Xavier Baseball Travels to No. 9 Clemson for Season-Opening Series

Friday, February 16

Clemson, S.C.

4:00 PM

Xavier University

Clemson

Xavier Baseball Travels to No. 9 Clemson for Season-Opening Series

02.14.24 | Baseball

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Musketeers and Tigers set to play three, starting on Friday at 4 PM

By: Hayley Schletker, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball heads south to open the 2024 season this weekend, traveling to South Carolina to face the No. 9 Clemson Tigers for three games. The season gets underway on Friday, February 16, with a 4:00 p.m. first pitch.

Game two with the Tigers is set for Saturday, February 17 at 2:00 p.m. and the series is Sunday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m. All three games of the series will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra through the WatchESPN platform.

SERIES STARTERS

Friday - RHP Luke Hoskins vs. RHP Billy Barlow
Saturday - LHP Nolan Hughes vs. LHP Tristan Smith
Sunday - RHP Nick Boyle vs. RHP Aidan Knaak

CLEMSON NOTABLES

The series with the Musketeers is the season opener for the Tigers, who are ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation by Baseball America and in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Clemson also comes in at No. 10 in D1Baseball.com's preseason poll and is ranked No. 12 by the NCBWA.
Last season, Clemson went 44-19 overall and 20-10 in ACC play, winning the league tournament and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with four-straight wins in the championship.
The Tigers hosted an NCAA Regional, picking up wins over Miami and Lipscomb before falling to Tennessee and Charlotte.
Xavier is 1-0 all-time against the Tigers, taking a 6-4 win in the 2014 NCAA Nashville Regional in the lone match-up in the series.

XAVIER STARTING ROTATION

Luke Hoskins, a preseason All-BIG EAST pick, is set to start the season opener for the Musketeers on Friday. The junior made 20 appearances, starting in 15, in 2023, finishing with a 7-2 record. Hoskins posted a 4.48 ERA through 78.1 innings pitched, allowing just 39 earned runs on 79 hits, finishing with 53 strikeouts to 18 walks for a WHIP of 1.24, and limited opposing batters to a .267 average at the plate.
Nolan Hughes is set to make his first appearance as a Musketeer in the Saturday match-up. A junior transfer from Fordham, Hughes split time between the weekend rotation and bullpen in 2023, making 17 appearances including six starts. He collected a pair of wins with an 8.12 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 47.2 innings pitched.
Nick Boyle, Sunday's projected starter for the Musketeers, made 13 appearances, including five starts, in 2023. Boyle started in the final game of the season-opening series at Oregon last year, his first career appearance, going a season-long 4.2 innings, and setting his season-high with five strikeouts. He finished the season with a 7.36 ERA through 18.1 innings pitched, allowed 15 earned runs on 16 hits, with 17 strikeouts to 23 walks.

THE BULLPEN

Grad student Jonathan Kelly tied the school single-season record with 32 appearances last season, currently tied for eighth-most appearances in Xavier career records with 74 (School Record: 101 - Trey Schramm). Kelly posted an ERA of 4.66 in 56.0 innings pitched, allowing 29 earned runs on 59 hits. He finished with 42 strikeouts to 16 walks for a WHIP of 1.34.
Righty Jared Gadd returns for the Musketeers after sitting out last season due to injury. In his last season with the Musketeers (2022), he made 23 appearances, including two starts, finishing with a record of 5-4 with three saves. He posted an ERA of 4.20 with a WHIP of 1.38 through 49.1 innings pitched, finishing with 38 strikeouts on the season while only giving up 13 walks.
Sophomore Jack Niedringhaus made 11 appearances, including one start, for the Musketeers as a freshman. He posted an ERA of 3.71 through 17.0 innings pitched, allowing seven earned runs on 16 hits, striking out 10 while walking eight.
Connor Bailey made 15 appearances, including one start, last season. He finished with a 6.38 ERA through 18.1 innings of work, allowing 13 earned runs on 17 hits and finished with 11 strikeouts to 12 walks.
Nathan Stahl made five appearances in his first season with the Musketeers in 2023, posting a 9.00 ERA through 5.0 innings pitched. Stahl allowed four earned runs on four hits, finishing with four strikeouts and four walks.
Xavier added graduate transfer, Alex Vera, a lefty coming to the Musketeers from Illinois. Last season, Vera went 1-1 with a 5.74 ERA through 31.1 innings pitched, making 20 relief appearances. He finished with 33 strikeouts and 10 walks issued.
Logan Schmidt, a right-handed junior transfer from St. John's River, has made 33 career appearances, including 31 starts, with a 4.20 ERA through 141.1 innings pitched. He had a career total of 122 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.42 during his time at SJRSC. In 2023, he made 18 appearances, starting in 17 games, with an ERA of 3.83 in 87.0 innings pitched, collecting 80 strikeouts, with a K/9 of 8.28 and a WHIP of 1.37.

