Baseball Travels to Fayetteville, Ark. for Three Game Series with No. 8 Razorbacks

Friday, February 20

Fayetteville, Ark.

4:00 PM ET

Xavier University

Arkansas

Baseball Travels to Fayetteville, Ark. for Three Game Series with No. 8 Razorbacks

02.19.26 | Baseball

Live Stream (SECN+)Live Stats

Musketeers and Hogs get underway on Friday at 4:00 PM ET

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball (2-2) travels to No. 8 Arkansas (3-1) for a three-game series in Fayetteville, Ark., set to get underway on Friday, Feb. 20 at 4:00 p.m. ET. The series continues on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET and is set to conclude on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET.

All three games will be streamed on the SEC Network+.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Game 1: Feb. 20 - 4:00 PM ET
Live Stats | Watch

Game 2: Feb. 21 - 2:00 PM ET
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Game 3: Feb. 22 - 1:00 PM ET
Live Stats | Watch

XAVIER NOTABLE

Xavier took the series win in the season-opening weekend at East Carolina, going 2-1 against the Pirates, and fell in a midweek match-up at No. 15 Louisville to stand at 2-2 on the season.
OF Josh Stonehouse has a .333 average at the plate with a pair of home runs among his six hits. Hea leads the Musketeers with six runs scored and his five RBI match for team high.
C Jonathan Fitz is batting .444 with five walks on the season for a .643 on-base percentage.
IF Eddie Peters has a .400 average at the plate (6-15) with a pair of doubles and home run among his six hits.
OF JD Crisp has a.375 average at the plate through the opening week, with a pair of home runs among his six hits. He matches for team high with six RBI.
DH Peter Johnson has a .353 average at the plate, matching for team-high with six hits, including a double and a home run.
The Musketeers have 16 extra base hits through the first four games, including 10 home runs. In addition to Crisp and Stonehouse, Tommy Townsend and Landon Mensik have a pair of home runs on the season.
RHP Ryan Piech posted a 0.00 ERA through 4.0 innings of work in the opening day start, allowing just two hits and striking out a pair.
LHP Garrett Helsel made two relief appearances on the mound, not allowing a run though 3.1 innings of work with a team-high four strikeouts and earning the save in Xavier's win in game two.
RHP Jack Nobe went 4.1 innings in the start in game two at ECU, allowing just one earned run and striking out a pair.

ARKANSAS

The Razorbacks enter the weekend at 3-1 after picking up wins over Oklahoma State and Texas Tech during the opening weekend in Arlington Texas at the Shriners Children's College Showdown, and win over Tarleton State on Monday as part of the Amegy Bank College Baseball series, also in Arlington. Arkansas' lone setback came against No. 10 TCU last Saturday.
Arkansas is a consensus Top 10 team in the most recent rankings coming in at No. 4 in the Perfect Game Rankings, No. 8 in the most recent NCBWA and D1Baseball polls and No. 10 in the Baseball America rankings. The Razorbacks were also No. 5 in the USA TODAY Preseason Coaches Poll as well.
Four Razorbacks earned preseason All-SEC honors, as voted on by the league's coaches, including first team selections C Ryder Helfrick and 2B Camden Kozeal, and second team selections OF Kuhio Aloy and SP Gabe Gaeckle.
Arkansas went 50-15 last season, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. In the Fayetteville Regional, the Razorbacks picked up a win over North Dakota State and a pair of wins over Creighton to advance to the Fayetteville Super Regional, taking two wins over Tennessee to move on to the College World Series.
After falling to LSU in the opening game of the CWS, Arkansas took wins over Murray State and UCLA before being eliminated by LSU.
This is the first match-up between the two programs.

WEEKLY AWARDS

After batting .500 with six hits and five runs scored to help Xavier secure a series victory during the opening weekend of the 2026 season, Josh Stonehouse earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced on Monday.
Stonehouse, a freshman from Camarillo, Calif., started all three games in right field, batting second in the lineup, as the Musketeers opened the season with a 2-1 series win at East Carolina.
Stonehouse was 2-for-3 at the plate in his first collegiate appearance on Friday, helping Xavier to the 4-3 win in the season opener. In Xavier's 9-3 win in game two to secure the series victory, Stonehouse went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. In the series finale, he knocked in a pair of RBIs with his first home run of the season.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier opens up the home schedule next week, hosting Indiana on Tuesday, Feb. 24, set for a 2:00 p.m. start at Hayden Field.
The Musketeers travel to Fullerton, Calif., next weekend to take on Cal State Fullerton in a three-game series, set to get underway on Friday, Feb. 27 and run through Sunday, March 1.

2026 SCHEDULE

The Musketeers are set to face teams from nine conferences outside of BIG EAST play, as well as Oregon State, which will compete as an independent in baseball this season.
Among the 23 programs Xavier is scheduled to face this season, 10 played in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, with three teams taking part in the College World Series.
Six teams on the 2026 schedule were ranked in 2026 USA TODAY Preseason Coaches Poll: No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 11 Louisville, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 18 Vanderbilt and No. 23 Oregon. East Carolina, UConn and Cal State Fullerton also received votes in the poll.
Xavier plays 17 of the first 18 games on the road, traveling to North Carolina, Arkansas, California and Oregon for the first four weekends of the season.
The Musketeers will travel to 10 states outside of Ohio as well as the District of Columbia.
Xavier's non-conference strength of schedule has ranked in the top five in each of the last two seasons, finishing 2025 at No. 5 and 2024 at No. 3.
The Musketeers overall strength of schedule also ranked in the top 40 in the last two seasons (2025 - No. 37, 2024 - No. 25).

