The magic of Butler University exists on and off the court, and that is why this school is special.

I did not find out about Butler, nor did I apply here, because of basketball fame.  The university sent me a letter, and my mother pushed me to look into the school.

I fell in love with Butler not because of what I saw at Hinkle Fieldhouse but because of what I saw in the campus as a whole.

If the Butler men’s basketball team does not find a way into the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, everything will be OK.

There is much to look forward to next season, and there is, after all, more to this school than what happens at Hinkle.

After wins against Youngstown State, Cleveland State, Loyola of Chicago and Indiana State, the Bulldogs seem to have their February mojo working in full force.

But is it too late?  I believe so.

The team has struggled with consistency for much of the season, losing games to Evansville, Valparaiso and Ball State, as well as a pair against Detroit.

After last night’s victory over Illinois-Chicago, a victory against Valparaiso on Friday would give the team a 19-12 record in the regular season.

Hopefully that can propel the team to one of the top two seeds in the Horizon League tournament.

The Bulldogs will then need to win the conference tournament to have a hope of returning to March Madness. I do not see that happening.

Despite what happens with the remainder of this season, the program has a bright future.

Coach Brad Stevens has one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters in senior transfer Rotnei Clarke, who will play his final year of eligibility for the Bulldogs next season.

Stevens also has a solid recruiting class, staring 6-foot-5 shooting guard Kellen Dunham, coming to campus next season.

I expect that these two will provide effective outside shooting—something that the team has been lacking this season.

More than anything that will be seen in Hinkle over the next few years, I find comfort in the fact that even without the two deep runs in the tournament, Butler would still be the fantastic school it is today.

Butler students are blessed to attend such an amazing school.  While the school has garnered fame from basketball, but without a good background, it would not mean much.

Butler might be back on track.

After two games controlled throughout by its opponent, the Butler men’s basketball team turned the tables Sunday.

Junior center Andrew Smith scored 20 points, two shy of his career-high, to lead the Bulldogs to a 71-55 victory over Youngstown State at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The win moved Butler (10-9, 4-3) into a tie for fourth place in the Horizon League standings.  The Bulldogs begin a pivotal four-game road trip Thursday when they visit Illinois-Chicago.

After enduring a mostly uncompetitive loss to Detroit and a failed rally against Cleveland State, Butler coach Brad Stevens watched his young team hold a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half.

“No use using youth as an excuse,” Stevens said. “Today was better.  We only played about three bad minutes.”

The Bulldogs’ bench registered a strong showing.  Freshman forward-center Kameron Woods had 10 points and 10 rebounds.  Freshman guard Jackson Aldridge scored 10 points, and sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins added six points and four assists without committing a turnover.

“We can play as hard as the first unit can,” Woods said. “I try to do whatever I can. We try to play really aggressive.”

The Penguins (9-8, 4-3) could not match Butler’s depth.  Youngstown State reserves totaled just four points. Senior forward Ashen Ward led the team with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

Butler established control by repeatedly going inside against the smaller Penguins.  A trio of big men –Smith, Woods and sophomore forward Khyle Marshall — combined for 23 points in the first half as Butler raced to a 34-27 lead at the intermission.  The Bulldogs earned 22 of those points in the paint.

“Our team’s found a better flow on the offensive side,” said Smith, who made 7-of-13 field goals.

Butler started the contest 0-of-9 from 3 before Hopkins drained a look in the right corner off of crisp ball rotation.  The shot gave the Bulldogs a 32-23 lead with 4:28 left in the first half.

Youngstown State relied mostly on perimeter offense.  It knocked down six of its first 10 3-point tries but fell behind by as many as 20 in the second half when the shots stopped falling.

“They ran us off the 3-point line,” coach Jerry Slocum said. “They’re as good defensively as ever.”

The Penguins helped out by giving the ball away nine times in the first 20 minutes while Butler committed just one turnover in that stretch.

“Our biggest problem was we turned the ball over,” Slocum said. “Defense led to extra offense for them.”

