 batters. Schultz didn't allow a single run while registering seven K's. The offense was led by
Duncan Hewitt who hit .833 vs. Purdue Fort Wayne.
Harrison Freed,
Brody McGrath and
Connor Dall all held .500 BA.
Kyle Smith was next in line with a .400 BA to go along with two home runs.
Up Next
Butler will host Villanova this weekend in a three-game BIG EAST series. The 'Dawgs will open with a 4 PM contest vs. the Wildcats on Friday, May, 3. Saturday's tilt will begin at 2 PM. Sunday's getaway game is a 1 PM start.
