INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler baseball team will play two mid-week contests over spring break with games lined up against Baldwin Wallace and Saint Joseph's. Tuesday's tilt vs. the Yellow Jackets will start at 3 PM. Wednesday's game will feature an 11 AM first pitch.
Projected Starters
Tuesday – RHP Black Sarjent vs. TBD
Wednesday – RHP
Jon Vore vs. TBD
Scouting Baldwin Wallace
Baldwin Wallace is a Division III school with a 4-3 overall record. JT Mazula is hitting .409 over the first seven games of the season. Dudley Taw and Jacob Bonner are other impact players from the plate. Both Taw and Bonner have two home runs on the year. Taw is the team RBI leader with seven.
Scouting Saint Joseph's
The Hawks are 5-8 overall with quality wins over Ohio State and Coastal Carolina. They most recently lost a three-game series at Florida Gulf Coast with each game coming down to the wire. James McConnon and Nate Thomas are the best bats in the order. McConnon leads the team with a .343 average. Thomas has power with four doubles, a triple and a team-best two home runs for 14 RBI.
Best in the BIG EAST
Butler leads the conference in scoring (5.4), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.51), strikeouts per nine innings (11.1), and walks allowed per nine innings (3.15).
Nick Ortega leads the BIG EAST in on-base percentage (.519) and hit by pitch (4).
Jack Pilcher has a conference-best three saves in 2020 and
Jack Myers is the BIG EAST leader in strikeouts (34), strikeout-to-walk ratio (17.00) and strikeouts per nine innings (12.41).
.300 and Higher
Nick Ortega and
Brody McGrath are each batting over .300 to start the 2020 campaign. Ortega leads the team in runs (10), doubles (4), RBI (10) and total bases (19). He has five multi-hit games and three games with multiple RBI's. McGrath is the overall hit leader with 14. He and Ortega are the only two Bulldogs to start in all 13 games this year.
Myers on the Mound
Jack Myers is 2-2 on the mound this year with a 4.01 ERA. He has a team-best 34 strikeouts this season with just two walks.
Sarjent and Vore
Two right-handers will get starts this week with acting head coach
Ben Norton giving the game ball to
Blake Sarjent and
Jon Vore. Sarjent is 1-0 this year with a 0.00 ERA. He struck out four batters over three innings in his first collegiate start vs. Saint Francis. Vore also has a 0.00 ERA. He has made three appearances out of the bullpen, but will make his first start on Wednesday. Over 5.2 innings, Vore has nine strikeouts and has only walked one batter.
Up Next
Butler's true home opener is set for Friday, March 13. The 'Dawgs have played four games at Grand Park, but plan to host a three-game series at Bulldog Park this weekend against Western Michigan. Start times are set for 4 PM, 2 PM and 1 PM.