Senior point guard Ronald Nored added seven points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Butler.  He had three assists in the first five minutes of the second half, including two dishes to Smith underneath the basket.

Youngstown State checked the 6-foot-11 Smith with 6-7 junior center Damian Eargle. Smith capitalized by approaching his career-best 22-point outing in a Jan. 7, 2011 win against Cleveland State.

“He can run really well,” Stevens said.  “He can finish and move.  Today he played really active to the ball.”

Butler shot 15-of-20 from the line after missing 17 of 42 tries Friday.

“We’ve been focusing on free throws,” said Smith, a perfect 6-for-6.  “We’ve just got to keep that up.”

The Bulldogs beat Youngstown State 38-25 on the glass and 17-4 in second-chance points.  They shot 44.6 percent from the floor to the Penguins’ 42 percent.

Woods defended, rebounded and scored at the rim in an impressive 25-minute outing.

“He’s had many great moments as a freshman,” Stevens said. “He’s got a high ceiling.”

In one sequence, Woods leaped to pull in a miss by Smith and give Butler a new shot clock.  Later in the possession, Woods took a pass in the left corner and drove to his right around Penguins sophomore forward Josh Chojnacki all the way to the basket. The lay-in provided the Bulldogs their first double-digit lead at 29-19 with 6:22 remaining in the first half.

Butler never looked back.

“I guard a lot of different positions,” Woods said.  “Early in the season I was kind of walking through the motions [on offense].  Now I’ve learned the system a lot better.”

The Bulldogs will try to continue Sunday’s success on the road before returning home Feb. 2 to face Wright State.

Cleveland State coach Gary Waters said his team needed an act of God to help it win in Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The Vikings entered Friday’s Horizon League showdown just 2-17 all-time on the home floor of Butler’s men’s basketball team.

Waters got what he wanted.

Behind 18 points from senior point guard Jeremy Montgomery, Cleveland State used strong defense and rebounding to hold off a late Bulldogs rally.

Cleveland State won 76-69.

The Vikings (15-3, 5-1) won for the 10^th time in their last 12 games.  Using four seniors in the starting lineup, Cleveland State knocked off a younger version of the Bulldogs, who had won five straight in the series.

“They’re very old,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “That maturity played out well.”

Butler (9-9, 3-3) lost its second consecutive game, still struggling to find answers with a new-look roster.

“You don’t have Matt Howard, it’s a whole different ballgame,” Waters said, referring to the former Butler star who graduated last May.

Junior center Andrew Smith scored 13 points for the Bulldogs, with senior point guard Ronald Nored and junior guard Chase Stigall each contributing 12.

A season-long ailment, foul shooting, troubled Butler once again.  The Bulldogs missed 17 free throws despite attempting a season-high 42.  They entered the night ranked 325^th in free-throw percentage (60.8) out of 344 Division I teams.

“Everybody’s talking to them about it,” Stevens said. “You’ve got to dig deep, take a deep breath. It’s just you and the basket.”

Butler trailed 64-54 with 4:31 remaining.  The closest the Bulldogs came to evening the score was a banked-in 3 by Nored that made it 72-69 with 20 seconds to go.

Senior guard Trevon Harmon, who finished with 12 points, subsequently connected on two foul shots to give the Vikings a five-point lead and put the game out of reach.

Butler struggled from the field (40.5 percent), was outrebounded 31-24 and was outscored 28-12 in the paint.

“They physically outdid us inside the 3-point line,” Stevens said.

The Vikings put Butler in a big hole early. Freshman forward Anton Grady’s putback gave Cleveland State a 20-4 lead with just more than seven minutes gone by in the first half.

The Bulldogs gradually fought back by hitting six 3’s. Smith nailed the last of those, a shot from the top of the key to bring Butler within 35-33 at halftime.

Much of the Bulldogs’ early offense centered upon jump shots, perhaps a result of Waters’ defensive plan to stop Smith in the post.

