Baseball Returns to Hayden Field to Host Evansville for Three-Game Series

Friday, March 13

Cincinnati, Ohio

3:00 PM

Xavier University

Evansville

Baseball Returns to Hayden Field to Host Evansville for Three-Game Series

03.12.26 | Baseball

Live Stream Live Stats

Musketeers and Purple Aces get underway on Friday at 3 PM

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball returns home to start an eight-game homestand, starting with a three-game series with Evansville, set to begin on Friday, March 13 at 3:00 p.m. The series continues on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and is scheduled to wrap up at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.

All three games with the Purple Aces will be streamed live on ESPN+.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Evansville - Game 1: March 13 - 3:00 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

Evansville - Game 2: March 14 - 3:00 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

Evansville - Game 3: March 14 - 1:00 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch

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.

MUSKETEER NOTABLES

After sitting out the first seven games due to injury, OF Clay Burdette has started in the last 11 games, posting a .303 average at the plate, driving in nine RBIs and scoring seven runs. Among his nine hits so far this season are four for extra bases, including hitting his second home run of the season on Monday against Oregon State.
OF Jorge Valdes played in his first game as a Musketeer on Sunday after sitting out the first 14 games of the season due to injury. Through four games played, he's batting .385 with five hits and a pair of walks.
IF Eddie Peters leads Xavier's everyday players with a .308 average at the plate, currently with seven doubles among his team-high 20 hits.
OF Josh Stonehouse has a team-high seven home runs already for his freshman season, leading the Musketeers with 14 RBIs and 12 runs scored.
Ryan Piech has an ERA of 3.50 across four starts, allowing just seven runs on nine hits through 18.0 innings pitched. For the year, Piech has a team-high 26 strikeouts to just three walks after throwing a career-high 10 Ks in the win at Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 27. Piech has a BIG EAST-best WHIP of 0.78, ranked No. 34 in NCAA DI, and also leads the league in hits allowed per nine innings at 4.50.
Jack Nobe has made four starts for the Musketeers, with a 4.50 ERA through a team-high 20.0 innings pitched. Nobe has 17 Ks for the season, picking up a career-high eight on Feb. 21 at Arkansas.
Ashton Chronister made his third start of the season on Monday against Oregon State, going a career-long 5.0 innings without allowing a run. For the season, Chronister has a 2.87 ERA through 15.2 innings pitched across seven total appearances.

EVANSVILLE

Evansville enters the weekend at 3-12, picking up a win during a three-game series at No. 18 Kentucky and taking 2-of-3 against Milwaukee.
Five Purple Aces Kenton Deverman, Max Hansmann, Charlie Longmeier, Reagan Reeder and Harrison Taubert, were named to the Preseason MVC Players to Watch List.
The Purple Aces went 17-37 overall and 10-17 in MVC play last season.
Xavier is 17-30 all-time against the Evansville, last facing the Aces in a four-game series in 2021.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Left-handed pitcher Evan Vasiliou earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announced on Monday.
Vasiliou, a senior from El Cajon, Calif., made two appearances last week, posting a 0.00 ERA though 5.0 innings pitched. In Xavier's 13-4 win over Ohio State, Vasiliou entered with two on and no outs in the ninth and pitched the final 1.0 inning without allowing a hit or a walk, picking up a strikeout to end the game.
In Xavier's 4-2 loss in the series opener at No. 18 Oregon State, he entered for the fifth, pitching the final 4.0 innings without allowing a run. He allowed four hits and finished with one strikeout without issuing a walk.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

After facing the Buckeyes in Columbus two weeks ago, the Musketeers will host the return game with Ohio State on Wednesday, March 18, set for a 3:00 p.m. start at Hayden Field.
Xavier is back at home next weekend, hosting Wofford for a three-game series, set to run March 20-22 at Hayden Field.

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).

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