INDIANAPOLIS - Butler baseball hits the road on Tuesday and will travel to Champaign, Ill. to face the University of Illinois. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. CT. Butler will then return home to host Eastern Illinois on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at Grand Park, with first pitch coming at 6 p.m. on field D4.
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
 
DATE: Tuesday, Feb. 17 
LOCATION: Champaign, Ill.
LIVE STATS: Butlersports.com
 
DATE: Wednesday, Feb. 18 
LOCATION: Westfield, Ind.  
LIVE STATS: Butlersports.com
 
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS

• Butler opened the 2026 season against UT Martin over the weekend. In the three-game series Butler went 1-2 securing a 10-7, 10 inning victory on Friday afternoon in game one of a doubleheader. UT Martin secured a 9-8 victory in game two before taking the series with a 13-11 victory on Saturday. 
• Several Bulldogs turned in strong offensive performances during the opening series. Gavin Gilmore was sensational, slashing .571/.786/1.411 over the weekend for BU tallying eight hits, four RBIs, one home run and two walks. 
• Matthew Rhoades had a stellar weekend batting .400 while recording six hits, three doubles, two home runs and three RBIs. 
• Jack Hagen picked up the win in game one of the series tossing 4.0 innings while allowing only one run while punching out three. 
• As a team, Butler showcased its offensive depth, scoring 29 runs on the weekend. 
• Butler returns 17 letterwinners from a year ago and welcomes 21 new faces to the squad for 2026. 
• Butler welcomed Ty Neal to the coaching staff this offseason as the program's pitching coach. Neal was an assistant coach at Michigan in 2025, helping the Wolverines post a 33-23 overall record. They went 16-14 in the Big Ten standings and held a 4.92 team ERA. Neal has made stops at Michigan, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Indiana, Miami Ohio, and Southern Illinois. He brings nearly 20 years of coaching experience to the program and has assisted in the recruiting and development of over 50 MLB draft picks.
• Freshman Grayson Bradberry was named the BIG EAST Preseason Freshman of the Year by D1Baseball and Perfect Game prior to the start of the season. Bradberry hails from Columbia City, Indiana and earned All-Conference honors (3x), Pre-Season All-State honors, team MVP (2x), NE8 Conference Player of the Year and was chosen as a two-time team captain. 
• In 2025, Butler saw Jack Moroknek get drafted in the 11th round by the Washington Nationals. Moroknek led the team in hits (81), batting average (.372), total bases (153), RBIs (57), home runs (18), runs scored (57), slugging percentage (.702) and OPS (1.145) while posting one of the best individual seasons in Butler history. Moroknek was the first Bulldog drafted since Ryan Pepiot was taken in the third round of the 2019 MLB Draft. 
• Head Coach Blake Beemer enters his fourth season at the helm of the Bulldogs. Beemer helped coach back-to-back BIG EAST Freshman of the Year winners Joey Urban (2023) and Kade Lewis (2024) in his first two seasons with the Bulldogs. Beemer played a pivotal role in developing Jack Moroknek who earned All-BIG EAST second team honors a season ago before being selected by the Washington Nationals in the 2025 MLB Draft. 

 
SCOUTING ILLINOIS 

• The Illini enter Tuesday's game with a 1-2 record after dropping two games at USF over the weekend. Illinois won game two of the series 4-2 in 10 innings. 
• Daniel Contreras leads the Illini at the dish, slashing .500/.875/1.475. Contreras tallied four hits, one home run and one RBI over the weekend. 
• On the mound, Regan Hall tossed 6.1 innings while allowing only one earned run. Hall picked up six strikeouts in his 6.1 innings of action. 

 
SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS

• EIU enters Wednesday's contest with a 2-1 record after securing two road victories at Florida A&M over the weekend. EIU won games one and two of the series 13-4 and 2-0. 
• Zak Goodwin leads EIU at the dish slashing .429/.571/1.015. Goodwin tallied three hits, one double and three RBIs while earning a walk. 
• The duo of Tyler Conklin and Bryce Riggs were sensational on the mound for EIU. The two pitched 13 innings combined and allowed only three total hits and no earned runs. 

 
UP NEXT
Butler will return to action this weekend as the Bulldogs travel to Murray State to face the Racers. Game one of the three-game series is set for Friday, Feb. 20 with first pitch coming at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT. More information will be available on Butlersports.com.