“We were swarming that basketball, making them kick it out,” Waters said.

Cleveland State played a physical brand of defense.  The Vikings were whistled for 15 fouls in the first half, then committed nine more fouls in the first nine minutes of the second.

Peeved at the disparity, however, Waters yelled at an official standing at his side, earning a technical foul.

“Those guys will try to punch and fight and scratch,” Montgomery said. “We wanted to punch back.”

Butler felt the brunt of two fouls labeled Flagrant 1’s.  The second was particularly rough and sent sophomore forward Kyle Marshall sprawling to the floor with 7:04 to play after a midair collision with Harmon.

Stevens started Marshall for the first time since Nov. 23. Marshall added 11 points and blocked two shots.

The Vikings frequently made use of the dribble in this one, driving past Butler’s defenders to shoot 48.1 percent.

Cleveland State’s bigs did much of the damage.  Junior forward Tim Kamczyc had 17 points, senior center Aaron Pogue had eight, and Grady finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

But it was Montgomery who carried the day, scoring 16 points after halftime.

“We did a great job in the first half,” Nored said. “If you let your guard down for just a second, he’s that kind of player.”

Butler recovered from a 16-point deficit to lead 41-40 with 16:27 to play.  The Bulldogs lost that lead on the next possession and trailed the rest of the way as Montgomery got hot.

“We’ve got to play better,” Nored said. “We have to start [games] better. It’s obvious how good this league is.”

One positive for the Bulldogs was their improved ball movement.  Butler assisted on 14 of its 17 field goals, including a pretty lob from sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins to Marshall for a soaring dunk.

But another loss, coupled with the sounds of a red-hot Cleveland State team joyously shouting through the hallways of Hinkle, have left doubt as to whether Butler can win the league tournament for a third consecutive season.

“That was an unbelievable two years,” Waters said. “The intensity and how hard [the 2011-’12 team] played [Friday] was similar. Brad’s going to get them going, no question in my mind.”

Butler next plays Sunday at home against Youngstown State.  Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.

Disappointing—that’s the word Butler softball head coach Scott Hall used to describe his team’s performance Saturday versus Youngstown State.

Both games of the doubleheader went into extra innings, with the Bulldogs winning the opener narrowly, 4-3, before dropping the second game, 3-0.

Butler’s offense in the second game was stifled by freshman pitcher Casey Crozier, who held the Bulldogs (26-18, 12-4 HL) to five hits and no runs.

It was the eighth game this season in which Butler has failed to score a run.

“We’ve been relying on our pitching a lot to carry us this season,” junior left fielder Lauren McNulty said. “Our pitchers got into a little bit of trouble and we should have been able to help them out, but we just didn’t hit well as a team. I think we needed to be a little more focused.”

Hall had similar thoughts about the game.

“I thought we should have been able to take both games,” Hall said. “We’ve got to get our bats going a little better if we want to go deep in the conference tournament.”

The Bulldogs’ bats did enough to win the day’s first game, and sophomore Jenny Esparza got the win by striking out 13 in nine innings of work.

Esparza worked a no-hitter through five-and-a-third innings and Butler led, 2-0, heading into the sixth before Youngstown State (22-18, 5-10 HL) came alive.

Singles by junior second baseman Kristina Philen and freshman right fielder Sarah Ingalls led to a tied game, before a fielder’s choice scored Ingalls for a 3-2 Penguin lead.

But Butler responded in the bottom half of the inning. Junior right fielder Jessica Huey’s sacrifice bunt scored the eventual game-winning run and the Bulldogs sealed a 4-3 victory.

“It’s exciting to know that they have my back,” Esparza said. “For them to put those runs together to win the game was definitely a relief.”

The doubleheader marked the last home regular season games for three Butler seniors—pitcher Jennifer Chasteen, center fielder Erin Jackson and third baseman Lauren Ott.

“They’ve been great leaders,” Hall said. “I’m going to have a great coaching career, if I continue to have seniors like this—ones that are great representatives of Butler softball and the university as a whole.”

