Musketeers Return to Hayden Field to Host No. 4 Kentucky and Miami (Ohio)

Tuesday, May 7

Cincinnati, Ohio

3:00 PM

Xavier University

Kentucky

Tickets

Musketeers Return to Hayden Field to Host No. 4 Kentucky and Miami (Ohio)

05.06.24 | Baseball

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Xavier face Wildcats on Tuesday, RedHawks on Wednesday, both set for 3 PM starts

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball returns to Hayden Field to host a pair of midweek games, facing No. 4 Kentucky on Tuesday, May 7, before taking on Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday, May 8. Tuesday's game with the Wildcats is set for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch on FloSports. Wednesday's match-up with the RedHawks will begin at 3:00 p.m. with a live audio stream available through GoXavier.com and the Varsity Network.

The Musketeers are 25-22 overall on the season and 9-6 in BIG EAST play after sweeping Butler in a three-game series over the weekend.

KENTUCKY

Kentucky enters the week at 35-10 with an 18-6 record in SEC play, and are ranked as high as No. 4 in the country by D1Baseball.com after taking two of three against then No. 2 Arkansas over the weekend.
The Wildcats are ranked No. 2 in the most recent RPI and sit in first place in the SEC standings.
Kentucky went 40-21 overall last season with a 16-14 record in SEC play. The Wildcats earned an at-large bid and hosted a Regional in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky picked up back-to-back wins over IU to advance to the Baton Rouge Super Regional.
Xavier is 2-30 all-time against the Wildcats, falling 13-2 in last season's match-up.

MIAMI (OHIO)

Miami is 24-20 on the season with a 16-11 record in MAC play.
The RedHawks have won 10 of the their last 11, including a three-game sweep of Toledo and Eastern Michigan, and took two of three against Kent State.
Xavier is 32-46-1 all-time against Miami after falling in the first game this season in Oxford, Ohio.
In the first of the two match-ups between the two teams this season, Miami took an 11-1 win over the Musketeers.

BIG EAST Standings

SCHOOL	CONF	CPCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	STREAK
UConn	12-3	.800	27-19	.587	W1
St. John's	11-4	.733	31-11-1	.733	W6
Georgetown	10-4	.714	29-16	.644	L3
Xavier	9-6	.600	25-22	.532	W3
Seton Hall	5-10	.333	22-26	.458	L1
Villanova	5-10	.333	14-30	.318	L7
Creighton	4-10	.286	31-14	.689	L3
Butler	3-12	.200	17-29	.370	L4

XAVIER NOTES

RHP Luke Hoskins has made 12 starts this season, with a 5.84 ERA through a team-high 61.2 innings pitched. Hoskins, who has 47 strikeouts to 10 walks, ranks first in the BIG EAST and No. 11 in NCAA DI in walks allowed per nine innings at 1.46 and also leads the league and ranks in the top 40 in the country with a 4.70 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
RHP Jonathan Kelly ranks fourth among pitchers in the BIG EAST with at least one inning pitched per game played with a 3.28 ERA through 49.1 innings pitched. He's made 17 total appearances, including four starts, to bring his career total to 91 appearances, the fourth-most in program history. Kelly 36 strikeouts to 17 walks, and has recorded a pair of wins (2-1) and three saves on the season.
LHP Alex Vera leads the BIG EAST and ranks second in NCAA DI with 28 appearances this season with a 5.87 ERA through 38.1 innings pitched, collecting a team-high four saves.
LHP Nolan Hughes has made 18 appearances total, including four starts, posting a 3.62 ERA through 27.1 innings pitched. Hughes leads the Musketeers with 54 strikeouts on the season.
RHP Nick Boyle has made 14 appearances, including eight starts, with a 5.49 ERA through 39.1 innings, collecting 50 strikeouts.
IF/RHP Jake Lambdin has made 14 appearances on the mound in relief, with a 2.33 ERA through 19.1 innings pitched, earning three saves. On offense, Lambdin has an 12-game reached safely streak.
OF Aedan Anderson hit his team-leading and conference-leading 14th home run of the season against Butler. His slugging percentage of .632 leads Xavier's regular players and ranks second in the BIG EAST. Anderson is batting .263 overall, has a team-best matching 15 game reached safely streak, and has a team-high 36 runs scored.
1B Matt McCormick ranks second in the BIG EAST with 13 home runs, helping the Musketeers to a BIG EAST-leading 70 home runs so far this season. He's batting .284 overall and has reached base in all but two games this season. McCormick leads the Musketeers with 29 walks and has driven in a team-high 42 RBI.
OF Hayden Christiansen leads Xavier's everyday players with a .295 average overall, and has a .356 average in BIG EAST play. Among his 51 hits are 14 that have gone for extra bases. He ranks as the fourth-toughest batter in the BIG EAST to strike out, averaging just one K for every 8.7 at-bats.
2B Jared Cushing has a team-leading 54 hits, with a .290 average at the plate overall and a .348 average in BIG EAST play. Cushing enters the week having reached safely in the last 15 games, with a team-best hitting streak of 14 games.
3B Luke Hammond leads the Musketeers with a .400 average in BIG EAST action, with 11 of his 28 hits in conference play going for extra bases for a .671 slugging percentage, best among Xavier's everyday players for league play. Hammond enters the week with a seven-game hitting streak.

