Claerhout, Butt see BU sweep final weekly awards

HELENA, Mont. -- Bellevue University senior first baseman Carter Claerhout (Red Deer, Alberta) and junior left-handed pitcher Kody Butt (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) have been named the Frontier Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, as announced by the conference office on Monday afternoon.

Claerhout and Butt led the Bruins to a four-game series sweep of Bismarck State College last week, as the Bruins put the finishing touches on an unbeaten 24-0 regular season. BU is ranked third nationally with a 44-3 overall mark on the year.

Claerhout was an offensive juggernaut over the four-game stretch, recording multiple hits and at least one extra-base hit in every contest. He batted a blistering .600 with a 1.886 OPS, driving in 10 runs and scoring 11 times. The award comes amidst a 25-game hitting streak, during which Claerhout has maintained a .621 average and launched 15 home runs.

On the season, Claerhout leads the NAIA and the Frontier Conference in nearly every major statistical category, including: hits, home runs, total bases, batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. Additionally, he leads the Frontier Conference in runs, RBI, sacrifice flies, and on-base percentage.

Butt earned Pitcher of the Week honors following a historic performance on the mound against Bismarck State. In an 18-0 shutout victory, Butt struck out a career-high 17 batters in just six innings of work, allowing only three hits. The 17-strikeout performance ranks as the fifth-highest single-game total in the history of the Bellevue University program.

On the mound this season, Butt has been a force for the Bruins' rotation, pitching to a 6-1 record with a 3.17 ERA He leads the team with 12.33 strikeouts per nine and has totaled 74 punchouts on the year. Opponents are hitting just .224 against him and he has compiled a 1.19 WHIP.

Bellevue returns to action in the upcoming Frontier Conference Tournament which begins Thursday from Community Bank & Trust Ballpark in Dickinson, N.D. where they will be the top seed and shooting for a fifth-consecutive conference tournament crown. Their first game is set for 5 p.m. against the winner of No. 4 Dakota State University vs No. 5 Mayville State University.