Xavier Travels To Prasco Park for the 2024 BIG EAST Tournament – Xavier University Athletics

CINCINNATI – Xavier baseball heads up the road to Prasco Park Mason, Ohio, to take part in the 2024 BIG EAST Championship, presented by Jeep, which gets underway on Wednesday, May 22. The No. 4 seeded Musketeers open up play against No. 1 UConn, set for a 6:30 p.m. start on BEDN on FloSports on Wednesday evening.

The tournament continues through Saturday, May 25, with the first five games will be carried on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports Presented by Invesco QQQ. Saturday’s Championship game will be broadcast live on FS1 and the if-necessary title game scheduled to be on FS2.

The Musketeers are 29-25 overall and went 12-9 in the BIG EAST regular season, finishing fourth in the league standings to earn the No. 4 seed to the conference tournament.

2024 BIG EAST BRACKET

TOURNAMENT NOTES

• The 2024 BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep, co-hosted by Xavier baseball at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, opens on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 and is scheduled to run through Saturday, May 25, 2024.
• 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.
• UConn went 17-4 in league play, earning No. 1 seed in the championship and winning a fourth straight BIG EAST regular season crown.
• St. John’s went 14-7 in BIG EAST action, receiving the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face No. 3 seeded Georgetown, who went 13-7 in conference play, in Wednesday’s opener at 2:30 p.m. ET.
• The format of the tournament is double elimination. Each of the tournament’s first five games will be carried on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports Presented by Invesco QQQ. The Championship game on Saturday will be on FS1, with an if necessary title game scheduled to be on FS2.
• The winner of the tournament receives the league’s automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Championship. Xavier is the defending champion.

XAVIER NOTES

• RHP Luke Hoskins has made 14 starts this season, with a 6.88 ERA through a team-high 69.1 innings pitched. Hoskins, who has 49 strikeouts to 14 walks, ranks first in the BIG EAST and No. 41 in NCAA DI in walks allowed per nine innings at 1.82 and ranks second in the BIG EAST with a 3.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio. 
• RHP Jonathan Kelly has a 4.66 ERA through 58.0 innings pitched. He’s made 19 total appearances, including six starts, to bring his career total to 93 appearances, the fourth-most in program history. Kelly has 43 strikeouts to 20 walks, and has recorded a pair of wins (2-1) and three saves on the season.
• LHP Alex Vera leads the BIG EAST and ranks eighth in NCAA DI with 31 appearances this season, the fourth most appearances in single season by a Musketeer. He has a 5.14 ERA through 49.0 innings pitched, collecting a team-high four saves.
• LHP Nolan Hughes has made 22 appearances total, including four starts, posting a 4.22 ERA through 32.0 innings pitched. Hughes leads the Musketeers with 62 strikeouts on the season.
• RHP Nick Boyle has made 18 appearances, including eight starts, with a 5.72 ERA through 45.2 innings, collecting 57 strikeouts.
• IF/RHP Jake Lambdin has made 15 appearances on the mound in relief, with a 3.54 ERA through 20.1 innings pitched, earning three saves. On offense, Lambdin has a 12-game reached safely streak.
• OF Aedan Anderson hit his team-leading and conference-leading 18th home run of the season against Villanova, with his .673 slugging percentage leading eligible players in the BIG EAST. Anderson is batting .277 overall, with a team-high 33 walks, and has a team-high 44 runs scored.
• OF Carter Hendrickson leads Xavier’s everyday players with a .305 average at the plate, with 19 of his 47 hits going for extra bases, including a team-leading 15 doubles. Hendrickson has come around to score 32 runs and enters the week with a 14-game reached safely streak.
• 1B Matt McCormick stands at 15 home runs on the season, helping the Musketeers to a BIG EAST-leading 88 home runs so far in 2024, the 38th most in NCAA DI. He’s batting .277 overall and has reached base in all but three games this season. McCormick is second on the team with 32 walks and has driven in 47 RBI.
• 2B Jared Cushing has a team-leading 62 hits, with a .288 average at the plate overall and a .318 average in BIG EAST play. He has 45 RBI on the season, and has scored 38 runs.
• 3B Luke Hammond has a .278 average at the plate, and is batting .292 in BIG EAST action. For the season, Hammond has 59 hits, second most on the team, with 14 doubles and 10 home runs. 
• OF Connor Misch is batting .287 overall with a .315 average in BIG EAST play, with 23 of his 41 hits coming against conference opponents. Misch has a team-best 19-game reached safely streak entering the week.

