WATCH: Xavier women’s golf selected to NCAA Tournament
After winning its sixth consecutive Big East title, Xavier will play in the Columbus Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
- Xavier is ranked #38 in RPI and played the #28 toughest schedule in the country.
- The Musketeers are the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament and open play Wednesday against UConn.
- Five Xavier players were named All-Big East.
Just over two months after the basketball program survived a prolonged stay on the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Xavier baseball team is looking to follow suit with its at-large chances hanging in the balance.
Depending on your source, Xavier is either one of the last teams invited to the dance or one of the first teams left out of the bracket, which will be revealed on May 26.
According to Baseball America and DIBaseball’s latest bracketology, Xavier is among the “First Four Out” with Big East rivals Creighton and UConn earning No. 3 seeds in their respective regionals.
Just Baseball, in conjunction with 64 Analytics, has Xavier joining Creighton and UConn as one of the last teams in the dance.
Where Xavier lands in college baseball rankings
Xavier head coach Billy O’Conner believes in beefing up the team’s non-conference schedule for a few reasons. For starters, matchups against some of the nation’s top teams makes Xavier battle-tested heading into the Big East schedule.
“We’ve been in every environment that there is to play and have seen the best teams in the country,” O’Conner told The Enquirer. “We’re prepared for it.”
A murderers’ row of non-conference opponents also helps with the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), which ranks teams using winning percentage and winning percentage of opponents.
Xavier currently ranks No. 38 in RPI after playing the No. 28 schedule in the country.
Xavier is the No. 3 seed in this week’s Big East Tournament
Xavier wrapped up the regular season at 31-25 overall over the weekend, avoiding a sweep on the road against Penn State with an 8-6 win in the finale Sunday.
After getting swept by St. John’s in mid-April, Xavier rattled off a 10-3 stretch before dropping a series in Omaha to Creighton.
Creighton (38-14, 17-4 Big East) and UConn (36-19, 17-4 Big East) split the Big East regular season championship. Xavier is the No. 3 seed and St. John’s (29-22, 13-8 Big East) is the No. 4 in this week’s Big East Tournament at Prasco Park in Mason.
Xavier can eliminate all talk of the bubble by ripping off three wins in the double-elimination tournament and grabbing the at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.
Xavier was 0-3 against St. John’s and 1-2 vs. Creighton during the regular season. In March, the Musketeers won a three-game series over the UConn Huskies, who they will face in the first round of the Big East Tournament Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.
A Xavier win would move the Musketeers to Thursday’s nightcap (6:30 p.m.) against the Creighton/St. John’s winner with a trip to Saturday’s championship on the line. A loss on Wednesday means the Muskies would suit up Thursday afternoon (2:30 p.m.) facing elimination.
“We want to be an at-large team, we want to make a regional, we want to make a Super Regional and ultimately, we want to go to Omaha,” Xavier pitcher Ben Weber said. “Those are big goals. With the group we have pushing other, it’s really awesome.”
Five Musketeers named All-Big East team
Twenty of the 28 All-Big East selections came from the four teams representing the league this week in Mason.
Xavier had five players named All-Big East, highlighted by first-team selection Connor Misch, who started all 56 regular-season games and hit .328 with 44 RBI and a team-high .490 on-base percentage.
Nolan Tucker, who led the Musketeers in batting average (.352) was a second-team selection along with starting pitchers Logan Schmidt, Ryan Piech and Weber.
That trio will be tasked with putting up goose eggs on the Prasco Park scoreboard this week to pave the way toward an automatic NCAA Tournament berth. During conference play, Xavier ranked second in the Big East in ERA and hits allowed.
Xavier’s season-long offensive numbers won’t jump off the page with the schedule it faced, but it mashed against Big East pitching, ranking third in the league in batting average (.298), first in walks (121) and third in total bases and on-base percentage.
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