Junior first baseman Erin Falkenberry said the team will greatly miss the seniors once they’re gone.

“The seniors have all led in different ways and that is something we all look up to,” Falkenberry said. “They have taught us so much and we know that we can step up to fill their roles next year and be leaders.”

The Bulldogs will finish the season on the road at Wright State and at Loyola Thursday through Sunday.

Butler is currently sitting atop the Horizon League standings, ahead of second place Loyola (22-18, 12-5 HL). A first-place finish would give the Bulldogs the right to host the conference tournament, scheduled to begin May 11.

“If the Youngstown series taught us anything, it was that anybody can beat us on any given day,” Hall said. “We have to come out and give our best effort every day.”

Following a 15-run showing against Youngstown State Friday, the Butler baseball team has struggled to score, resulting in a three-game losing streak.

The Bulldogs (12-16, 4-5 HL) will look to revive their offense against Lawrence on Friday after being shut out by Dayton yesterday.

The Flyers (17-16) scored three times in the third inning and got help from Butler’s shaky defense to top the Bulldogs, 4-0.

Butler outhit Dayton, 7-4, but the Flyers took advantage of errors in the third and sixth innings to bring home two of their four runs.

That was all the run support Dayton pitchers would need. Junior Tim Bury pitched five and two-thirds innings out of the bullpen, giving up seven hits and striking out five.

The Flyers received RBIs from junior shortstop Brian Blasik and junior first baseman C.J. Gillman.

Freshman Marcos Calderon took the loss for the Bulldogs, going four innings and allowing three runs on two hits.

On Friday, Butler’s slate of games against the Penguins (8-21, 3-3 HL) started with a strong victory for the Bulldogs, as they defeated Youngstown State, 15-1. The 14-run win was Butler’s largest of the season.

“[The win] was really fun,” head coach Steve Farley said. “We got great pitching and hitting, but I wish we wouldn’t have won by so much.”

The Bulldogs piled up 18 hits in the game and received 11 RBIs from junior rightfielder Mike Hoscheit and senior third baseman Grant Fillipitch combined.

Hoscheit went 3-for-5 with 7 RBIs in the contest. It was a career day for Hoscheit, who drove home six of the seven runs on doubles in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings.

“The whole team was hitting,” Hoscheit said. “It became contagious and it took the pressure off at the plate.”

Up 2-0 entering the fifth inning, the Bulldogs scored four times thanks to an RBI double by Hoscheit, a run-scoring single by Fillipitch and a two-run triple by freshman first baseman Zach Sizemore.

Butler kept pressure on the Penguins through the rest of the game, tallying nine runs on nine hits over the final four innings.

While Hoscheit’s seven-RBI day topped the scoresheet for Butler, the Bulldogs also received strong hitting performances from Fillipitch, who went 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBIs, and senior second baseman Luke Duncan, who went 4-for-4 and scored four times.

Senior Dom Silvestri pitched eight innings, allowing only a ninth-inning run on seven hits while striking out three.

Butler was unable to carry over any momentum from its big win the previous day to Saturday’s contest, however.

In the opener, Youngstown State got two runs in the opening frame courtesy of an error and an RBI single, giving the Penguins a 5-1 victory.

Butler was held to one run by senior Phil Kline, who went seven innings and gave up four hits while striking out 10 hitters.

The Bulldogs were in control of the second game until Youngstown State staged a late comeback and won in walk-off fashion, 4-3.

Butler scored all three of its runs in the fourth inning, led by an RBI double from sophomore first baseman Pat Gelwicks.

The Penguins scored a run in the eighth inning and two more runs in the ninth inning, winning the game on a single from freshman second baseman Phil Lipari.

“Youngstown State just kept coming back,” Farley said. “We really didn’t do anything bad so I don’t expect us to be too down on ourselves.”

On April 6, the Bulldogs hosted Purdue and dropped a 10-8 decision.

