Baseball Heads to Nashville Regional for 2023 NCAA Tournament

CINCINNATI - Xavier baseball (37-23) heads to the Nashville Regional of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, earning the No. 3 seed and opening play against No. 2 seed Oregon. The Musketeers and the Ducks are set to face off on Friday, June 2 at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

The regional is hosted by the No. 6 national seed Vanderbilt which opens play against No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois, with the Commodores and the Panthers playing the second game on Friday, set to begin at 8:00 p.m.

Xavier earned the BIG EAST title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the deciding game seven of the conference's tournament with a comeback 7-3 win over the top-seeded UConn Huskies on Saturday night at Prasco Park.

The title is Xavier's fourth BIG EAST Championship in program history (2014, 2016, 2017, 2023) and marks the fifth NCAA bid for the Musketeers (2009, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2023).

The Musketeers are 6-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, playing in the Regional Finals in each of Xavier's last two NCAA appearances (2016 - Nashville; 2017 - Louisville).

The Ducks are 37-20 on the season and went 16-14 in the Pac-12 regular season. Oregon enters the NCAA Tournament on a six-game winning streak, going 4-0 in the Pac-12 Tournament to win the league's title and automatic bid. Xavier is 0-5 all-time against the Ducks, after playing a four-game series in Eugene, with UO taking the sweep.

Prior to this season's series, the lone match-up between the two programs came in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, with the Musketeers falling 11-8 in extra innings, also at the Nashville Regional.

Vanderbilt, the host and No. 1 seed in the region, is coming into the NCAA Tournament at 41-18 overall and 19-11 in SEC play, earning the 4-seed in the SEC Tournament. The Dores won four of five games in the conference tournament to win the SEC Baseball Tournament championship and the league's automatic bid.

Xavier is 3-8 all time against Vanderbilt and have played in the Nashville Regional twice before (2014, 2016).

Eastern Illinois is the No. 4 seed in the region, entering NCAA play at 38-19, with a 13-11 record in OVC play in the regular season. The Panthers went 5-2 in the OVC Tournament, including winning the last three to win the conference title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Xavier is 1-0 all-time against the Panthers, taking a 5-4 win over EIU in March 1987.

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