Creighton baseball will look to build off the momentum of two consecutive walk-off wins heading into a weekend series with the Butler Bulldogs. The Bluejays are coming off a 4-3 walk-off victory against Nebraska on Tuesday and a 6-5 walk-off in extra innings against South Dakota State last night.
Creighton (22-7, 2-1 Big East) will separate themselves from the rest of the conference this weekend if it can find a way to pick up wins against a Butler team with just nine wins on the season. The Bluejays currently sit in a three-way tie atop the Big East standings with St. John’s and Villanova. Creighton rounds out the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30 poll ranked 30th with an RPI of 26.
Butler opened up this season with six consecutive losses and has lost eight of its last nine games. The Bulldogs are struggling with the bats this season, hitting just .237 as a team.
The projected pitching matchup for Friday’s series opener is Butler’s Bobby Napoleon against Creighton’s Rollie Lacy. Napoleon has struggled so far this season, posting a 6.62 ERA with a record of 0-3 in 11 appearances. Lacy on the other hand has started this season off well with a 2.33 ERA and a 5-1 record in eight appearances.
Lacy earned his second Big East Pitcher of the Week honor on Monday. The righty took a shutout into the eighth inning against conference opponent Seton Hall, allowing just one run on three hits.
Junior Daniel Woodrow currently leads the Big East with a .367 batting average, but senior first baseman Reagan Fowler has been hot at the plate as of late. Fowler comes into the series against Butler batting .537 in his last five games with five RBIs, four runs scored and two doubles.
The Bluejays open up the series tonight at 6:30 at TD Ameritrade Park. The series continues Saturday at 1:00 p.m., and wraps up Sunday at noon.