Butler will welcome the Vikings (2-15) from Lawrence for a three-game series before heading to Ball State April 19.

Still battling injuries and coming off a rough outing against conference opponent Green Bay, the Butler men’s tennis team pulled out a win over Youngstown State on Saturday.

The Bulldogs (5-13, 2-3 HL), led by the singles play of seniors Brandon Bayliss and Chris Herron, came out on top, defeating the Penguins (5-12, 1-5 HL), 6-1.

Butler was dominant against Youngstown State, sweeping doubles play and winning all but one singles match

“I had a lot of energy going into my singles match,” Herron said.  “We got off to a great start in our doubles match and that momentum carried over.”

Herron won his match at No. 2 singles in two sets against sophomore Felipe Rosa, 7-5, 6-4.  Bayliss also defeated his opponent, junior Tariq Ismail, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. With the win, Bayliss remained unbeaten in Horizon League singles play.

Junior Zach Ervin picked up a victory at No. 3 singles, taking the tiebreaker against freshman Max Schmerin for the win, 7-6, 6-7, 10-7.

Senior Lenz Theodor was a winner at No. 4 singles for the Bulldogs (1-6, 6-1, 6-2) and senior David Dolins took the win at No. 6 singles via forfeit.

Butler swept doubles play as well, posting an 8-5 victory at No. 1 doubles and winning, 8-4, at No. 2 doubles. The No. 3 doubles match was forfeited by the Penguins, who competed with five athletes.

“It was a great turnaround from last weekend,” freshman Brad DiCarlo said.  “It was a great confidence booster heading into the final stretch of the regular season.”

Sunday’s matchup against conference foe Cleveland State brought a different outcome, as the Bulldogs fell to the Vikings (12-7, 6-0 HL), 4-3.

Herron and Bayliss were both victorious in singles play once again, beating their opponents 6-3, 7-6 and 6-3, 6-2, respectively. This time, however, the two were the only Butler players to pick up victories in singles play.

The team went two for three in doubles play to open the day. The team of Herron and senior Bryce Warren won, 8-6, at No. 1 doubles, while the duo of Ervin and senior Ben Shafer won, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles.

“Cleveland State is a tough team,” Herron said.  “Being that close with two guys down shows a lot.”

The team hopes to have injured junior Stephen McLoughlin back in the lineup by its April 16 matchup against Valparaiso.

DiCarlo said that the experience he and others have gained as a result of injuries has been important.

“We just have to keep working hard and grinding it out,” DiCarlo said.

Yesterday, the Bulldogs lost another close match, falling to the Raiders (12-9, 3-2 HL), 4-3.

Butler faces conference power Wright State Wednesday at home before heading to Ball State Thursday.

It was a tough weekend for the Butler baseball team as the Bulldogs (11-12, 3-3 HL) followed up a big win against Wabash with a losing series versus conference foe Milwaukee.

Butler will head into a contest versus Purdue today coming off a doubleheader split versus the Panthers (7-16, 2-1 HL).

“There were three good games,” head coach Steve Farley said. “We had a chance to win all three, but we came up just a little bit short.”

In the first game of the doubleheader, Butler received hits from nine different Bulldogs to capture a 4-1 victory.

With the game tied at 1 going into the eighth inning, the Bulldogs used “small ball” to produce a run. Sophomore center fielder Andrew Eckhardt drew a walk to start the frame and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by senior second baseman Luke Duncan.

Eckhardt then scored on an RBI single by senior right-fielder Corey Moylan.

Butler added two insurance runs in the ninth inning thanks to RBI singles from freshman pinch hitter Patrick Guinane and senior shortstop Jack Krause.

Senior Jared Wagoner battled for his third win of the season, allowing one run on 13 hits over eight and two-thirds innings. He struck out six Panthers and threw 124 pitches, giving way to the bullpen for the final out of the game.

“It was unique,” Wagoner said. “I had to battle, but I got the first guy out in most innings, I scattered the hits and the defense picked me up.”

