I follow the scores but not the roster movements, etc. that closely. But Googs has been gone since before Covid (he was from the before time!), so you can safely assume this is Billy O's team.
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I follow the scores but not the roster movements, etc. that closely. But Googs has been gone since before Covid (he was from the before time!), so you can safely assume this is Billy O's team.
Baseball America has Xavier as the 2nd team out in its latest NCAA Tournament projection. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stor...d-of-64-42623/
I think it's pretty safe to say that Xavier has NEVER been in the at-large discussion for the NCAA Baseball Tournament before.
If there are still Googins recruits in Year 6 of the Billy O'Conner regime, there's going to be quite a different discussion.
But as far as the at-large talk, it's the first time in the modern Xavier era that they'd be in the at-large discussion. (There was a season back in the 60s where they were invited but turned it down because of a final exam conflict.)
Now the new Big East did get 2 teams back in 2017 in the field; Xavier won the auto bid and St. John's got an at-large that year.
Now looking at the bracket that Go posted, it's noteworthy to point out that Xavier is 0-5 against potential Top 16 teams - Xavier went 0-4 against Oregon (#12) and 0-1 against Kentucky (#11).
Also:
1-2 vs. UConn (#2 seed in the Boston College regional)
3-0 vs. Wofford (#3 seed in the South Carolina regional)
1-2 vs. UC-Santa Barbara (#3 seed in the Stanford regional)
0-1 vs. Louisville (#3 seed in the Indiana regional)
2-0 vs. Wright State (#4 seed in the Indiana regional)
If you also look at WarrenNolan.com , you'll also see that Xavier is 6-12 against Quad 1 teams and 20-3 against everyone else.
“There’s only one answer.. Win the whole damn thing!!”Quote:
Originally Posted by X-band '01
Getting hammered so far today. Down 6-0 to the Hall. Will be very important to win both tomorrow and Sunday now.
13-2. Bad guys.
Today was not fun
This is what happens when you take fucked up shots, right Sean?
What really hurt today was Bosacker leaving his start early due to injury. Not sure what his status is yet. Luke Bell got absolutely hammered, but the Pirate starter only allowed 2 hits in his 7 innings of work. Just one of those days.
I blame MOR! You have 2 games to redeem yourself! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Masterofreality
All on me!!Quote:
Originally Posted by 94GRAD
I sucked today. Even the Muskie Burger couldn’t turn my ass around!
Another tough loss today 3-2. Literally 3 breaks that all went the Pirates way:
1) Line drive in the 8th innings lands a couple inches fair and scores the go-ahead run on an RBI double;
2) Deep fly by DeMartino that was caught by the CF robbing him of a home run (would have put X up 4-3);
3) Line drive caught by the 3rd baseman in the 9th that would have tied the game.
Xavier has only had 5 hits in the first 2 games against the Pirates. Not good.
They did salvage this weekend with an 8-7 win. After a grand slam by Jared Cushing in the 3rd inning to give X a 5-2 lead, both teams were tied on 3 separate occasions. Hall had a 7-6 lead going into the 8th inning and had their closer on the mound, but Jack Housinger and Andrew Walker both homered to give the Musketeers a win and back to a full-game lead over the Pirates.
Turns out Xavier and Seton Hall were the only teams not to be affected by weather this weekend. UConn won 2 games at Villanova but couldn't get a third one in today because of rain. Georgetown split a pair of games with St. John's; they also couldn't get in a game today in DC. (Games will not be made up).
Butler and Creighton had a pair of rain delays today, but Creighton did win in extra innings to get the 3-game sweep. Going into next weekend where Xavier travels to Creighton, here are the standings:
Creighton 9-3 (+2.0 GA)
UConn 8-3 (+1.5 GA)
Xavier 8-4 (+1.0 GA)
Seton Hall 7-5 (0.0 GB)
Georgetown 7-7 (-1.0 GB)
Villanova 5-9 (-3.0 GB)
St. John's 3-8 (-3.5 GB)
Butler 2-10 (-5.0 GB)
Butler goes to Georgetown for 3, Villanova goes to St. John's for 3 and Seton Hall goes to UConn for 3 next weekend.
Late addition to the schedule - Xavier will now host Indiana on Wednesday, May 10 at Hayden Field at 3 PM. There were a couple open slots because of 2 games getting cancelled against Saint Mary's.
Getting off to a fantastic start for the weekend so far - a 6-run 4th inning has put Xavier ahead 7-0 at Creighton. The inning has featured a solo home run by Matt McCormick, a perfect suicide squeeze bunt by Grant Stephenson and another rare 1-2-3 sacrifice bunt where the Jays were caught out of position.
Brent Alazaus is starting tonight; he has 4 strikeouts through 3 innings.
11-0 win in the opener; Alazaus finished with a complete-game shutout and 9 Ks.
