Baseball Travels To Ball State on Tuesday

Tuesday, March 31

Muncie, Ind.

3:00 PM

Xavier University

Ball State

03.30.26 | Baseball

Live Stream Live Stats

Musketeers and Cardinals get underway at 3:00 PM on ESPN+

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball travels to Muncie, Ind., on Tuesday, March 31, to take on Ball State, set for a 3:00 p.m. start on ESPN+

MUSKETEER NOTABLES

Clay Burdette leads the Musketeers with a .377 average the plate, with 14 hits for extra bases among hist team-leading 29 hits for the season. Burdette matches Josh Stonehouse for the team lead with 18 RBIs for the season and has come around to score 14 runs, also matching Stonehouse for the team lead. Burdette also leads the Musketeers with a .688 slugging percentage and an .474 on-base percentage.
Jorge Valdes has a .333 average at the plate, with 18 hits, nine runs scored and seven RBIs in 15 games played since returning from injury.
Josh Stonehouse leads the Musketeers with a eight home runs on the season, and also has five doubles among his 22 hits. He matches Burdette for team-high with 18 RBIs and also matches Burdette for team-high with 14 runs scored.
Ryan Piech leads Xavier's starting pitchers with a 3.44 ERA for the season through 34.0 innings pitched across seven starts. His WHIP of 1.09 leads Xavier's regular pitchers, and has held opposing batters to a .183 average at the plate. Piech also leads the Musketeers and ranks second in the BIG EAST with 47 strikeouts on the season, with a league-best 12.44 strikeouts per nine innings, ranking No. 45 in NCAA DI. His hits allowed per nine innings (5.82) also leads the conference and ranks No. 54 in the nation.
Jack Nobe has made five starts, with a 4.50 ERA through a team-high 25.0 innings pitched, striking out 23 so far this season.
Ashton Chronister has made 10 appearances, including six starts, with a 3.51 ERA through 33.1 innings pitched, striking out a career-high 21 while only issuing eight walks so far this season.
Evan Vasiliou has made eight appearances, including three starts, with a 4.88 ERA through 24.0 innings pitched.

BALL STATE

The Cardinals are 15-11 on the season and have a 10-2 mark in MAC play after sweeping Eastern Michigan and Ohio, and taking two of three against Central Michigan and Western Michigan.
BSU was picked second in the MAC Preseason Poll, collecting 107 points and picking up two first-place votes.
Ball State went 36-22 overall and 21-9 in MAC play last season.
The Cardinals took a win over Eastern Michigan to open the MAC Tournament before falling to Kent State and Toledo to conclude the season.
Xavier is 8-10 all-time against Ball State after sweeping a three-game series last season in Cincinnati.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Left-handed pitcher Ashton Chronister earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the league office announce on Monday.
Chronister, a junior from Rogers, Ark., threw 6.0 scoreless innings in Xavier's 6-1 win over UConn in the series finale on Sunday. Chronister gave up just three hits and issued two walks while collecting five strikeouts.
For the season, Chronister has made 10 appearances, including six starts, with a 3.51 ERA through 33.1 innings pitched with a WHIP of 1.17. Chronister has a career-best 21 strikeouts to just eight walks for the season.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier remains on the road for the second weekend of BIG EAST play, taking on Georgetown for three games, running from Thursday, April 2 through Saturday, April 4.
The Musketeers head to Prasco Park on Tuesday, April 7, to take on Wright State as part of the Joe Nuxhall Classic, set for a 5:00 p.m. start.

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 played 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