THE MUSKETEERS

The Musketeers, who are receiving votes in the NCBWA Preseason Poll, return seven every-day players from the 2023 roster that won the program's fourth BIG EAST Championship and made the program's fifth NCAA appearance. The Musketeers took part in the 2023 Nashville Regional, advancing to the Regional Finals before wrapping up the season at 39-25, tying the school record for wins (Also set in 2009).
Matthew DePrey, the 2023 All-BIG EAST First Team selection at catcher, started all 64 games behind the plate for the Musketeers, tying the Xavier single-season record for appearances. He batted .278, primarily hitting No. 2 in the order, with 10 doubles and a team-high matching 14 home runs among his 73 hits, finishing the season with a .475 slugging percentage. DePrey, who drove in 42 RBI and scored 50 runs last season, was named to D1Baseball's Preseason Top 50 Catchers list.
Preseason All-BIG EAST selection Matt McCormick was a second-team all-conference pick last season after starting in 62 games, mostly at first base. McCormick batted primarily in the five-hole, finishing with a .309 average for the season. He had 12 doubles and team-high matching 14 home runs among his 69 hits for a .552 slugging percentage, best among Xavier's everyday players, driving in in 44 RBI and scoring 40 runs. He also had 32 walks on the season, leading Xavier's starters with a .421 on-base percentage. McCormick was named to D1Baseball's Preseason Top 50 list for first basemen.
Preseason All-BIG EAST selection Jared Cushing was the All-BIG EAST Second Team pick at second base in 2023, after starting in a school-record matching 64 games. He batted .284, finishing the season with 71 hits, including 10 doubles, a triple and a team-high matching 14 home runs for a .500 slugging percentage, driving in 50 RBI and scoring 43 runs. Cushing, who was named to D1Baseball's Preseason Top 50 list for second basemen, posted a .980 fielding percentage and helped the Musketeers turn 35 double plays.
The league's preseason pick at third base, Grant Stephenson, was a 2023 All-BIG EAST Second Team selection after batting .236 on the season, with a .313 average at the plate in BIG EAST play. He finished with 10 doubles and three home runs among his 48 hits, driving in 29 RBI and scoring 27 runs.
Outfielder Garrett Schultz, was a 2024 Preseason All-BIG EAST Selection after starting in 39 games at center field last season. Schultz, who dealt with a mid-season injury in 2023, batted .278 with 40 hits, including six doubles and three home runs. He drove in 23 RBI and scored 17 runs.
Carter Hendrickson played in 58 games last season, starting in 55, splitting time between right and center field. The junior batted .250 for the season, collecting 46 hits, including eight doubles, a triple and five home runs, and drove in 23 RBI and scored 39 runs. He finished with an on-base percentage of .398, taking 31 walks on the season. He was hit by pitches 15 times, second most in a single season in Xavier's records. During the BIG EAST Tournament, he batted .308 through four games, going 4-of-13 with two walks and scoring four runs to earn All-BIG EAST Tournament Team honors.
After dealing with an early-season injury, Tyler DeMartino started in 43 games for the Musketeers, including 41 at DH, batting .255 primarily in the cleanup spot. He finished the season with 40 hits, including five doubles, a triple and 10 home runs, driving in 32 RBI and scoring 28 runs. DeMartino was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team after batting .308 through the four games of the tournament, finishing 4-of-13 at the plate with three walks and three hit-by-pitches, driving in three RBI.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

