Baseball Travels to Nashville to Face Vanderbilt in Midweek Match-Up

Tuesday, April 21

Nashville, Tenn.

7:00 PM ET

Xavier University

Vanderbilt

Baseball Travels to Nashville to Face Vanderbilt in Midweek Match-Up

04.20.26 | Baseball

Live Stats Live Stream

Musketeers and Dores get underway at 7:00 p.m. ET on SECN+

By: Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball heads south for a midweek match-up at Vanderbilt on Tuesday, April 21, in Nashville. The Musketeers and the Commodores are set for a 7:00 p.m. ET start on SEC Network+.

MUSKETEER NOTABLES

Clay Burdette leads the BIG EAST with a .380 average at the plate, driving in a team-high matching 31 RBIs and scoring a team-leading 29 runs. Among his team-leading 49 hits are 14 doubles, most in the BIG EAST, and a team-high matching 12 home runs, for a 0.798 slugging percentage, the best mark in the conference and No. 11 in NCAA DI. Burdette also leads Xavier's everyday players with a .471 on-base percentage.
Josh Stonehouse matches Burdette for team high with 12 home runs, 66th most in NCAA DI and tied for second most in the country among freshmen. Stonehouse, who is currently batting .255, matches Burdette for team high with 31 RBIs, and has scored 28 runs so far in freshman season.
Friday starter Ryan Piech leads Xavier's qualified pitchers with a 2.94 ERA across 52.0 innings of work. Piech has made 10 starts, with a 6-3 record. His six wins are the most among BIG EAST pitchers and rank No. 28 in NCAA DI. Piech, who has limited opposing batters to a .196 average at the plate, leads Xavier's qualified pitchers with a WHIP of 1.13, while his 6.40 hits allowed per nine innings is second in the BIG EAST and is No. 48 in NCAA DI.
After collecting a career-high 12 Ks in the start in game one against Seton Hall, Piech has a career-best 71 strikeouts for the season, leading the Musketeers and ranked second the conference and No. 32 in DI, while his 12.29 strikeouts per nine innings leads the league and ranks No. 42 in the country.
Ashton Chronister has made 12 appearances on the mound, including eight starts, with a 3.88 ERA through 46.1 innings pitched. Already for his junior season, Chronister has a career-high 32 strikeouts to just 12 walks.
Garrett Helsel has made 17 appearances out of the bullpen, posting a 3.56 ERA through 30.1 innings pitched. His 33 strikeouts trail only Piech among Musketeers and has five saves on the season, third most in the league and 51st in NCAA DI.

VANDERBILT

Vanderbilt enters the week at 24-17 overall with a 9-9 record in SEC games, taking two of three at Kentucky over the weekend.
The Commodores went 43-18 last season, with a 19-11 record in SEC play. Vandy went 3-0 with wins over Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ole Miss to win the SEC Tournament and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
After opening up play with a win over Wright State in the Nashville Regional, losses to Louisville and the Raiders ended the season for the Commodores.
Xavier is 4-11 all-time against Vanderbilt, last taking on the Dores in a three-game series in Nashville last season.

WEEKLY AWARDS

Xavier baseball's third baseman Luke Hammond and right-handed pitcher Ryan Piech both earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after helping the Musketeers to a three-game sweep of Seton Hall.
Hammond, a grad student from Cincinnati, batted .333 for the weekend, with a .417 mark in Xavier's three-game sweep of Seton Hall, finishing with five hits, including two triples, driving in a team-high six RBIs and scoring two runs. In game one against the Pirates, Hammond finished 3-5 at the plate, hitting a single and two triples, driving in a season-high five RBIs and scoring a run. In game two with Seton Hall, Hammond went 2-4, driving in an RBI and scoring a run. Hammond extended his reached base streak with a walk in game three.
Piech, a junior from Aurora, Ohio, made the start in Xavier's 10-1 win in game one at Seton Hall, allowing one run in 6.0 innings of work. Piech collected a career-best 12 strikeouts, topping his previous career high of 10 Ks. He picked up the win, his sixth of the season.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Xavier returns home to host St. John's for a three-game series, running Friday, April 24 through Sunday, April 26, at Hayden Field.
The Musketeers travel to Oxford, Ohio, on Tuesday, April 28, to face Miami (Ohio), set for a 3:00 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