Xavier’s all-big east honors

• A pair of Musketeers picked up All-BIG EAST honors following the 2024 regular season, with second baseman Jared Cushing earning a spot on the All-BIG EAST First Team, and Connor Misch earning Second Team honors at designated hitter.
• Cushing, a graduate student from Naperville, Ill., started at second base in all 21 BIG EAST games this season, batting .318 in conference play with 28 of his 62 hits this season coming against conference foes. 
• For the season, Cushing has 21 hits for extra bases, including seven home runs. He has 45 RBI this season, with 17 of those coming in BIG EAST play, and has scored 38 runs for the Musketeers.
• This is Cushing’s third selection to the all-conference team, earning All-BIG EAST Second Team honors in 2023, and All-BIG EAST First Team honors in 2022.
• Misch, a sophomore from Dyer, Ind., started in all 19 game he’s played in during BIG EAST action this season, with a .315 average at the plate. Of his 23 hits in conference play, 11 went for extra bases, including six home runs. 
• Misch has 22 RBI on the season, with 14 of those coming in BIG EAST play, and has scored 16 runs against conference opponents.
• This is the first All-Conference selection of Misch’s Xavier career.

DEPREY NAMED TO POSEY WATCH LIST

• Matthew DePrey was among the 63 catchers named to the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Watch List by the Wichita Sports Commission. The award honors the nation’s top Division I collegiate catcher as voted on by head coaches and sports information directors.
• DePrey, a native of Sun Prairie, Wis., has started all 54 games behind the plate for the Musketeers, with a 49 hits, including 14 for extra bases, and 29 walks on the season, driving in 19 RBI and scoring 33 runs. On defense, the senior has caught 16 runners stealing so far this season. This is DePrey’s second time earning a spot on the Watch List.
• DePrey is one of three BIG EAST catchers on the watch list, joined by St. John’s Jimmy Keenan and Georgetown’s Owen Carapellotti.
• The 2024 Watch List features 63 student-athletes from NCAA Division 1 universities throughout the country. “Since 2000, the Wichita Sports Commission has acknowledged the hard work and talent of the most demanding position in baseball,” said Kevin Jenks, President/CEO of the Wichita Sports Commission. “The Buster Posey Award has become one of college baseball’s most coveted and prestigious awards. It’s always special to have all three finalists, their families and coaches attend the event.”
• The 2024 winner will be announced on June 26th at the Greater Wichita Sports Banquet. Three finalists will be invited to attend the banquet hosted by the Wichita Sports Commission. Nominations from head coaches and sports information directors will continue until May 8th.

BIG (EAST) SUCCESS

• In 2023, Xavier finished second in the BIG EAST regular season and won the BIG EAST Tournament Championship to earn a bid to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2017. Xavier, the No. 2 seed in the league tournament, beat the No. 3 seed Seton Hall in the opening game and No. 1 seed UConn in the winner’s bracket to advance to the Championships series. UConn took game one of the series, forcing a deciding game seven of the tournament, where the Musketeers posted a five-run ninth inning to come from behind and take the 7-3 win and clinch the title.
• The 2023 championship was the program’s fourth tournament title in the nine times the league has held the event since Xavier joined the conference for the 2013-14 season.
• The Musketeers have made the four-team BIG EAST Tournaments seven times since joining the conference, including every season the event has been held since 2019.
• Xavier has advanced to the conference championship series in each of its seven 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.