The Musketeers return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 21, traveling to Louisville, Ky. to face the Louisville Cardinals. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Next weekend, Xavier travels to Lipscomb, with the Musketeers set to face the Bisons for three games, running Feb. 23-25 in Nashville, Tenn.
Xavier opens the home schedule on Wednesday, Feb. 28, hosting Cincinnati at Hayden Field, set for a 2:00 p.m. first pitch.
Xavier is scheduled to face are nine programs that played in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, including four teams that advanced to a Super Regional and a pair of teams that competed in the College World Series.

BIG (EAST) SUCCESS

In 2023, Xavier finished second in the BIG EAST regular season and won the BIG EAST Tournament Championship to earn a bid to the NCAA Championship for the first ime since 2017. Xavier, the No. 2 seed in the league tournament, beat the No. 3 seed Seton Hall in the opening game and No. 1 seed UConn in the winner's bracket to advance to the Championships series. UConn took game one of the series, forcing a deciding game seven of the tournament, where the Musketeers posted a five-run ninth inning to come from behind and take the 7-3 win and clinch the title.
The 2023 championship was the program's fourth tournament title in the nine times the league has held the event since Xavier joined the conference for the 2013-14 season.
The Musketeers have made the four-team BIG EAST Tournaments seven times since joining the conference, including every season the event has been held since 2019.
Xavier has advanced to the conference championship series in each of its seven trips to the league tournament, claiming the tournament championship four times (2014, 2016, 2017, 2023) and finishing runners up three times (2019, 2021, 2022). Xavier also won the regular season title in 2016.

PRESEASON PICKS

Xavier, coming off the 2023 BIG EAST Tournament Championship, was picked to finish second in the league, earning a pair of first place votes in the coaches' poll.
Four Musketeers earned Preseason All-BIG EAST honors, as voted on by the league's coaches, including a trio of infielders, Matt McCormick, Jared Cushing and Grant Stephenson, as well as right-handed pitcher Luke Hoskins.

Preseason Player of the Year
Jake Studley, OF, UConn

Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Stephen Quigley, SP, UConn

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team*
C – Owen Carapellotti, Georgetown
1B – Matt McCormick, Xavier ^
2B – Jared Cushing, Xavier
3B – Grant Stephenson, Xavier ^
SS – Max Viera, Seton Hall
DH – Jack Grace, Creighton
OF – Joey Urban, Butler
OF – Jake Studley, UConn ^
OF – Devin Hack, Seton Hall
SP – Garrett Coe, UConn
SP – Stephen Quigley, UConn ^
SP – Dominic Cancellieri, Creighton
SP – Cody Bowker, Georgetown
SP – Luke Hoskins, Xavier
RP – Ryan Reich, Seton Hall

^ - denotes unanimous selection
* due to a tie in voting, there is an extra member on the preseason all-conference team.

BIG EAST Baseball Preseason Poll
First place votes in ( )
1. UConn (6) – 48
2. Xavier (2) – 44
3. Seton Hall – 35
4. Creighton – 29
4. Georgetown – 29
6. St. John's – 17
7. Butler – 14
8. Villanova – 8

XU TO HOST THE LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

The 2024 BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep will be co-hosted by Xavier baseball at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, during Memorial Day Weekend.
The four-team tournament opens on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 and is scheduled to run through Saturday, May 25, 2024.
The BIG EAST announced in 2023 that Prasco Park would extend the partnership, which began in 2018, with Xavier remaining the co-host of the annual postseason tournament through 2028.