Butler Catholic School students are getting an after-school primer on statistics through the American national pastime, baseball.

Middle school-aged students at Butler Catholic are participating in the Action Math Baseball Program, sponsored by Pittsburgh Pirates Charities.

The winning team will go on to compete in the 2017 Pittsburgh Regional Action Math Baseball World Series Tournament, to be held at PNC Park on April 29.

The students make teams and compete in simulated games using their math skills.

“This is the second year we've done this program,” said Carol Dorcy, one of the teachers involved in the project.

Students begin by filling their roster and calculating each player's statistics applying the math they've been taught.

Each team must pick nine players total, two from the Pittsburgh Pirates, five from the current league and two from any time or team, living or dead.

“If students want to, they can trade,” said Dorcy. “Though they will have to do all that math again. But that's OK with me.”

To calculate a player's statistics, students find the likelihood of what happens when a player goes to bat. For example, how likely is it that a player gets a home run? They do this by using the players official statistics.

They then take that percentage and use a protractor to make a pie chart, mapping out the different plays and their likelihood.

A spinning arrow is put on top of the chart and students spin it to determine what happens with the player at bat.

The nine teams of two crowded around the tables in a large classroom on the second floor.

Students spun the arrows on their charts to see how their teams were doing as the sounds of the baseball stadium poured out of the small speakers on the wall.

Notable moments were shouted as the innings flew past.

“Ground out!”

“Bases loaded!”

“Home run!”

By the end of the first day most students had yet to finish their first games.

The program is after school and students do the math and play the games in their free time for about an hour after their classes end.

The teams will continue to meet after school until the tournament is completed. The winner will go on to the tournament at PNC Park at the end of the month.

According to the Pittsburgh Pirates Charities, the program is meant to get students engaged and excited about mathematics and to encourage them to consider pursuing an education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Students will learn and develop skills in algebra, fractions, decimals and using ratios to understand data.

Butler Catholic School received all of the funding needed for the program through a grant from Pittsburgh Pirates Charities.