The Butler baseball team will play at Saint Louis and at Miami Ohio this week as they continue to prepare for their 2025 home opener which is set for this weekend. The game against Saint Louis will be played on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Miami Ohio contest originally scheduled for March 5 was pushed back to Wednesday after weather washed out the first date.
 
Butler Schedule
Tuesday, March 25 at Saint Louis – 4 PM
Wednesday, March 26 at Miami Ohio – 3 PM

Scouting Saint Louis
The Billikens are 12-11 overall and 4-2 in conference after winning two of three at Dayton over the weekend. St. Louis opened A-10 action at home, winning two of three against St. Joseph's the week prior.
 
Head Coach Darin Hendrickson is in year 17 at Saint Louis. He has coached 11 MLB draft picks at SLU and became the program's all-time winningest head coach in 2018. Hendrickson registered his 1,000th career victory last year and has tallied over 500 of those wins while at Saint Louis.
 
The 2025 team is led by Riley Iffrig and his .382 batting average. The SLU first baseman has a team-high 29 hits including 10 doubles, a triple and four home runs. Another player to keep an eye on is outfielder Brenden Stressler. He is batting .286 with a team-best six home runs.
 
Scouting Miami Ohio
The Redhawks are also 12-11 overall heading into their matchup with Butler. They are three weeks into Mid-American Conference action and hold onto a 7-2 mark against their conference rivals. They took two of three at home from Toledo, swept NIU in Oxford and most recently won the first two games of a weekend series at Eastern Michigan.
 
Miami Ohio hits. 301 as a team and is led at the plate by Anthony Zarlingo. The senior outfielder holds onto a .390 batting average, collecting a team-best 30 hits. Ty Batusich and Dillon Baker both bat over .300 for Miami Ohio and have combined to hit nine home runs. Evan Appelwick is the home run leader with 12 while Dominic Krupinski leads the club with six doubles.
 
Second-year head coach Brian Smiley made an immediate impact on the program in 2024. Miami finished the season 17-13 in the Mid-American Conference, posting the program's best conference record since 2019. The Redhawks went on a nine-game winning streak last year for the first time in five years and advanced to the conference tournament for the first time since 2019.
 
Series History
Butler split a pair of games against Miami Ohio last year with each program winning on the road. The Bulldogs notched a 13-10 win at McKie Field on March 19, but fell to the RedHawks 6-4 a month later at Bulldog Park. The lone contest against Saint Louis came on April 30 last year with the Billikens winning 12-2 in Indy.

About Butler
The Bulldogs went 0-2 last week with setbacks at Notre Dame and at Ball State. The losses moved Butler's overall record to 6-15. Scoring runs has not been the issue for this BU team. They average seven runs per game and have scored nine or more 10 times.
 
Top bats in the BU lineup include Jack Moroknek, Jack Bello, Harry Carr and AJ Solomon. Moroknek has 40 hits over 21 starts with eight doubles and 12 home runs. Bello is batting .447 with eight doubles, two triples and five home runs. Both Carr and Solomon are over .300 on the year with Carr getting 20 starts early in his BU career.
 
On the mound, Colin Dailey gave Butler three solid innings at Notre Dame and could be back on the mound this week as a starter. Dailey had a season-high four strikeouts in South Bend and limited the Irish to three hits. Dailey is one of nine Bulldogs to start a game for Butler this year. Marcus Goodpaster is the only player on the roster to throw 20+ innings for BU. Simon Linde and Gabe Pancratz are tied for the team lead in appearances with seven each.
 
Monster Numbers from Moroknek
Jack Moroknek leads the nation in total bases (84), ranks second in batting average (.494), and is tied for third in home runs with 12.
 
Best in the BIG EAST
Butler leads the BIG EAST in batting average (.313), doubles (44), home runs (35), on-base percentage (.393), and slugging percentage (.543).
 
Bulldog Bits
- Jack Moroknek is on a five-game hitting streak
- Moroknek has reached base safely in 10-straight
- Moroknek has 13 multi-hit games and has had multiple RBIs in six games
- Jack Bello ranks 13th in the nation with his .447 batting average
- Bello ranks second in the league in slugging percentage (.803)
- Tommy Townsend leads the team in base on balls (13)
- Tre Benjamin made his first start for Butler at Ball State
- Will Burgess went 3-for-3 at Notre Dame with two RBI and two runs scored
- Harry Carr has a hit in four-straight games
- David Ayers and Ryan Drumm each have three stolen bases on the year
- Drumm, Moroknek and Danny Barbero are the only Bulldogs to play in all 21 games
- Drumm had two RBIs at Ball State
- Gunnar Duncan's first multi hit game came at Notre Dame
- Duncan went 2-for-3 with an RBI
- Adam Galdoni made his season debut at Notre Dame
- Connor Sackett has an RBI in back-to-back games
- Alex Thomas struck out a season-high three batters in just 1.2 innings at Ball State
- Butler arms struck out 10 batters last week at Notre Dame their highest total since Feb. 22
- Butler hasn't played a full nine-inning game since March 12
 
Here It Comes
The 2025 home opener is coming up for the Bulldogs this weekend. Fans are being asked to park at Hinkle Fieldhouse or on the North side of 52nd Street.
 
BIG EAST Ball
Butler will open BIG EAST action on April 4 with a three-game series at Xavier.
 
BIG EAST Standings
Creighton 13-6
Villanova 12-10
UConn 10-11
Xavier 11-13
St. John's 9-12
Seton Hall 8-14
Georgetown 8-16
Butler 6-15
 
Up Next
The Bulldogs will be at home this weekend! The 2025 home opener is set for Friday, March 28 with BU hosting Northern Illinois. Game one of the four-game series will get underway at 3 p.m. Saturday is slated for a doubleheader with a noon start and the getaway game will get going at 1 p.m. on Sunday.