INDIANAPOLIS – The final three games of the regular season will be played at Bulldog Park for Butler as the team plays host to UConn in a three-game series beginning on Thursday afternoon. All three contests will stream on FloSports.com. Friday's tilt has been picked up by the BIG EAST Digital Network and Saturday will be Senior Day for eight Bulldogs. Fans are encouraged to arrive early as the player's will be recognized before first pitch at approximately 12:40 PM.
 
Series Schedule
Thursday, May 16 – 3 PM
Friday, May 17 – 3 PM
Saturday, May 18 – 1 PM
 
Scouting UConn
The Huskies are the top team in the BIG EAST standings heading into the final weekend of the regular season. While the team is not ranked, they come in at No. 42 in the latest RPI poll. UConn traveled to Cincinnati on Tuesday to face the Bearcats at 11 AM. They tried to avoid the rain in the forecast but were hit with a delay in the fifth with the Huskies on top 1-0. Cincinnati loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth with no outs, but the umpires pulled the teams off the field due to heavy rain. The teams never returned to the diamond which deemed the matchup to be a no contest.
 
UConn lost their BIG EAST opener to Xavier, but battled back to win the series against the Musketeers 2-1. They stayed at Elliot Ballpark the following weekend to take two of three vs. St. John's. Their first BIG EAST road trip sent the team to Tysons, Va. and the Huskies swept the Hoyas in three, one-run games. UConn swept Nova and then won two of three at Seton Hall. They most recently won two of three vs. Creighton.
 
UConn leads the conference in shutouts, stolen bases, strikeout-to-walk ratio, strikeouts per nine innings, WHIP and walks allowed per nine innings. Garrett Coe is the league leader in games started, complete games and victories. Ian Cooke leads the BIG EAST in hits allowed per nine innings and strikeouts per nine innings. On the back end, Brady Afthim has a BIG EAST-best seven saves.
 
The UConn lineup is highlighted by Korey Morton, Paul Tammaro and Matt Garbowski. Morton is the team's hit leader, Tammaro has scored the most runs of any Husky and Garbowski is one of eight players to have at least 40 hits this season.
 
Last Year at UConn
UConn was the ninth-best team in the country last year when the Bulldogs traveled to Elliot Ballpark. Game one went into 13 innings before the home team could capture a 6-5 victory. Game two was another nail-biter as UConn edged Butler 7-6. The finale would finally go Butler's way as the Bulldogs scored three in the ninth to win 11-8. It was the team's first win over a ranked opponent since May 18, 2018 and gave Butler their highest ranked win in program history.
 
All-Time Series
Butler is 1-8 all-time against the UConn Huskies. The first three meetings came during the 2004 season. All three contests were played at a neutral site. UConn returned to the BIG EAST Conference in 2022 and would sweep Butler at Bulldog Park. Butler's first win over the Huskies came in the final game of the 2023 series.
 
Single-Season Records
Butler set the single-season team home run record at Ball State on May 7 and Carter Dorighi etched his name into the BU record book over the weekend as the program's single-season hits leader! This year's team has hit 60 home runs, breaking the old record of 56 set by the 1998 team. Dorighi came up with 11 hits last week to move his season total to 87! He broke the single-season hit record of 82 which was set by Harrison Freed during the 2019 campaign. Dorighi is in line to set another school record this week. The BU shortstop heads into the final series with 229 at-bats. The single-season record stands at 231, a total set by Tyler Houston in 2018.
 
BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
Joey Urban made the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after an announcement from the league office on Monday afternoon. Urban hit .545 over four games and slugged .864. He had 12 total hits including four doubles and a homer. He had 10 RBIs and 19 total bases to help BU win the weekend series at Villanova.
 
BIG EAST Standings
UConn 14-4, 29-21
St. John's 13-5, 33-13-1
Georgetown 11-6, 32-18
Xavier 11-7, 28-23
Seton Hall 6-12, 23-28
Villanova 6-12, 15-33
Creighton 5-12, 33-16
Butler 5-13, 20-32
 
Bulldog Bits
- Carter Dorighi leads the team, the BIG EAST and ranks fourth in the nation in hits (87)
- Dorighi leads the conference in batting average (.380), runs (54), and total bases (130)
- Dorighi scored 10 runs last week
- Dorighi ranks fourth in the league in doubles with 16
- Dorighi had six hits in a game vs. Morehead State on March 3
- Dorighi had 11 hits last week, batting .478 over his last five starts
- Dorighi has a team-best 27 multi-hit games this year
- Dorighi has reached base safely in 15-straight games
- Kade Lewis ranks second in the BIG EAST in batting average (.371), and hits (72)
- Lewis is on a five-game hitting streak
- Lewis has the fourth-best slugging percentage in the BIG EAST (.613) and ranks fourth in RBIs (49)
- Lewis is tied for the top spot in the BIG EAST with four triples
- Joey Urban is the league leader in sac flies with five
- Urban is batting .370 against BIG EAST opponents this year
- Urban had five RBIs in a single game vs. EIU last week and had five hits at Nova on Sunday
- Jack Moroknek comes in at second in the BIG EAST in total bases (120) and Lewis is third (119)
- Moroknek ranks fifth in the league in hits (65) and is fourth in home runs with 13
- Moroknek was one of five Bulldogs to homer last week
- Moroknek hit three home runs in the same game vs. Eastern Michigan on April 16
- Moroknek had a BIG EAST-best 13 total bases against the Eagles
- Xavier Carter had a hit in every game last week, totaling seven over his last four starts
- Ian Choi had a hit, an RBI and scored a run in his last game
- Evan Parks has four multi-hit games over his last five starts
- Tommy Townsend recorded five RBIs from May 7 to May 12
- Cole Graverson is third in the league in saves with five
- Tyler Banks tossed seven innings at Nova in his last start, limiting the Wildcats to one run off three hits
- Banks threw a season-high 109 pitches over the seven frames
- Gage Vota struck out a season-high five batters at Nova (May 12)
- Butler leads the league in hits (515), total plate appearances (2,169) and at-bats (1,834)
- BU set season-high totals in hits (21) and at-bats (49) on Saturday at Villanova
- Butler is 7-1 this year when holding their opponent to five runs or less
- Butler reached 20 wins over the weekend, marking an eight-game improvement over last year's total
 
Up Next
The top four teams in the conference standings will play a double elimination tournament at Prasco Park beginning on Wednesday, May 22. A champion will be crowned in Mason, Ohio on Saturday, May 25.