Despite an up-and-down season thus far, the Butler baseball team was able to pick up two victories against the top two Horizon League teams—Valparaiso and Wright State.
However, those wins were not enough to pull the Bulldogs (17-21, 6-10 HL) out of sixth place in the conference.
Against both teams, Butler took the first game of a doubleheader. Senior catcher Michael Letzter played a large role in the victories, tallying seven RBIs in the two contests.
He and the rest of the Bulldogs will be looking for consistent scoring and important conference wins against Cleveland State.
“We know we can hit, and when we reach our potential defensively, it will make us a tough team to beat,” Letzter said.
Butler’s upcoming three-game series against the conference’s last-place team, Cleveland State, could give the Bulldogs some needed wins.
“I think we are in a good spot to sweep [the Vikings],” Letzter said. “We played pretty well against the top two teams [in the Horizon League], and I think we are playing our best baseball right now.”
Following the series against the Vikings (9-33, 2-16 HL), Butler will host back-to-back doubleheaders against Youngstown State and Milwaukee.
The Penguins (11-30, 6-9 HL) sit just a half game ahead of Butler in the conference, while the Panthers (19-22, 9-7 HL) are currently in fourth place.
The Bulldogs have played both squads in three-game series this season and have come out on the losing end of both.
Against Milwaukee, Butler kept all three contests close—outscored just 11-9 in the series. Butler was victorious only in the second of three games.
The Bulldogs’ earlier series against Youngstown State began well with Butler toppling the Penguins, 15-1. However, the squad was unable to repeat that success in the final two games and was outscored 9-4 in a pair of losses.
“We played awful at Youngstown State,” Letzter said. “I feel like we have something to prove to them. And with Milwaukee, we were with them for a couple games, so we just have to stay calm and play our kind of baseball.”