GOODYEAR, Arizona − Even in the midst of a gauntlet string of games to open the 2025 season, Xavier University’s baseball team managed to find time to observe Reds spring training.
On Friday afternoon, the Musketeers raised the curtain on their 2025 campaign against No. 7-ranked Oregon State in Surprise, Arizona, as part of the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic. By Saturday morning, Xavier was in Goodyear huddled around the backstops of the back fields of the Reds Player Development Complex.
Xavier head coach Billy O’Conner arranged the visit for his program through Brad Meador, Reds’ senior vice president and general manager. The experience offered the Musketeers a breather following their opening-game loss to Oregon State, 7-3, and a chance to study up while watching the professionals go through their early-spring paces.
“It’s cool. We’ve got quite a few Reds fans on the team, and they’re all baseball fans, so the opportunity to watch big leaguers and future big leaguers workout is a pretty cool opportunity for them,” O’Conner said. “All these kids want to be big leaguers. Not all of them will have that opportunity but all of them want to be big leaguers. If you get a chance to see how they work and how they go about their business, and how professional they are and how dedicated they are to the routine stuff that you have to do every day to be successful, it just reinforces the things that we teach them. These are the building blocks to being a successful player at any level. So, yeah, it’s an awesome opportunity.”
By Saturday night, Xavier will be back to its own season with another stiff test against No. 25-ranked Indiana University. The Musketeers then play UNLV on Sunday before closing out its stay at the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic with another game against seventh-ranked Oregon State.
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Xavier is looking to improve on its 30-27 record from 2024, which ended in the Big East Tournament. O’Conner has coached the Musketeers since 2018 and guided his team in 2023 to a Big East Tournament championship and the typically-arduous Nashville Regional in the NCAA Tournament.
Xavier led Oregon State, 3-1, in the seventh inning on Friday but allowed seven runs in the Beavers’ last two at-bats to let the upset slip away. Fortunately, the Musketeers get another shot at Oregon State in a few days.
“We played fairly well (vs. OSU), had a couple mistakes that cost us and, when you play a team like No. 7 Oregon State, the margin for error is slim,” O’Conner said. “But when you play those games consistently, you hold yourselves to that standard of what it takes to win games against really good teams. And we’re going to play really good teams all year long. The more we do that, the better we’re gonna be.
“I’m excited about our group. It’s a competitive group. It’s a talented group. They’re hard-working. They believe in each other. It’s all the things you’d want as a coach. It’s just a matter of going out there and executing.”
