Musketeers Travel to Maryland to Face Georgetown for Three Game Series

Friday, May 10

College Park, Md.

6:00 PM

Xavier University

Georgetown

Musketeers Travel to Maryland to Face Georgetown for Three Game Series

05.09.24 | Baseball

Live Stats Live Stream (YouTube)

Series gets underway on Friday at 6:00 PM, runs through Sunday afternoon

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball wraps up its regular season road schedule this weekend, traveling to College Park, Md., to face Georgetown for a three-game series held at the University of Maryland. Game one with the Hoyas is set for a 6:00 p.m. start on Friday, May 10. Game two will get underway on Saturday, May 11 at 2:00 p.m. and the series is set to wrap up on Sunday, May 12, set for a noon start. All three games will be live streamed free through YouTube.

The Musketeers, who are 33rd in the most recent RPI rankings, are 26-22 overall and 9-6 in BIG EAST play, entering the weekend on a four-game win streak after sweeping Butler in a three-game series over the weekend and taking the walk-off win over Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday afternoon. Following the series with Georgetown, Xavier has one remaining non-conference match-up, against Top-20 Oklahoma, and then closes out BIG EAST play with Villanova. The Musketeers currently standing in fourth place in the BIG EAST standings, with the top-four teams earning a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament.

GEORGETOWN

Georgetown (30-16) enters the weekend series at 30-16 overall and 10-4 in BIG EAST play, ranking third in the league standings.
The Hoyas, who were picked to finish fourth in the coaches preseason poll, took the three-game sweep of Butler and Villanova, won both games in a shortened series against Creighton and took two-of-three against Seton Hall, with the only BIG EAST series loss coming against UConn, a three game sweep. Georgetown concludes BIG EAST play next week against St. John's.
Christian Ficca leads the Hoyas at the plate, batting .348 on the season, with 62 hits, 38 runs scored, 14 doubles, 10 home runs and a team-best 57 RBIs to go with 32 walks.
Georgetown leads the BIG EAST and ranks in the top 50 nationally with 252 walks, and leads the conference in double plays (43), which ranks 17th nationally, hits (474), good for 66th in the country, runs (363) and slugging percentage (.483).
The Hoyas went 30-27 overall in 2023, posting a 10-10 record in BIG EAST play to finish fourth in the conference standings an earn a spot in the league tournament.
Georgetown fell to top seeded UConn in the opening game of the tournament before taking a win over Seton Hall in the elimination bracket. The Hoyas were eliminated by UConn to wrap up the 2023 season.
Xavier is 20-10 all-time against the Hoyas after going 1-2 in the series last season in Cincinnati.

BIG EAST Standings


SCHOOL	CONF	CPCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	STREAK
UConn	12-3	.800	27-20	.574	L1
St. John's	11-4	.733	31-12-1	.716	L1
Georgetown	10-4	.714	30-16	.652	W1
Xavier	9-6	.600	26-22	.542	W4
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	18-31	.367	W1

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. 10 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 third in NCAA DI with 29 appearances this season with a 5.63 ERA through 40.0 innings pitched, collecting a team-high four saves.
LHP Nolan Hughes has made 19 appearances total, including four starts, posting a 3.86 ERA through 28.0 innings pitched. Hughes leads the Musketeers with 56 strikeouts on the season.
RHP Nick Boyle has made 15 appearances, including eight starts, with a 5.44 ERA through 43.0 innings, collecting 54 strikeouts.
IF/RHP Jake Lambdin has made 15 appearances on the mound in relief, with a 3.54 ERA through 20.1 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 15th home run of the season against Miami. His slugging percentage of .638 leads Xavier's regular players and ranks second in the BIG EAST. Anderson is batting .261 overall, has a team-best matching 16-game reached safely streak, and has a team-high 38 runs scored.
OF Carter Hendrickson has a team-best .301 average at the plate, with 17 of his 41 hits going for extra bases, including 13 doubles, which matches Hammond for team-high. Hendrickson has come around to score 30 runs.
1B Matt McCormick stands at 13 home runs on the season, helping the Musketeers to a BIG EAST-leading 74 home runs so far this season. He's batting .278 overall and has reached base in all but two games this season. McCormick leads the Musketeers with 30 walks and has driven in a team high-matching 42 RBI.
2B Jared Cushing has a team-leading 57 hits, with a .298 average at the plate overall and a .359 average in BIG EAST play. After his five-RBI day against Miami (Ohio), which featured a pair of home runs, including the walk-off shot, Cushing matches McCormick for a team-leading 42 RBI. He enters the week having reached safely in the last 16 games, with a team-best hitting streak of 16 games.
3B Luke Hammond has a .293 average at the plate, and is batting .338 in BIG EAST action. For the season, Hammond has 55 hits, second most on the team, with 13 doubles and 10 home runs. Xavier's everyday players for league play. Hammond enters the weekend with a eight-game hitting streak.
OF Connor Misch is batting .277 overall with a .306 average in BIG EAST play, with 15 of his 33 hits coming against conference opponents. Misch has a 13-game hitting streak entering the weekend.

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

The Musketeers return to Cincinnati to wrap up the regular season next week, 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.
The top four teams in the BIG EAST standings will advance to the BIG EAST Tournament at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.
The four-team tournament opens on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 and is scheduled to run through Saturday, May 25, 2024.
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 48 games behind the plate for the Musketeers, with a 44 hits, including 12 for extra bases, and 23 walks on the season, driving in 14 RBI and scoring 30 runs. On defense, the senior has caught 15 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.