JOE HASENSTAB | Staff Reporter
Butler’s baseball team is coming off another rough weekend in which it dropped all three of its games. They now look ahead to the home opener.
The schedule for last weekend’s games was changed last minute. Instead of facing Samford for a three-game series, Butler played Samford on Friday and Sunday and faced Purdue on Saturday. All three games were played in Birmingham, Ala.
The losses this weekend brought the Bulldogs’ record to 1-7. They will try and snap their six-game losing streak today when they play Marian in their first home game of the year.
Butler lost one-run decisions on Saturday and Sunday. The team scored five runs in the ninth inning to tie the game in Sunday’s finale before Samford won in walk-off fashion.
Despite being in the middle of a tough stretch, the Bulldogs remainsoptimistic.
“Our team is right there, we just need to find one or two more big hits a game and I think we are right there in it,” sophomore outfielder Nick Bartolone said.
Junior pitcher Eric Stout agreed with Bartolone and said he thinks getting more team practices in will help the Bulldogs.
“Everybody needs to make adjustments, all around and in all aspects of the game,” Stout said. “We’re kind of struggling with pitching, hitting and defense right now.”
Butler will have its first three- game series of the season on Friday at home. They will face off against Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, a team that Bartolone said the Bulldogs are capable of beating.
“Everybody is pretty excited to play a team where we know we can really play our own game,” Bartolone said. “We don’t have to try and go above and beyond.
“It’s somebody that we can really put it to them, put a lot of hits on the board, pitch them well. We are just excited to go out and play a team that is used to the weather that we’re used to.”
The two teams met last season for a three game series in which IPFW took two of three. Despite this, Stout shared some of Bartolone’s confidence.
“I feel like if the weather cooperates, whether we play here or there’s a rumor we may play in Nashville, I think it’s going to be a great series and one we are definitely looking forward to winning and getting back on the right path,” the pitcher said.