The Butler baseball team will play two midweek games this week against in-state rivals. Game one will be played in South Bend against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The next day, Butler will travel up I-69 to play the Ball State Cardinals.
 
Bulldog Schedule
Tuesday, March 18: at Notre Dame – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 19: at Ball State – 1:30 p.m.  
 
Watch the Games
Butler and Notre Dame will play on ACCNX. ACC Network Extra is a digital platform for the ACC Network that offers even more live events than the main ACC Network channel. Wednesday's game at Ball State will stream on ESPN+.
 
Scouting Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish will host Butler in their 2025 home opener on Tuesday. ND heads into the matchup at 11-6 overall with a 1-5 record in the ACC. Wins over Iowa and Belmont highlighted the non-conference slate before the team was swept at Wake Forest. Clemson was the next ACC team to host ND and they won the first two games over the Irish before falling 7-3 in the finale.
 
Head Coach Shawn Stiffler is in his third season at the helm of the program. His 2025 team is batting .238 at the dish and is led by freshman Parker Brzustewicz. The infielder has a team-best 22 hits including four doubles and a triple to help him reach eight RBI and 28 total bases. Seven every day starters have at least two home runs this season and the Irish arms have only allowed 13 in their first 17 games.
 
Scouting Ball State
The Cardinals are 14-6 overall and 5-1 in the MAC standings after winning their weekend series against Toledo last weekend. BSU run-ruled the Rockets on Friday and won the series with a tight 8-7 victory on Saturday. They will return to action on Tuesday with a home game against Valparaiso.
 
Head Coach Rich Maloney has been at Ball State for 20 years. He is one of 16 active coaches to have reached 900 career wins and is the winningest baseball coach in Ball State history. His 2025 club hits .293 as a team and holds a staff ERA at 5.08.
 
Dylan Grego and Nick Husovsky are the top bats in the BSU order. Grego leads the team with 28 total hits and 19 runs scored. He has four doubles and three homers to push his RBI total to 13. The RBI leader is Husovsky with 19. He has five doubles this year and a pair of home runs.
 
Series History
Butler played at Notre Dame last year with the Irish claiming an 11-2 win on April 10. ND was schedule to come back to Indy in May, but rain wiped out the contest. The Bulldogs did play Ball State twice with the Cardinals winning 7-6 in Indy and 24-7 in Muncie.
 
About Butler
The Bulldogs are 6-13 overall with all 19 games coming on the road. Scoring has not been the issue with Butler as the team averages 7.4 runs per game. BU recently tied a program record by hitting six home runs in a single game against Belmont on March 14. It was the third time for a Bulldog team to hit six homers in a single game. The first time was against Morehead State in February of 1998. BU did it again in 2008 against Valparaiso.
 
Home Run King
Jack Moroknek leads the BIG EAST and ranks third in the country in home runs with 11. Justin Lebron of Alabama and Ryland Zaborowski of Georgia are tied for the NCAA lead with 12 each. Robbie Burnett (Georgia), Grant Gallagher (ETSU), and Jackson Hauge (Kansas) are all tied with Moroknek with 11.
 
One-Two Punch
Jack Moroknek and Jack Bello rank second and third in the country in batting average. Moroknek is second at .486 and Bello is right there in third at .485. They trail Edian Espinal of UCF and his .527 average. Moroknek ranks eighth in the NCAA in total hits with 36. Bello is tied for 22nd with 33.
 
A Look at Last Week
Butler went 0-5 last week with a midweek setback at Purdue followed by a sweep at Belmont. Jack Moroknek hit .588 with 10 hits in his 17 at-bats. Jack Bello was also awesome from the plate to hit .421 with a team-best two home runs. Ryan Drumm and David Ayers also homered twice last week while Danny Barbero, AJ Solomon and Harry Carr all hit above .300.
 
Best in the BIG EAST
Butler leads the BIG EAST in hits (203), batting average (.315), doubles (42), home runs (33), on-base percentage (.396), and slugging percentage (.552).
 
Bulldog Bits
- Butler leads the league in sacrifice flies (15)
- The 'Dawgs rank third in the BIG EAST in triples with six
- Jack Moroknek leads the BIG EAST with eight doubles
- Moroknek and Bello both have 12 multi-hit games this year
- Bello is on a four-game hitting streak
- AJ Solomon has reached base safely in eight-straight games
- Tre Benjamin threw a clean inning at Belmont in his last appearance
- Harry Carr recorded three RBI's for the third time this season in his last game vs. Belmont
- Logan Crock's first extra base hit of his collegiate career came over the weekend in Nashville
- Colin Dailey has not given up an earned run this year over five appearances
- Gunnar Duncan's first hit as a Bulldog came on Sunday at Belmont
- Jack Moroknek has an extra-base hit in three-straight games
- Corbin Snyder lasted four innings at Belmont; his longest outing of the season
- AJ Solomon had a season-high three RBIs in game two at Belmont
 
BIG EAST Standings
Creighton 10-5
Villanova 10-8
Xavier 8-13
UConn 6-10
Seton Hall 6-11
St. John's 6-11
Georgetown 7-13
Butler 6-13
 
Up Next
Butler added a game to the schedule for Sunday, March 23. The Bulldogs will play at Cincinnati at 4 p.m. before traveling to Saint Louis on March 25. The game against the Billikens will be the last before Butler's home opener. The Bulldogs will host a four-game series against Northern Illinois from March 28-30.