XAVIER HOME BROADCAST INFO

Xavier Athletics announced that 17 spring home sporting events will be broadcast live via XAVIER+. The baseball and lacrosse broadcasts will be available through a subscription on GoXavier.com.
All 27 home spring sporting events for baseball and lacrosse will be broadcast on either ESPN+ or XAVIER+ .

XAVIER+ Subscription Plans:

Per Game: $10
Spring Season: $120 (includes all 17 games)
Lacrosse Season Pass: $40 (includes all five games)
Baseball Season Pass: $100 (includes all 12 games)
Baseball Weekend Series Pass: $25 (includes all three games in a weekend series vs. St. John's or Creighton)

All purchases are subject to the customer's state sales tax.

A subscription to ESPN+ is required to view the 10 baseball and lacrosse broadcasts. An ESPN+ subscription will also include a number of road baseball and lacrosse contests (determined by the host institution).
A detailed broadcasting list of each home and away baseball and lacrosse contest is available on the sport specific schedule pages at GoXavier.com.

PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST

Connor Misch (1B) was selected as the Preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year, as voted on by the league's coaches.
Misch also earned a spot on the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team, joined on the preseason all-league squad by Clay Burdette and Ryan Piech.
Connor Misch, a senior from Dyer, Ind., was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year and was the league's unanimous preseason pick at first base after earning a spot on the All-BIG EAST First Team following the 2025 season. Misch started in all 59 games last season, with a .332 average at the plate, best among Xavier's returning players. He led the team with 65 hits, and had 44 walks for the season, to lead the Musketeers with a .485 on-base percentage. Misch drove in a team-high 50 RBI, and scored 42 runs
In conference play, Misch led the league with a .448 average at the plate through 21 games. Of his 65 hits for the season, 30 came against BIG EAST opponents, including three of his four home runs. Misch, who also led the conference with a .581 on-base percentage in BIG EAST play, drove in a team-high 25 RBI during the BIG EAST regular season.
Misch has also earned a spot on the 2025 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team and the 2024 All-BIG EAST Second Team during his Xavier career.
Clay Burdette, a junior outfielder, earned a Preseason All-BIG EAST selection after playing in 56 games for the Musketeers last season, making 52 starts, and posting a .292 average at the plate overall. Among his 59 hits were 23 for extra bases, including a team-leading 13 home runs, to lead Xavier with a .540 slugging percentage. Burdette's 44 RBI from last season trail only Misch among returning Musketeers, while his 46 runs scored lead the returnees for Xavier.
In BIG EAST regular season play, Burdette started in all 21 games, finishing with a .325 average at the plate in conference play. The native of Cincinnati collected 25 hits, got aboard with 12 walks, drove in 25 RBI, and scored 18 runs against league opponents.
Ryan Piech, a right-handed pitcher from Aurora, Ohio, earned a Preseason All-BIG EAST selection as a starting pitcher after earning All-BIG EAST Second Team honors last season. Piech's all-league selection followed a 2025 season where he made team-high 14 starts, led the Musketeers with 65 strikeouts in 59.2 innings of work, and held opposing batters to a .182 average at the plate, best among Xavier's qualified pitchers.
Piech made six starts in league play, posting a 2.60 ERA through 27.2 innings of work, the best among the Musketeers and fourth-best among qualified pitchers in the BIG EAST. He only allowed eight earned runs and collected 31 strikeouts in the conference regular season. In BIG EAST play, Piech held opposing batters to a .135 average at the plate, best among qualifying pitchers in the conference.

XAVIER VS. CREIGHTON AT GABP

Xavier will host the series opener against Creighton on Thursday, May 14, at Great American Ball Park following the Cincinnati Reds game against the Washington Nationals.
The Reds and the Nationals are scheduled to begin at 12:40 p.m. with the game between the Musketeers and the Bluejays starting approximately 30-45 minutes following its conclusion.
The game at Great American Ball Park begins a three-game series with the Bluejays, with the remainder of the series running through Saturday, May 16, at Xavier's Hayden Field.

BIG (EAST) SUCCESS

In 2025, Xavier made its ninth appearance in the four-team BIG EAST Tournament since joining the conference, including earning a spot in the event in every season it has been held since 2019.
Xavier advanced to the conference championship series seven times in the Musketeers' nine 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.

XU TO HOST THE LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

The 2026 BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep will be co-hosted by Xavier baseball at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, in the week leading up to Memorial Day Weekend.
The four-team tournament opens on Wednesday, May 20, 2026 and is scheduled to run through Saturday, May 23, 2026.
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.

BIG EAST PRESEASON POLL

Preseason Player of the Year
Connor Misch, 1B, Sr., Xavier

Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Steven Svenson, RHP, So., Seton Hall

Preseason All-BIG EAST Team *
Sean Finn, RP, Jr., UConn
Tyler Minick, OF, Jr., UConn
Rob Rispoli, SS, R-So., UConn
Connor Capece, C, Jr., Creighton ^
Wilson Magers, SP, So., Creighton ^
JT Raab, SP, Gr., Georgetown ^
Jon LeGrande, OF, Jr., St. John's ^
Shaun McMillan, 2B/DH, So., St. John's
Jayder Raifstanger, 3B, Jr., St. John's ^
John Downing, RP, Sr., Seton Hall
Steven Svenson, SP, So., Seton Hall
Clay Burdette, OF, Jr., Xavier
Connor Misch, 1B, Sr., Xavier ^
Ryan Piech, SP, Jr., Xavier

^ - Unanimous Selection
* - due to a tie in voting, there are extra members on the preseason all-conference team.

BIG EAST Baseball Preseason Poll
First place votes in ( )
1. UConn (5) - 46
2. Creighton (3) - 43
3. Xavier - 37
4. St. John's - 32
5. Seton Hall - 26
6. Villanova - 19
7. Georgetown - 13
8. Butler - 8