The Bulldogs will travel to West Lafayette on Wednesday to face the Purdue Boilermakers. The 4 p.m. contest will stream live on B1G+ and will serve as the home opener for the Boilers.
 
GameDay
Date: Wednesday, March 12
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Field: Alexander Field
Watch: B1G+
Live Stats: PurdueSports.com (Statbroadcast)
 
Pitching Matchup
RHP Jack Griffiths vs. RHP Cole Van Assen
 
Scouting Purdue
The Boilermakers are 14-2 this year with each setback coming down to the wire. They lost to Akron in 11 innings back on March 1 and most recently took a 10-8 loss at Minnesota. Purdue run-ruled Akron twice, and Indiana State once before opening up Big Ten action. PU hits .330 as a team while leading the conference in doubles and on-base percentage.
 
Logan Sutter, Brandon Anderson and Lukas Cook have been hot at the plate over the first month of the season. Sutter is batting .509 with 10 doubles and five home runs. He has 28 RBI and 54 total bases. Anderson has five doubles and three home runs; Cook is a .440 batter with three doubles and a triple.
 
Purdue is projected to start right-hander Cole Van Assen. This will be the sophomore's fourth start of the year. He is still 0-0 on the mound with a 2.87 ERA. Over 15.2 innings, Van Assen has 12 strikeouts and just three walks.
 
Last Meeting
Butler's last game against Purdue was played at Alexander Field in 2023. The Boilers notched a 16-9 win in the matchup. Butler's last win against Purdue game on their diamond in 2017. The Bulldogs no-hit Purdue to win 4-2.
 
About Butler
The Bulldogs are 6-8 on the year after winning a pair of games at Lindenwood over the weekend. The offense has been explosive this season averaging 8.4 runs per game. Jack Bello leads the team with a .510 batting average and Jack Moroknek is second on the club at .456. Bello has a team-high seven doubles, two triples and three home runs on the year for 14 RBI. Moroknek has six doubles and a team-best 10 home runs. He is already up to 19 RBI and 62 total bases.
 
Bello Makes BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll
Jack Bello did it all for the Bulldogs over a four-game weekend, collecting at least two hits in every game, in addition to earning a win on the mound. Bello capped the week with 10 hits and four RBI, while pitching two innings with a strikeout.
 
Home Run King
Jack Moroknek has 10 home runs over his first 14 games, ranking him second in the country in homers. Justin Lebron from Alabama leads the nation with 11 and Morknek is tied with Alex Calarco (Maryland) and Ryland Zaborowski for second.
 
Moroknek hit three home runs in a single game at Lindenwood to tie his own school record. Moroknek also homered three times in the same game last year at Eastern Michigan.
 
A Look at Last Week
Butler went 2-2 last week in a four-game series at Lindenwood. They split a Friday doubleheader with a 13-3 loss followed by a 9-8 win. Saturday's game was another one-run victory for the Bulldogs as they edge the Lions 11-10. The finale went to the home team 5-4.
 
Jack Bello and Jack Moroknek were outstanding in in St. Charles, Mo. Bello led the Bulldogs with a .588 batting average while also picking up a win on the mound. Bello recorded 10 hits with five of those going for extra bases. Moroknek hit four home runs to push his season total to 10.
 
On the mound, Gabe Pancratz and Jack Bello had wins while a save was recorded by Simon Linde. Tate Foxson led all pitchers with five strikeouts and Marcus Goodpaster had the longest outing at 6.1 innings.
 
Best in the BIG EAST
The Bulldogs lead the BIG EAST in hits (159), batting average (.321), doubles (35), home runs (23), on-base percentage (.401), slugging percentage (.554), and runs (117)
 
Bulldog Bits
- Jack Bello and Jack Moroknek rank first and second in the BIG EAST in batting average
- Bello leads the BIG EAST with seven doubles and Moroknek leads the league with 10 home runs
- Moroknek is the overall hit leader in the league with 26; Bello is pushing him with 25
- Bello is on an 11-game hitting streak
- Bello has had multiple hits in 10 of his 12 games played this year
- Harry Carr has reached base safely in 13-straight games
- David Ayers had a season-high three RBIs at Lindenwood on Saturday
- Danny Barbero hit his fourth home run of the season over the weekend
- Tre Benjamin threw a clean inning at Lindenwood on just seven pitches
- Ryan Drumm had two multi-hit games at Lindenwood over the weekend
- Tate Foxson struck out a season-high five batters at Lindenwood
- Marcus Goodpaster gave Butler his longest outing of the season at Lindenwood (6.1 IP)
- Aidan Hatcher made his season debut at Lindenwood
- Simon Linde was credited with his first save of the season over the weekend
- Zach Munton had a season-high three-RBI game at Lindenwood
- AJ Solomon has five hits over his last three games
 
BIG EAST Standings
Creighton 7-4
Villanova 8-6
Xavier 7-9
Georgetown 6-9
Butler 6-8
UConn 4-8
Seton Hall 4-9
St. John's 3-10
 
Up Next
Butler will play a four-game series at Belmont this weekend. Friday's night game at E.S. Rose Park will get going at 5 p.m. eastern (4 p.m. central) while the Saturday doubleheader is slated for a 2 p.m. start. The getaway game on Sunday will also start at 2 p.m.