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2024 Indiana State vs Xavier

Xavier Baseball Schedule 2024: What To Know

Xavier Baseball Schedule 2024: What To Know

After what Xavier baseball did in 2023, is a hangover on the horizon—or is the start of a golden era in XU baseball just beginning?

Feb 22, 2024

Xavier baseball had a dream run to a regional final last season after upsetting UConn to win the the BIG EAST Tournament title.

Now, with the 2024 college baseball season already here, Xavier baseball’s future is at a crossroads.

UConn is still the league-favorite, and if the Musketeers want to get back to the national postseason, they’ll have to go through the Huskies yet again.

But after what Xavier did in 2023, is a hangover on the horizon—or is the start of a golden era in XU baseball just beginning?

Here’s all you need to know about Xavier baseball ahead of the 2024 season, which includes an early-season three-game series with Top 25 talent Indiana State.

How Did Xavier Baseball Do In 2023?

Take a bow, Xavier baseball. You set a high standard in 2023.

After three consecutive trips to the championship series of the BIG EAST Tournament all came up empty, the No. 2-seeded Musketeers finally secured the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament again by upsetting regular-season champion UConn. It was Xavier’s first spot in a regional since 2017.

Sent to the Nashville Regional, hosted by powerhouse and No. 6 national seed Vanderbilt, Xavier didn’t budge, taking out Eastern Illinois, before shocking the Commodores in an elimination game. That set up a meeting with Oregon (which the Musketeers lost to in their opening NCAA tourney game) for a chance to get to a Super Regional for the first time.

The Ducks dashed those dreams by beating Xavier in the regional final, but when the dust settled, the Musketeers had tied their program record for wins in a single season (39), firmly establishing that the BIG EAST isn’t just UConn and a bunch of cupcakes.

Starting pitcher Brant Alazaus, outfielder Andrew Walker and catcher Matthew DePrey were first-team All-BIG EAST picks, while right-handed pitcher Ethan Bosacker was selected in the 13th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals.

Who Coaches Xavier Baseball?

A Cincinnati-born former Xavier catcher, Billy O’Conner became head coach in 2017 after six years as an assistant there, with a one-year stint as a volunteer assistant at Northern Kentucky mixed in.

O’Conner does not have a winning overall record at Xavier across his six seasons (152-154 entering the 2024 season), but his teams do generally get it done in BIG EAST play (61-41 conference record). The heights the Musketeers reached in 2023 showed that postseason ball is possible for other teams in the BIG EAST.

His teams generally love having a ton of offense—Xavier in 2022, for example, destroyed the program record for home runs (100) by over 30 and established a program-best for runs scored with 450.

Many of those gaudy offensive trends continued into 2023, as Xavier once again led the BIG EAST in homers (88) and brought home 407 runners in all, which ranked second in the league only to UConn.

Has Xavier Baseball Ever Won The College World Series?

No, Xavier baseball has never won the College World Series.

The Musketeers made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2009 and haven’t yet advanced out of the regional round in their five opportunities.

Notable Returning Players

Matthew DePrey, C

From being an off-and-on starter his first two seasons at Xavier to turning into the Musketeers’ Mr. Consistent behind the plate, Matthew DePrey owned the backstop and tied the school’s single-season record for appearances by starting in all 64 games in 2023. He was one of four players on the roster to do so.

XU’s only returning first-team All-BIG EAST nod, DePrey will be aiming to build off his career-best numbers from a season ago, which included a .278 average, 14 home runs and 42 RBIs, along with the fact that he caught 21 baserunners stealing.

Matt McCormick, INF

A Chicago native, Matt McCormick left college baseball for a year after spending two seasons at West Virginia (2020-2021), not playing ball at all in 2022.

Xavier sure is glad McCormick decided to take its offer and give the college game another go.

McCormick will have a major role in Xavier’s plans on offense as the only player on the roster to return an over-.300 average (.309 last year).

His on-base percentage of .421 and slugging percentage of .552 in 2023 were the best figures among the Musketeers’ everyday starters, and his 14 homers matched DePrey and the also-returning Jared Cushing for the team lead, too.

Notable Newcomers

Matthew Aukerman, RHP

After losing two of its weekend starters in Bosacker and Alazaus, Xavier had to look far and wide for some experienced arms, and it has seems to have found one from the Division III level in Matthew Aukerman.

A three-year starter at John Carroll (located outside of Cleveland), Aukerman had below-average numbers for the Blue Streaks, until an explosive senior season made him one of Division III’s top aces.

In 2023, Aukerman posted an 8-0 record with a 1.88 ERA and a .186 opposing batting average allowed.

He even threw a no-hitter in 2023 en route to being named a D3Baseball.com first-team All-American, and the 6-foot-4 righty parlayed his success into a subsequent move to the Division I level.

Terry Murray, RHP

There might just be something the Musketeers’ coaching staff likes about 6-foot-4 right-handers transferring in from Division III, because they’ve got two new ones this season.

Terry Murray is the other one, along with Aukerman, with the former coming in from Rhode Island College after being named his former league’s pitcher of the year.

Holding an 8-2 record with a 2.57 ERA and 77 strikeouts over 70 innings in his final season in Division III, Murray was rocking with an ERA under 2.00 until a blowup final start of the year, and the bullpen could be where Murray sees himself early in his first season with Xavier.

