HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University baseball team continues its nine-game road trip with a pair of midweek contests in Indiana as the Norse travel to Butler and Evansville in nonconference action.
 
NKU opens the week at Butler in Indianapolis on Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m., before heading to Evansville for a 7 p.m. Eastern contest on Wednesday.  Links to live stats and John Asalon's audio broadcast for each event are available at NKUNorse.com. Fans can also follow each game's progress by following @NKUNorseGameDay on Twitter.
 
The Norse improved to 12-23 overall and 1-8 in the Atlantic Sun Conference after capturing a 6-4 victory in the series finale against Stetson on Sunday after the Hatters defeated NKU 13-1 on Friday and 4-3 on Saturday to claim the series.  Anthony Vagnier finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI to lead the Norse offense, while Quint Heady and Trey Ganns each posted two-hit games.
 
Matt Jefferson earned his second victory of the season after giving up three runs on seven hits in seven innings, and he struck out five batters and walked two.  Nick Beard posted his first collegiate save after pitching two innings of one-hit relief.
 
ABOUT BUTLER: The Bulldogs are 15-23 overall and 2-4 in the Big East after winning two of a three-game series at Seton Hall.  The Pirates claimed a 6-4 win in Friday's opener, but a ninth-inning single up the middle from Chris Maranto scored Nick Bartolone to lift Butler to a 1-0 victory on Saturday.  The Bulldogs took the series by handing Seton Hall a 3-1 loss in Sunday's series finale.
 
Garrett Christman boasts a .358 batting average with seven doubles, 17 RBIs and 15 runs scored to lead the Butler offense, while Tyler Houston is batting .323 with seven doubles, two triple, three home runs and a team-leading 10 stolen bases.  Ryan Wojciechowski has recorded 12 doubles, one triple and two home runs to go along with a .319 batting average as Quincy Quintero rounds out the over-.300 hitters at .340 with nine doubles and one home run.
 
The Norse are expected to face left-handed pitcher Connor Mitchell, who holds a 7.20 earned run average and 0-1 record over nine appearances and five starts.  He has struck out nine batters and walked eight in 15.0 innings on the mound for the Bulldogs.
 
NKU-BUTLER SERIES: Butler holds a 5-3 advantage in the all-time series with NKU, which started with a 4-2 Norse victory on March 14, 1978.  The two teams split a pair of games during the 1979 season before the Bulldogs handed the Norse a 4-0 loss the following year.
 
During NKU's inaugural NCAA Division I season in 2013, the programs resumed the series.  That season, the Norse suffered losses by scores of 6-2 and 8-3 at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex before the Bulldogs also claimed a 3-2 win in Indianapolis one month later.  Last season, NKU took advantage of five Butler errors to take a 12-6 victory in Highland Heights, giving head coach Todd Asalon his 600th career victory.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST BUTLER: Cole Bauml went 3-for-5 with three runs batted in as NKU posted a 12-6 win over Butler on May 7, 2014.  Heady finished 2-for-3, hit his first career home run and scored three times, while Zac Asman, Jordan Procyshen and Ryan LeFevers each posted two-hit games for the Norse as well.
 
Kyle Colletta earned his first collegiate victory on the mound, giving up four runs, just one earned, on eight hits with five strikeouts and one walk over eight innings of work.
 
Bartolone finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI to lead the way for Butler, while Maranto and Quintero each went 2-for-5.  Maranto drove in two runs and scored once as Peter Nyzyk took the loss on the mound for the Bulldogs, surrendering four runs, two earned, on four hits in three innings.
 
The Norse scored runs in four of the first five innings to take an 11-3 lead, capped by a five-run fifth.  Butler was unable to overcome the deficit as the Bulldogs scored three runs in the final three innings while limiting NKU to just one run during that span for the final margin of the game.
 
ABOUT EVANSVILLE: The Aces moved to 20-16 overall and 5-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Evansville dropped a 7-3 decision in the first game of its South Alabama series on Friday, but the Aces held off a seventh-inning rally for a 6-5 victory on Saturday.  Evansville claimed the series in Sunday's finale with a 9-5 win over the Jaguars.
 
Kevin Kaczmarski leads the MVC with a .422 batting average, and he has recorded 10 doubles, four triples, three home runs and 10 stolen bases in 13 attempts for Evansville.  Kaczmarski has driven in a team-leading 30 runs and has scored 24 times, while Josh Jyawook is batting .323 with a team-high 12 doubles, two home runs, 22 RBIs and 35 runs scored.  Jarod Perry has also scored 35 times for the Aces and is hitting .299 with nine doubles and one triple.
 
Right-handed pitcher Ryan Billo is expected to take the mound against the Norse on Wednesday.  Billo is 4-1 on the season and has recorded a 3.22 ERA over 50.1 innings of work, and he has struck out 33 batters to lead the Evansville pitching staff and he has walked 12 batters in 12 appearances, including seven starts.
 
FRESHMAN IMPACT: Since going 0-for-3 against Kennesaw State on April 11, Trey Ganns has raised his batting average 20 points by claiming hits in four of the last five NKU contests.  He has posted three multi-hit games over that span, including a 3-for-4 effort in the series finale against the Owls. He has driven in four runs, scored twice and collected two doubles in that same period.
 
The freshman designated hitter from Burlington, Kentucky, boasts a .304 batting average to go along with seven doubles and one home run, and he has drawn a team-leading 16 walks.  He has posted nine multi-hit games, including three three-hit performances, and he has recorded at least one hit in 23 contests.
 
SHOWING IMPROVEMENT: Logan Spurlin takes a four-game hitting streak into NKU's midweek games, which has raised his batting average 22 points from .205 after the series finale against Kennesaw State on April 12 to .227.  He posted a 2-for-4 performance against Stetson on Saturday, and he scored twice and hit his second home run of the season in the final game of the Hatters series on Sunday.
 
The junior from Evanston, Illinois, batted .364 during the three-game series at Stetson.  Spurlin went 4-for-11 from the plate, including one double and one home run, and he scored twice.  This season, he has recorded five doubles and two home runs, and he has drawn 12 walks and been hit by four pitches.  Spurlin has driven home 11 runs and scored 13 times for the Norse.
 
MAKING IT HURT: NKU made five Stetson errors hurt on Sunday, as only two of the Norse's runs were earned during a 6-4 victory in DeLand, Florida. Northern Kentucky took the early lead in the second inning as Logan Spurlin scored after reaching base on a fielding error by the second baseman before NKU added three runs on just two hits and three errors in the fourth.
 
Sunday's victory marked the seventh time this season the Norse won a contest when their opponent committed two or more errors.  NKU took advantage of three Eastern Kentucky errors on April to plate three runs in a 5-2 victory at the Bill Aker Baseball Complex.  NKU now holds wins over CSU Bakersfield (Feb. 21), Dayton (March 12), Morehead State (March 24), Xavier (March 28 and 29), Eastern Kentucky and Stetson when the other team recorded two or more miscues.
 
UP NEXT: NKU travels to Spartanburg, South Carolina, for a three-game Atlantic Sun series against USC Upstate. First pitch for Friday's opener is slated for 6 p.m. with Saturday's contest set to begin at 2 p.m.  The two teams will wrap up the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.  Links to live stats and John Asalon's audio broadcast for each contest will be available at NKUNorse.com.