The 2025 Butler baseball home opener will be played on campus this Friday at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs will be hosting Northern Illinois for a four-game series with a doubleheader slated for Saturday followed by a single game on Sunday.
 
Weekend Schedule
Friday, March 28: 3 PM
Saturday, March 29: 12 PM DH
Sunday, March 30: 1 PM
 
Scouting Northern Illinois
The Huskies are 8-14 this year with a 1-8 record against MAC opponents. They were recently swept at home by Central Michigan and then split a pair of midweek games against Eastern Illinois and UIC. Tuesday's tilt was a barn burner with NIU winning in Charleston 15-14. The next day, UIC came on out on 13-5.
 
Gavin Baldwin and Logan Gregorio are the top two bats in the NIU lineup. Baldwin is batting .356 with a team-best eight home runs. Gergorio is a .341 hitter with six doubles and seven home runs.
 
Adam Brouwer, Ty Brachbill and Max Vaisvila are projected to start on the mound for the Huskies. Brouwer is a right-hander that has the best numbers of the trio. Over six starts, Brouwer is 1-2 with a 3.90 ERA. He leads the team in strikeouts (39) and innings pitched (32.1).
 
Brachbill is another right-hander with a 1-2 record on the mound over six starts. His ERA rests at 6.37 and he is second on the team with 35 strikeouts in 29.2 innings of work. Vaisvila is a lefty with two wins on the mound. His ERA is higher at 7.57, but he is another talented arm with 32 strikeouts this year in just 27.1 innings.
 
About Butler
The Bulldogs went 1-1 during the week with a 12-2 loss at Saint Louis followed by a 10-7 win at Miami Ohio. Jack Moroknek had four RBI's in the win over the RedHawks and was one of three Bulldogs to have a multi-hit game on Wednesday. Harry Carr went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Ryan Drumm homered as part of a 2-for-4 day that included scoring three runs. The win at Miami Ohio improved their overall record to 7-16.
 
Monster Numbers from Moroknek
Jack Moroknek leads the nation in total bases with 86. He's third in the country in home runs (12) and seventh in batting average (.462). Moroknek leads the league in on-base percentage (.514), slugging percentage (.945), and runs (31). He's second in the BIG EAST in hits (42), RBI's (29), and sac flies (3).
 
Best in the BIG EAST
Butler leads the conference in batting average (.301), doubles (45), home runs (36), and slugging percentage (.519).
 
Bulldog Bits
- Jack Bello has the fourth highest batting average in the BIG EAST (.405)
- Bello is also third in the league in total bases with 61
- Bello struck out three batters in his last pitching appearance at Miami
- Ryan Drumm is on a five-game hitting streak
- Drumm has five RBI's over his last three games
- Drumm's home run at Miami Ohio was his fourth of the season
- AJ Solomon has reached base safely in 11-straight games
- Tre Benjamin struck out a season-high three batters at Miami
- Benjamin threw a season-high 58 pitchers over three full innings
- Harry Carr has walked four times over his last two starts
- Keegan Connors made his first start of the year at Miami Ohio as the designated hitter
- Logan Crock scored a season-high three runs at Miami
- Marcus Goodpaster came out of the bullpen for the first time this year on Wednesday
- Goodpaster threw a 1-2-3 inning against the RedHawks
- Connor Sackett had a hit and scored a run in his last start
 
BIG EAST Standings
Creighton 14-6
Villanova 13-10
Xavier 12-13
St. John's 11-12
UConn 10-13
Seton Hall 9-15
Georgetown 9-16
Butler 7-16
 
Up Next
Butler will play at Eastern Illinois on Tuesday before opening BIG EAST action this weekend at Xavier. Tuesday's tilt on April Fool's Day will get going at 4 p.m. in Charleston. The first conference weekend series will be a traditional three-game series with a 3 p.m. start Friday, 2 p.m. start Saturday and 1 p.m. start on Sunday.