In the second game of the day, Milwaukee scored five runs over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to defeat the Bulldogs, 6-5. The win allowed the Panthers to come out on top of the three-game weekend series, 2-1.

Butler scored single runs in the second and sixth innings and held a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning.

In that frame, Milwaukee got an RBI double from senior second baseman Cole Kraft and tallied an unearned run to tie the game, 2-2.

After the Bulldogs got a run scoring single from senior catcher Michael Letzter and a run-scoring double from sophomore first baseman Pat Gelwicks, both with two outs in the inning, the Panthers put up three more runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Two of those runs came courtesy of a single by Kraft and gave Milwaukee a one-run advantage.

Butler tied the game in the eighth inning, but the Panthers responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame, giving the Panthers the win.

“Offensively, we did everything we could,” Gelwicks said. “We were hitting the ball hard all game and we put ourselves in a good position to win.”

Junior Kaleb Engelke, the only Milwaukee pitcher to not allow a run in the game, picked up the win for the Panthers in relief. For the Bulldogs, sophomore Chase Byerly pitched two innings in relief and was saddled with the loss.

“After we score runs, we want to put up zeros and we didn’t accomplish that,” Farley said. “I had no problem with the effort, but we just didn’t get it done.”

In the opening game of the series, the Panthers scored three runs in the first two innings and senior Chad Pierce gave Milwaukee a complete game, four-hit shutout as the Panthers won, 4-0.

Offensively, Butler could never get anything going. The Bulldogs tallied four singles in the first three innings, but were held hitless the rest of the way. Butler also recorded nine strikeouts while walking just once in the contest.

On March 30, Butler had no trouble taking care of Wabash, dispatching the Little Giants (11-15) by a score of 13-2.

After a non-conference game against Purdue, the Bulldogs will head to Youngstown State for a three-game swing against the Penguins (6-18, 1-2 HL).

After a tough road loss at Youngstown State bringing the team to 1-1, Butler looks forward to matching up against Taylor University in their first home game this Saturday, September 18th.

Playing under the lights in front of a crowd of 18,025, the Bulldog football team lost to Youngstown State 31-7 Saturday.

The Penguins offered the Bulldogs some of the toughest competition they will face all year.

“One of the first things we said when I took over the program was that we were going to upgrade our non-conference schedule,” head coach Jeff Voris said. “The tough competition gives us a much clearer barometer of where we are entering conference play.”

After forcing two early Youngstown punts the Butler offense struggled to make up much ground on the offensive end of the ball, netting only 44 total yards in their first three possessions with two punts and an interception.

The interception proved costly for the Bulldogs, as Youngstown State then marched down the field in seven plays and scored a touchdown on an eight yard run from Penguin freshman tailback Jordan Thompson.

Thompson was part of Youngstown’s three-pronged running attack which included freshman Adaris Bellamy and sophomore Jamaine Cook. The trio rushed for a combined 218 yards and three touchdowns.

Bellamy put the Penguins up 14-0 on the next drive.

The Bulldog offense answered right back with an eight-play, 81-yard drive capped off by a three-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Andrew Huck to junior Jeff Larsen.

The score cut the Penguin’s lead in half at 14-7.

“At that point [being down 14-7], we just tried to consistently move the ball,” Voris said. “They played us differently than they played Penn State the week before.

“The biggest thing, no matter who you play, is to keep the ball in front of you and make them earn it.”

The Bulldog’s touchdown would be their final points of the game as the explosive Penguin defense kept Butler off the board from halftime onward.

The second half was filled with missed opportunities for the Bulldogs, who drove into Youngstown territory four times but could not manage to put any points on the board.

After missing a 28-yard field goal, Butler had two turnovers on downs.

The Penguins took advantage of Butler’s mistakes.

Youngstown had an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown on their second possession of the half to build up their lead to 24-7.

Youngstown scored again on their next drive off of a 25-yard run from Bellamy for his second score of the game.

The touchdown put the Penguins up 31-7 and sealed the win for Youngstown.