INDIANAPOLIS – Butler and Villanova will go head-to-head this weekend in BIG EAST play. The final three home games at Villanova Ballpark in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. will all stream on FloSports.com. Senior Day for the Wildcats will be on Sunday.
 
Weekend Schedule
Friday, May 10 – 3 PM
Saturday, May 11 – 1 PM
Sunday, May 12 – 12 PM
 
Probable Pitching Matchups
RHP Tyler Banks vs. RHP Luke McCoullough
RHP Nate Rosser vs. RHP Devin Rivera
LHP Ben Whiteside vs. RHP Jake Francis
 
Scouting Villanova
The Wildcats are 15-29 overall with a 5-10 record against BIG EAST opponents. Nova stepped away from conference competition last weekend to host Iona for a three-game series. They lost the opener 10-7, but evened the series with a 9-8 win on Saturday. Sunday's tilt was washed out due to rain. With no midweek games on the schedule, the 'Cats have had a week of rest to prep for the 'Dawgs.
 
Conference action opened with Villanova playing at Georgetown. The Hoyas swept the series at Cooper Field and the Johnnies came into town the following weekend to hand Nova another sweep. The best weekend of the year for the 'Cats came in South Orange. They swept the Pirates 3-1, 9-2, and 3-0. Momentum stayed with Villanova the next weekend allowing the Wildcats to take two of three vs. Creighton. Most recently, Nova was swept by UConn.
 
Scott Shaw, Jason Neff, and Jack O'Reilly are the top three players in the Nova lineup. Shaw has the best batting average on the team (.284), Neff is the team leader in RBIs (37) and O'Reilly ranks third in the BIG EAST in doubles (16).
 
On the mound, Nova is expected to start McCollough, Rivera, and Francis. McCollough has the best numbers of the trio with a 4-4 record that includes a 6.23 ERA and 41 strikeouts. Rivera will make his 12th start this weekend, the most of any Wildcat, and Francis will wrap up the weekend by making his eighth start. All three pitchers are right-handed.
 
All-Time Series vs. the Wildcats
Butler is 15-12 against Villanova since joining the BIG EAST Conference in 2014. The Wildcats swept the Bulldogs for the first time last year at Bulldog Park. Butler's lone sweep of Villanova came in 2018 in Plymouth. Overall, Butler has won the weekend series in 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, and 2014. Of the four series played in Pennsylvania, Butler has won two and is 7-5 against their conference rival.
 
Home Run Record
Butler hit three home runs at Ball State on Tuesday to push their season total to 57. Tommy Townsend homered in the first inning and Jack Moroknek would help BU tie the single-season record with a solo shot in the sixth. The 1998 team held the record with 56 home runs, but No. 57 for the 2024 club would leave the park in the seventh as Evan Parks pushed a ball over the wall in left to set the school record.
 
Carter Chasing History
Carter Dorighi had four hits against Eastern Illinois on Wednesday to move his season total to 80. Dorighi is now two hits shy of tying the single-season hit record and three away from setting the school record. Back in 2019, Harrison Freed came up with 82 hits.
 
BIG EAST Standings
UConn 12-3, 27-20
St. John's 11-4, 31-12-1
Georgetown 10-4, 30-16
Xavier 9-6, 26-22
Seton Hall 5-10, 22-26
Villanova 5-10, 14-30
Creighton 4-10, 31-14
Butler 3-12, 18-31
 
Bulldog Bits
- Carter Dorighi ranks fifth in the nation in hits (80)
- Dorighi trails the national leader (Joshua Kuroda-Grauer / Rutgers) by five
- Dorighi has a team-high 25 multi-hit games this year
- Dorighi has led off for Butler in 41 of their 49 games
- Dorighi leads BU with 215 at-bats this season. The school record stands at 231 (Tyler Houston – 2018)
- Kade Lewis ranks second in the league in hits (68), and Jack Moroknek comes in at third (64)
- Butler and Georgetown are tied for the conference lead in total hits with 474 each
- Lewis leads the BIG EAST in slugging percentage (.639) and triples (4)
- Lewis leads the team with 13 multi-RBI games
- Lewis and Dorighi rank second and third in the conference in batting average (.378 / .372)
- Joey Urban leads the BIG EAST in sacrifice flies (5)
- Urban had a season-high five RBIs in the win over EIU
- Lewis, Urban and Moroknek are all batting above .300 in BIG EAST play
- Moroknek leads the conference in total bases (119) and is third in slugging percentage (.626)
- Moroknek has reached base safely in 15-straight games
- BIG EAST wins on the mound have gone to Tyler Banks, Cole Graverson and Grant Brooks
- Brooks earned his third win on the mound Wednesday vs. EIU
- Ian Choi scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth vs. the Panthers
- Graverson has struck out 19 batters over 20 innings of conference play
- Banks has pitched more BIG EAST innings (24.0) than any other Bulldog
- Banks, Ben Whiteside, and Nate Rosser have combined for 14 of the 15 starts on conference weekends
- Rosser struck out a season-high six batters in his last start vs. Xavier
- Cole Graverson is third in the BIG EAST with five saves
- Graverson has pitched 99.1 innings at Butler over his three-year career
- Brett Sherrard's longest outing of the season came on May 8, pitching 2.2 innings vs. EIU
- Evan Parks has a five-game hitting streak going into the Nova series
- Parks has five hits and has scored three runs over his last two games
- Butler hit a season-high six doubles in their win over EIU on Wednesday
- The Bulldogs have hit a double in 24-straight games
- BU also matched their season-high with three stolen bases vs. EIU
 
Up Next
The final four games of the regular season are up next for the Butler baseball team. BU will host Notre Dame on Tuesday, May 14 at 4 PM then shift their focus to the first-place UConn Huskies for the final home weekend series of the 2024 campaign. Those games will be played Thursday through Saturday and will all be available to on FloSports.com.