WEEKLY AWARDS

After leading the Musketeers in runs batted in through a sweep of a conference foe, third baseman Luke Hammond was named BIG EAST Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday. Additionally, left-handed pitcher Nolan Hughes earned a spot on the Weekly Honor Roll.
Hammond, a junior from Cincinnati, had a team-high six RBI and a team-high matching six hits in Xavier's 3-0 weekend against Butler, batting .429 for the week. On Friday, Hammond went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI. In Saturday's 7-3 win, Hammond went 1-for-4 with a RBI. Hammond finished Sunday's 12-7 win over the Bulldogs 3-of-5 at the plate, with a walk, driving in three RBI and scoring a pair of runs.
Hughes, a junior from Halifax, Mass., posted a 0.00 ERA through 3.1 innings in two relief appearances against Butler, collecting a team-high eight strikeouts. In Saturday's 7-3 win over the Bulldogs, Hughes pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, throwing four strikeouts and only surrendering one hit. In Sunday's win over Butler, he entered with one on and no outs in the seventh, not allowing a run in 2.0 innings of work, allowing one hit and two walks, and striking out four.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier travels to Georgetown the next weekend for the final road series of the BIG EAST schedule, set to get underway on Friday, May 10 and run through Sunday, May 12, at the University of Maryland.
The Musketeers then return to Cincinnati to wrap up the regular season, hosting Oklahoma on Tuesday, May 14, and then wrapping up BIG EAST play with a three-game series against Villanova, running from Thursday, May 16 through Saturday, May 18, at Hayden Field.
Xavier is scheduled to face 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.

DEPREY NAMED TO POSEY WATCH LIST

Matthew DePrey was among the 63 catchers named to the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Watch List by the Wichita Sports Commission. The award honors the nation's top Division I collegiate catcher as voted on by head coaches and sports information directors.
DePrey, a native of Sun Prairie, Wis., has started all 36 games behind the plate for the Musketeers, with a 38 hits, including 12 for extra bases, and 17 walks on the season, driving in 11 RBI and scoring 26 runs. On defense, the senior has caught 13 runners stealing so far this season. This is DePrey's second time earning a spot on the Watch List.
DePrey is one of three BIG EAST catchers on the watch list, joined by St. John's Jimmy Keenan and Georgetown's Owen Carapellotti.
The 2024 Watch List features 63 student-athletes from NCAA Division 1 universities throughout the country. "Since 2000, the Wichita Sports Commission has acknowledged the hard work and talent of the most demanding position in baseball," said Kevin Jenks, President/CEO of the Wichita Sports Commission. "The Buster Posey Award has become one of college baseball's most coveted and prestigious awards. It's always special to have all three finalists, their families and coaches attend the event."
The 2024 winner will be announced on June 26th at the Greater Wichita Sports Banquet. Three finalists will be invited to attend the banquet hosted by the Wichita Sports Commission. Nominations from head coaches and sports information directors will continue until May 8th.

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.