Ethan Bosacker will start tomorrow night; he was pushed back a game because of a tweaked hamstring that he suffered in his last outing against Seton Hall.
Xavier up 4-1 in the 5th on the strength of a 480-ft homerun by Matt McCormick.
That may have been the longest homer in the history of Charles Schwab Field/TD Ameritrade Park.
Winner, winner
Thanks for the feed! Fun to watchQuote:
Originally Posted by X-band '01
Pitching has been superb in the first two games of this series. Only real mistake that Bosacker made was a leadoff walk in the 4th that ended up leading to a run with a 2-out single.
Time to go for the sweep tomorrow.
Break out your finest brooms!
Sweeeeeeeeeepppp!
Standings through yesterday:
UConn 11-3 (+4.5 GA)
Xavier 11-4 (+4.0 GA)
Creighton 9-6 (+2.0 GA)
Seton Hall 7-8 (0.0 GB)
Georgetown 8-9 (0.0 GB)
Villanova 7-10 (-1.0 GB)
St. John's 4-10 (-2.5 GB)
Butler 4-11 (-3.0 GB)
UConn also ended up sweeping Seton Hall but needed a 6-run comeback on Friday and a walk-off on Saturday to win that series. Georgetown shot themselves in the balls by losing 2 of 3 to Butler, including a 20-7 loss yesterday.
After Xavier goes to UC and hosts Indiana for midweek games, the Musketeers travel to St. John's this weekend for their final Big East road trip in 2023. Creighton travels to Seton Hall for a pivotal series and Butler travels to UConn. Georgetown is idle this weekend; Nova plays a pair of games against noncon foe BC.
Xavier at Cincinnati - ESPN+
Did I mention the baseball team is at UC tonight? Crank it up!
Are there any penises on the field?
8-7 penises
Nope, just a night of horrible defense. Glad they didn't showcase that against the Jays over the weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by paulxu
Xavier at St. John's
All games this weekend being streamed on ESPN3/WatchESPN
Game 1 ended up being an 8-6 loss; it was the 2nd blown save this week for Jonathan Kelly (along with the game at UC).
One of the bright spots was Teddy Deters going 3-4 as the DH; he was in the lineup in place of regular DH Tyler DeMartino. DeMartino hasn't played since the UC game; he must have gotten hurt on a HBP in that game.
Rebounded today with a 4-2 win against St. John's; the game also officially clinched a spot in the Big East Tournament for X and eliminated the Johnnies.
X is 1.5 games back of UConn after the Huskies hit a walk-off HR to escape against Butler. Seton Hall is now tied with Creighton for 3rd after the Pirates beat the Bluejays today.
5-1 win today; Xavier finishes road play in the Big East at 8-1. Seton Hall finished a sweep of Creighton today, so the Pirates are now a game ahead of the Jays for the #3 seed next week. In fact, the only reason Creighton would make the field as of today is because Georgetown couldn't get their 3rd game with St. John's in b/c of a rainout.
We'll know later today whether or not Xavier will be a half game behind UConn or 1.5 GB; they're leading Butler 8-7 in the 6th. Creighton finishes at home against UConn, so there's still a chance X could get the Big East regular season championship.
Xavier finishes the regular season with a Tuesday game at Michigan and then finishes Big East play against Georgetown from Thursday through Saturday.
Updated standings - Butler did beat UConn today which helps bigtime this weekend:
UConn 13-4 (+4.5 GA)
Xavier 13-5 (+4.0 GA)
Seton Hall 10-8 (+1.0 GA)
Creighton 9-9 (0.0 GA)
Georgetown 8-9 (-0.5 GB)
Villanova 7-10 (-1.5 GB)
St. John's 5-12 (-3.5 GB)
Butler 5-13 (-4.0 GB)
X plays Georgetown at home, Creighton plays UConn at home and Villanova hosts Seton Hall.
Whipped Michigan today 14-2.
Garrett Schultz returned to the lineup today after missing 6 weeks with an injury relating to a line drive against Miami. He went 2-4 with a walk, so having his bat back in the lineup only makes the offense even more potent.
Today was also more of a bullpen game for the staff, but also an indication that we'll likely see Luke Bell as the 4th starter depending on how far Xavier advances in the Big East Tournament next week.
Cushing hit 2 homers in the same inning.
Would they have a chance at an at large if they don’t win the conference tourney?
I think they're just short of that. RPI is VERY respectable, but I don't think a Big East team gets an at-large bid with Xavier's profile. They're so close that they may be two wins over UC away from getting in, which would hurt.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xville
3-13 against Quad 1 opponents doesn't help.
It seems as if Billy lined up his pitching to be the best rotation for the Big East games. I know they need games to stay sharp between weekends, but I’m not a fan of sorta big Non Con games after the League season starts. I think they really don’t help, but I could be wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoMuskies