Baseball Set to Host Indiana State for Three Games

Saturday, March 16

Cincinnati, Ohio

1:00 PM

Xavier University

Indiana State

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Baseball Set to Host Indiana State for Three Games

03.14.24 | Baseball

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Musketeers set to play Sycamores for three games, starting Friday at 3 PM at Hayden Field

By: Mason Stamm, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball returns home to host Indiana State for a three-game series at Hayden Field this weekend. Game one with the Sycamores is set for Friday, March 15 at 3:00 p.m. The series continues on Saturday, March 16, set for a 1:00 p.m. start, and the series finale will be Sunday, March 17 at 1:00 p.m. All three games will be live streamed on FloSports.

Xavier is 8-9 on the season after falling at Wright State on Tuesday afternoon. The Musketeers have won two of its four weekend series this season, taking two of three at Lipscomb and FGCU, and also picked wins at Louisville, La Tech and LSU, and over Cincinnati in the home opener.

INDIANA STATE NOTABLES

Indiana State enters the weekend at 12-3 after opening the season with seven straight wins, including picking up wins over Louisville, UConn, South Florida, Michigan State, Florida Gulf Coast and Illinois, as well series wins over Marshall and Florida A&M.
The Sycamores went 45-17 overall in 2023, with a 24-3 record in Missouri Valley Conference play.
ISU won four out of five games in the MVC Tournament, winning the league title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Sycamores were selected as Regional Hosts, picking up wins over Wright State and Iowa to advance to the Fort Worth Super Regional.
In the Super Regional, Indiana State was eliminated by host TCU.

XAVIER NOTES

The Musketeers come into this match-up with an 8-9 record on the season.
In Xavier's only home game this season, they were victorious against the Cincinnati Bearcats on February 27^th.
After this series, Xavier will head to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Tennessee Volunteers on March 19^th.
OF Isaac Wachsmann leads the Musketeers in batting average with a mark of .409.
INF Matt McCormick is slashing .313/.436/.516 at the plate while driving in a team-leading 15 RBI's.
Wachsmann and McCormick are tied for the team-lead in home runs with four each.
C Matthew DePrey has tallied seven doubles on the season, good for the team-lead.
As a team this season, the Musketeers are hitting for a .267 batting average and have launched 20 home runs.
RHP Jake Hooker holds the best ERA on the club with a mark of 2.25. The right-hander has appeared in nine games this season and has logged 12 innings of work. Hooker has struck out 11 batters while walking just four.
RHP Nick Boyle has a perfect 2-0 record on the season and is second on the team in innings pitched at 18.0. Boyle leads the team in strikeouts with 20.
RHP Connor Bailey is limiting opponents to a .190 batting average in 17.0 innings pitched. Bailey also holds a flawless 2-0 record on the season.
As a team this season, Xavier pitchers have combined for a 6.19 ERA and have racked up 132 strikeouts while walking 91 batters.
Thus far in the month of March, Xavier carries a 4-5 record.

WEEKLY AWARDS

After going setting a new career-high for strikeouts in Xavier's win over No. 2 LSU, right-handed pitcher Nick Boyle was named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on Monday afternoon by the league office.
Boyle, a senior from Goshen, Ky., made the start on the mound in Sunday's 2-1 win over the Tigers, not giving up an earned run in 5.0 innings of work and limiting the Tigers to four hits. He topped his previous career high of six strikeouts, set against FGCU, with seven Ks against the Tigers, helping the Xavier pitching staff to a season-high matching 12 strikeouts for the day. Boyle picked up the win, his second of the season.
Xavier's pitching staff limited the Tigers to just five hits, a season-low for the Musketeers' staff. LSU's one run scored was a season low for the Tigers.

RETURNING MUSKETEERS

The Musketeers, who received 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 will head to Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday, March 19 for a midweek game at Tennessee, set for a 6:30 p.m. start.
Xavier returns home next weekend, hosting VCU for a three-game series at Hayden Field.
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 time 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.