Final Weekend Of Non-Conference #BIGEASTbase Play Ahead
NEW YORK – The final weekend before conference play begins for baseball has four teams on the road, three at home. All seven teams played midweek tune-ups with 10 games among them. Butler, Seton Hall, and Villanova each got a mark in the win column. Butler defeated Northern Kentucky, 9-2 and Anderson, 5-2. Seton Hall also earned two wins with a 8-5 victory over NJIT and 8-1 over Fairleigh Dickinson. Villanova split the week with a 5-4 victory over Bucknell on Wednesday, but a 10-5 loss to Penn on Tuesday. The Wildcats have the weekend off, but will play against Lafayette on Tuesday.
BIG EAST Standings to date:
Creighton, 811-6
Butler, 15-9
St. John’s, 10-10
Seton Hall, 8-12
Xavier, 8-15
Georgetown, 6-17
Villanova, 6-19
In Store for the Weekend:
Butler welcomes Southern Illinois to Bulldog Park for the weekend. The Salukis enter the weekend with a 14-9 record, similar to Butler. The Salukis were picked to finish fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, but are turning head with their performances in 2019. The Bulldogs enter the weekend on a four-game winning streak.
Creighton finally opened the 2019 season at home during midweek play against Nebraska this week. The Bluejays lost 6-3 after sweeping Maryland the weekend prior. This weekend, the Bluejays remain at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, hosting former Missouri Valley foe Illinois State. The Redbirds enter the weekend on a four-game losing streak, dropping a midweek battle with Milwaukee and suffering a sweep last weekend at Illinois. Illinois State does enter the contest with a Warren Nolan RPI of 30.
Georgetown heads south for a road series at East Tennessee State. The Hoyas are coming off a 12-3 loss to Navy on Wednesday afternoon at Shirley Povich Field. ETSU enters the weekend with a 19-5 record after winning a pair of midweek games against No. 23 Tennessee and UNC Asheville. Both Jack Cushing and Brent Killam are currently among Georgetown's top 10 for career strikeouts. Cushing is sixth with 188 career strikeouts. He is 12 away from becoming just the sixth Hoya to ever reach 200 strikeouts in a career. Killam is ninth with 169 strikeouts and is just 11 behind Randy Erwin (1998-01) for eighth.
St. John’s had its seven-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday afternoon against Fairfield, but will look to turn it back around again on the road at Saint Louis this weekend. Fairfield plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 victory. With the Johnnies looking to bounce back, the Red Storm's weekend rotation of Joe LaSorsa, Sean Mooney and Jeff Belge has been nearly untouchable as of late, as none of the three hurlers has allowed more than two earned runs in an appearance since the start of the UC Irvine series on March 8. During that stretch, the rotation has combined to go 4-2 with a ERA of 1.05. The Billikens are the reigning Atlantic 10 champions. They enter the contest 11-13 after losing three of the last four. Saint Louis posts a team ERA of 2.59, sixth best in the NCAA. It is the first meeting between the two teams.
Seton Hall enters the weekend on a five-game winning streak as the Pirates continue a local tour away from home. This weekend the Pirates will play at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. Last weekend, the Pirates' bats did the talking, erupting for 22 runs over two games against Wagner and Monmouth. Seton Hall and Iona have met 35 times in history, with the Pirates having won 31 of the games. The Pirates have won the last 10 meetings between the teams, including their last game, a 5-4 victory at Owen T. Carroll Field in 2016. The last time The Hall has made the trip to New Rochelle was in 1985, a 10-4 loss, the Pirates' last loss in the series. Iona is 5-18 on the season.
Xavier will once again face a ranked team on the road as the Musketeers travel to College Station, Texas to face the No. 13 Longhorns. In recent performances, Xavier took two of three against Evansville and split a pair of midweek games against Wright State. The meeting against Texas is a first for the two schools. The Longhorns are 17-11 overall this season, ranked No. 13 in D1baseball.com's top 25, and are in the top 20 for the USA Today Coaches and Baseball America polls. Texas enters the weekend coming off a 3-2 loss to Incarnate Word. Texas made last year’s College World Series bracket for a record 36th time.
BIG EAST leaders:
Batting: Harrison Freed, Butler (.414, 41-99)
Slugging: Harrison Freed, Butler (.727)
On-Base Percentage: Kyle Smith, Butler (.495)
Runs: Kyle Smith, Butler (30)
Hits: Harrison Freed, Butler (41)
RBI: Harrison Freed, Butler (31)
Doubles: Will Robertson, Creighton (9)
Triples: Four tied at (3)
Home Runs: Kyle Smith, Butler (8)
ERA: Connor Schultz, Butler (1.49)
Opposing Batting Avg.: Brent Killam, Georgetown (.176)
Strikeouts: Ryan Pepiot, Butler (56)
Saves: Lane Flamm, Xavier (3); Corey Sawyer, Seton Hall (3)
Upcoming Weekend Schedule
Friday, March 29
ST. JOHN’S at Saint Louis, 2 p.m.
SETON HALL at Iona, 3 p.m.
Southern Illinois at BUTLER, 4 p.m.
GEORGETOWN at E.T.S.U., 6 p.m.
Illinois State at CREIGHTON, 7:30 p.m.
XAVIER at No. 13 Texas, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 30
SETON HALL at Iona, 1 p.m.
Southern Illinois at BUTLER, 2 p.m.
GEORGETOWN at E.T.S.U., 2 p.m.
Illinois State at CREIGHTON, 3 p.m.
ST. JOHN’S at Saint Louis, 3 p.m.
XAVIER at No. 13 Texas, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 31
SETON HALL at Iona, 12 p.m.
XAVIER at No. 13 Texas, 1 p.m.
ST. JOHN’S at Saint Louis, 1 p.m.
Illinois State at CREIGHTON, 1 p.m.
Southern Illinois at BUTLER, 1 p.m.
GEORGETOWN at E.T.S.U., 1 p.m.