INDIANAPOLIS – The Bulldogs are busy this week with midweek games lined up against Mid-American Conference opponents. BU hosted Northwestern for single games on Sunday and Monday and added a game against Eastern Michigan for Tuesday afternoon. The 'Dawgs will play at Ball State Wednesday before traveling to Cincinnati for a weekend series.
Midweek Schedule
Tuesday, March 21 vs. Eastern Michigan – 4 PM
Wednesday, March 22 at Ball State – 3 PM
Scouting Eastern Michigan
The Eagles are 10-6 overall with a 4-2 record in the Mid-American Conference. Head Coach Eric Roof guided EMU to weekend wins over Akron and Western Michigan to start league play. Josh Kross, Cory Taylor and Matt Kirk have the highest batting averages on the team. Kross has 22 hits including five doubles and three home runs. He leads the club with 20 RBI and a .355 batting average. Taylor is a .346 hitter with four doubles, one triple and four home runs. He is a threat on the base path as well with six steals in seven attempts. Kirk is another Eagle with four home runs early in the season. A starter in all 16 games, Kirk is batting .323 with eight doubles and 16 RBI.
Eastern Michigan hits .278 as a team and they have been good on the mound with a 5.57 ERA. Luke Russo is the EMU ace. He is 3-0 on the year with a team-high 22 innings pitched. He has 29 strikeouts this season and has only allowed 18 hits. Russo is also the team leader with two saves. Eastern Michigan ranks second in the MAC in double plays (14) and fielding percentage (.979).
Scouting Ball State
The Cardinals have won four-in-a-row and are now 13-6 on the season with a 5-1 mark in conference action. BSU recently swept Toledo at Ball Diamond. They opened MAC play taking two of three from Western Michigan at home. Head Coach Rich Maloney is the winningest coach in program history. He has guided Ball State to 576 wins over 17 seasons. The Bulldogs will face a dangerous Ball State club on Wednesday. The Cardinals currently rank second in the MAC in batting average (.294), hits (184), on-base percentage (.403), slugging percentage (.502), and runs (149).
Graduate student Ryan Peltier leads the conference with a .429 batting average. He has seven doubles, a triple and six home runs this season to generate 20 RBI. Peltier leads the MAC in hits, runs and total bases. On the mound, BSU has a team ERA of 5.99. Trennor O'Donnell is 2-0 this year with a 1.95 ERA. He is one of two arms with 30+ strikeouts, joining Ryan Brown. Two Cardinals have saves this season for Ball State. Maloney could go to Logan Schulfer or Casey Bargo with the game on the line.
Butler vs. the Mid-American Conference
The Bulldogs hosted a three-game series vs. Eastern Michigan last year. EMU won game one and three to win the weekend series. Butler notched a 4-3 win in game two. In 2021, Butler played a three-game series vs. Ball State. BU hosted game one and then played games two and three in Muncie. The Cardinals won all three matchups.
BIG EAST Rankings
The Bulldogs ranks second in the BIG EAST Conference in double plays and sacrifice bunts. BU also leads the league in triples with seven.
Streaks
Carter Dorighi has the longest hitting streak on the team at four games. Dorighi hit second in the lineup yesterday in the win over Northwestern and went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Up Next
Butler will play a three-game series at Cincinnati this weekend. The all three games will stream on ESPN+. The opener will start at 5 PM on Friday.
