Ben Norton

Ben Norton was named to the Butler baseball coaching staff in the summer of 2016. Head Coach Dave Schrage hired Norton to serve as the program's pitching coach.

Norton helped the Butler pitching staff break a school record during his first season as an assistant coach. BU arms struck out 405 batters during the 2017 season to break the old record of 377 which was set by the 2001 team.
Norton also helped Butler post their seventh no-hitter in school history with a 4-2 win at Purdue. The Bulldogs used five players on the mound at Purdue to post a no-hitter on May 10, 2017.
Butler lowered their team ERA to 3.71 in 2017 after posting a 5.51 ERA in 2016. Team saves also improved to 13 from four the year prior.
Norton joined the South Dakota State University baseball coaching staff in the fall of 2012 as a graduate assistant and was elevated to a full-time assistant as pitching coach following the 2014 season. In 2016, Norton helped relief pitcher Landon Busch land on the All-Summit League Second Team. Busch compiled a 7-4 overall record, but went 7-0 out of the bullpen. He tallied 64 strikeouts in just over 64 innings while posting a 3.50 ERA.
During the 2013 campaign with the Jackrabbits, Norton helped mentor four pitchers who went on to earn all-Summit League honors. Stephen Bougher and Layne Somsen were first-team selections, with Somsen earning Summit League Pitcher of the Year honors. Second-team honorees were Adam Bray and J.D. Moore. Moore set the Jackrabbit single-season saves record with 13 and was later an all-region selection by the American Baseball Coaches Association.
In earning their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament at the Division I level, Norton and the Jackrabbit pitching staff recorded its lowest team earned run average in 35 years at 3.37. The Jackrabbits also set a school record with 384 strikeouts, surpassing the previous mark of 357 in one less game.
SDSU again led The Summit League in team ERA (3.66) en route to the top seed at the Summit League Baseball Championship in 2014. Bray and Moore moved up to the all-Summit League First Team, while starter Chad Hodges was a second-team all-Summit honoree.
Norton arrived at SDSU after spending the 2012 season at Lincoln College (Ill.), where he mentored a pitching staff that posted the lowest team earned run average in 19 years. He previously served as assistant coach at the University of Illinois-Springfield in 2010 and 2011, serving as interim head coach in the fall of 2011.
A native of Fort Wayne, Ind., Norton began his coaching career at the University of Evansville (Ind.) as an assistant coach during the fall of 2008 before moving on to Indiana Tech in the spring of 2009. He also served as a pitching instructor and assistant manager at the Extra Innings Baseball Academy for two years.
Before starting his coaching career, Norton was a standout hurler for Evansville, where he played for Dave Schrage. In 2006, Norton compiled a 9-3 record with a 3.23 earned run average in 19 appearances, including 13 starts. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 24th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft and spent one season playing in the club's minor league system at Idaho Falls before suffering a career-ending shoulder injury.