Xavier Baseball Schedule 2024

All times Eastern

Date	Time	Opponent	Location
Feb. 16	4 p.m.	Clemson	Clemson, S.C.
Feb. 17	2 p.m.	Clemson	Clemson, S.C.
Feb. 18	1 p.m.	Clemson	Clemson, S.C.
Feb. 21	3 p.m.	Louisville	Louisville, Ky.
Feb. 23	4 p.m.	Lipscomb	Nashville, Tenn.
Feb. 24	3 p.m.	Lipscomb	Nashville, Tenn.
Feb. 25	2 p.m.	Lipscomb	Nashville, Tenn.
Feb. 28	2 p.m.	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
March 1	6:30 p.m.	Florida Gulf Coast	Fort Myers, Fla.
March 2	2 p.m.	Florida Gulf Coast	Fort Myers, Fla.
March 3	1 p.m.	Florida Gulf Coast	Fort Myers, Fla.
March 5	7 p.m.	Louisiana Tech	Ruston, La.
March 6	7 p.m.	Louisiana Tech	Ruston, La.
March 8	7:30 p.m.	LSU	Baton Rouge, La.
March 9	6 p.m.	LSU	Baton Rouge, La.
March 10	1 p.m.	LSU	Baton Rouge, La.
March 12	3 p.m.	Wright State	Dayton, Ohio
March 15	3 p.m.	Indiana State	Cincinnati
March 16	1 p.m.	Indiana State	Cincinnati
March 17	1 p.m.	Indiana State	Cincinnati
March 19	6:30 p.m.	Tennessee	Knoxville, Tenn.
March 22	3 p.m.	VCU	Cincinnati
March 23	2 p.m.	VCU	Cincinnati
March 24	1 p.m.	VCU	Cincinnati
March 26	3 p.m.	Wright State	Cincinnati
March 28	3 p.m.	Bowling Green	Cincinnati
March 29	2 p.m.	Bowling Green	Cincinnati
March 30	1 p.m.	Bowling Green	Cincinnati
April 2	6 p.m.	Cincinnati (Joe Nuxhall	Mason, Ohio
April 5	3:05 p.m.	UConn	Storrs, Conn.
April 6	2:05 p.m.	UConn	Storrs, Conn.
April 7	11:05 a.m.	UConn	Storrs, Conn.
April 9	TBD	Miami/Wright State (Joe	Mason, Ohio
April 12	3 p.m.	Creighton	Cincinnati
April 13	1 p.m.	Creighton	Cincinnati
April 14	1 p.m.	Creighton	Cincinnati
April 17	5 p.m.	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
April 19	4 p.m.	Seton Hall	South Orange, N.J.
April 20	1 p.m.	Seton Hall	South Orange, N.J.
April 21	Noon	Seton Hall	South Orange, N.J.
April 23	3 p.m.	Miami (Ohio)	Cincinnati
April 24	3 p.m.	Northern Kentucky	Cincinnati
April 26	3 p.m.	St. John's	Cincinnati
April 27	1 p.m.	St. John's	Cincinnati
April 28	Noon	St. John's	Cincinnati
May 3	3 p.m.	Butler	Indianapolis
May 4	2 p.m.	Butler	Indianapolis
May 5	1 p.m.	Butler	Indianapolis
May 7	3 p.m.	Kentucky	Cincinnati
May 8	4 p.m.	Miami (Ohio)	Oxford, Ohio
May 10	6 p.m.	Georgetown	College Park, Md.
May 11	2 p.m.	Georgetown	College Park, Md.
May 12	Noon	Georgetown	College Park, Md.
May 14	3 p.m.	Oklahoma	Cincinnati
May 16	3 p.m.	Villanova	Cincinnati
May 17	2 p.m.	Villanova	Cincinnati
May 18	10 a.m.	Villanova	Cincinnati
May 22	TBA	BIG EAST	Mason, Ohio

2024 Xavier Baseball Roster

No.	Name	Position	Year
1	Connor Misch	IF	So.
3	Luke Hammond	IF	Jr.
4	Matthew Aukerman	RHP	Gr.
5	Drew Zemaitis	RHP	Fr.
6	Grant Stephenson	IF	Sr.
7	Isaac Wachsmann	OF	So.
8	Jonathan Kelly	RHP	Gr.
9	Aedan Anderson	OF	Jr.
10	Garrett Schultz	OF	Gr.
11	Nolan Hughes	LHP	Jr.
12	Alex Vera	LHP	Gr.
13	Nathan Stahl	RHP	Sr.
14	Eli Bridenthal	RHP	Fr.
15	Matthew DePrey	C	Sr.
16	Aiden Cook	LHP	Fr.
17	Tyler Stack	C	Fr.
18	Donavan Canterberry	IF	So.
19	Jimmy Starnes	RHP	Sr.
20	Ryan Piech	RHP	Fr.
21	Ryan Hussey	RHP	Fr.
22	Jake Hooker	RHP	Fr.
23	Tyler Sausville	LHP	So.
24	Hayden Christiansen	C	So.
25	Matt McCormick	IF	Sr.
26	Jack Niedringhaus	LHP	So.
27	Jared Gadd	RHP	Gr.
28	Braxton Brinegar	RHP	Fr.
29	Terry Murray	RHP	Gr.
30	Ashton Chronister	LHP	Fr.
31	Carter Hendrickson	OF	Jr.
32	Jared Cushing	IF	Gr.
33	Tyler DeMartino	OF	Sr.
34	Luke Hoskins	RHP	Jr.
35	Logan Schmidt	RHP	Jr.
36	Caleb Anderson	IF	Fr.
37	Joe Karpierz	IF	So.
38	Griffin Seibel	RHP	Fr.
40	Jake Lambdin	IF	Fr.
41	Aidan Zakarewicz	IF	Fr.
44	Eric Podgorny	RHP	Fr.
45	Nick Boyle	RHP	Sr.
54	Connor Bailey	RHP	Sr.

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