Big East baseball preview
Conference play begins for UConn this weekend. What have its conferencemates been up to?
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Big East Preview
Georgetown and Villanova started the Big East season last weekend, but the first full conference slate comes this weekend, as Villanova hosts St. John’s, Xavier travels to UConn, Georgetown and Seton Hall face off in Virginia and Creighton will welcome Butler. This weekend is the start of the second half of the season, as there are seven weekends down and seven weekends to go until conference tournaments on Memorial Day weekend. Let’s go deep on each Big East program’s exploits to this point.
Butler
Record: 12-14
RPI: 164
RPI isn’t viable for a few more weeks, but it’s close enough at this point to illustrate solid and not-so-good teams. The Bulldogs were picked seventh by the coaches preseason and are seventh in the league in RPI. Butler is 0-2 in Quad 1 games, both of which came in the season opening weekend against Florida State. It hasn’t had a winning weekend since, though this includes a pair of four-game splits against Indiana and Dayton the past two weeks. Two starters in Carter Dorighi (.421/.485/.596) and Kade Lewis (.411/.473/.811) are over .400, but the bottom of the lineup is subpar, as three of the eight qualified hitters are below .225. However, the pitching has been holding Butler back, as the team has a 10.07 ERA, which is in the nation’s bottom 10, and just one pitcher in Tyler Banks (1-4, 8.90) is a qualifier and two arms have an ERA below 5.00.
Creighton
Record: 22-4
RPI: 39
Creighton has undoubtedly been the best team in the Big East this season. The schedule hasn’t been the hardest, with just one Quad 1 game and five Quad 2 contests, but that record is loud and it’s just below average nationwide. The Bluejays are undefeated in weekend series and have taken two of three from Stanford in Palo Alto. The team hits .308/.429/.499, which is a great offensive slash line and has a top-50 mark in each of the three categories, led by Nolan Sailors (.380/.500/.652). He’s one of four qualifiers above .300, while Nolan Clifford is hitting an absurd .520/.615/.760 in 14 games. On the mound, Dominic Cancellieri (6-0, 2.83) is a conference pitcher of the year candidate. The rest of the starting pitching hasn’t been as elite, as one other arm that’s started a game has an ERA below 4.50, but the bullpen has cleaned up the mess, with a team-wide ERA of 4.34, which is top 35 in the nation, and a .250 batting average against.
Georgetown
Record: 19-8
RPI: 53
The surprise team of 2022, this is the third-straight good start for a historically maligned program in Georgetown that has gradually ascended and now has a new ballpark to entice recruits. The Hoyas have a three-game start on everyone else, as they swept Villanova last weekend and are 3-4 in Quad 1 games. They challeneged themselves in the nonconference in the MLB Desert Invitational and with a road series against Ohio State, finishing 3-3 between the two. Christian Ficca (.396/.492/.698) is the squad’s best hitter and one of four qualifiers hitting above .300, while a fourth is at .291. The Hoyas get on base well and are top 50 in the nation, as well as in slugging percentage. Several different arms have started weekend games, but they seem to have settled on a solid trio that have put them in position to win each day, though the team-wide 4.81 ERA leaves something to be desired.
Seton Hall
Record: 16-12
RPI: 132
The Pirates were 5-2 in February, including a road series sweep over Georgia State, but have faltered since, including a series loss to North Florida, a sub-200 team. Seton Hall is 2-1 against Quad 1 opponents. Rob Sheppard has tried a lot of different hitters, as 22 players have recorded an at-bat and only six are qualifiers. Despite that, five of them are hitting .260 or higher and the Pirates hit .295/.386/.427 as a team. Pitching, however, has been a different story. Each of the three starters have an ERA north of 5.00 and average less than five innings per appearance. They outscore their opponents but play tons of high-scoring games.
St. John’s
Record: 19-5-1
RPI: 47
The second of three top-50 programs in the Big East, St. John’s is having a resurgent season. The Red Storm, 1-1 in Quad 1 games, only got one crack at Florida and took down the Gators on opening day, but were just 3-4 on the ensuing swing through Texas. They then rolled through tri-state opponents, winning 13 of 14 against local foes, along with a 2-0-1 weekend last time out against Winthrop, though a weak strength of schedule will only get weaker as the many regional team on the docket drop. St. John’s has a dangerous offense, as each of the seven qualifiers have a batting average above .270 and five of them have a .900 OPS or greater. It’s in the top 50 in batting average in on-base percentage. However, weekend starters Xavier Kolhosser (6-1, 2.90) and Mario Pesca (4-0, 3.09) have been more than effective, leading to a top-50 ERA mark.
Xavier
Record: 14-14
RPI: 36
The Big East RPI leaders have played an absurd schedule that ranks No. 9 in the country. However, the Musketeers haven’t been successful, at 2-8 in Quad 1 games, including a season-opening sweep at the hands of Clemson, though they did take two of three from Bowling Green last weekend. Xavier has played just one Quad 4 game and will open on the road against UConn, then host Creighton in Big East play. The Musketeers have a pretty set lineup at this point of the season, with just 11 players over 30 at-bats, and the lineup is deep. Isaac Wachsmann (.386/.438/.719) and Matt McCormick (.308/.430/.625) are the headliners, but out of the top nine in at-bats, just one is below .250 in batting average and .750 in OPS. However, the pitching staff has been struggling against a brutal slate. Jake Hooker (2.57 ERA in 14 innings) and Jake Lambdin (3.27 ERA in 11 innings) have been good out of the bullpen, but other than primary reliever Jonathan Kelly, Connor Bailey is the only arm to start a game with an ERA below 5.50.
Villanova
Record: 7-18
RPI: 223
Villanova was voted at the bottom of the league by the coaches and have lived up to that billing so far, with a losing record and low RPI despite a bottom-50 nonconference strength of schedule. The Wildcats have just one non-Quad 4 win, which was on the road against East Tennessee State. The squad has seven qualifiers in the linup and three of them hit below .220 with an OPS below .700. Jack O’Reilly (.308/.390/.558) is the headliners, but Scott Shaw (.277/.381/.553) is a good middle-of-the-lineup producer. Villanova hits .237/.354/.378 as a team, which includes a bottom 15 batting average. Only one pitcher with a start in Jake Francis has an ERA below 4.00 and each of the three qualifying arms have an ERA above 6.50 and WHIP north of 1.70.
Bracketology
Baseball America
Baseball America released its second in-season bracket this week and UConn is not part of the bracket. Xavier, a 3-seed in No. 15 Kentucky’s Lexington Regional, has the Big East automatic bid. Creighton is also in the field as a 3-seed in the College Station Regional, hosted by No. 4 Texas A&M, while St. John’s is the second team out. UC Santa Barbara (3-seed) and Rutgers (next four out) are each in the discussion, along with Kansas State (2-seed), Indiana State (2-seed), Northeastern (2-seed), Bryant (4-seed) and UC Irvine (2-seed).
D1Baseball
UConn isn’t in D1Baseball.com’s first midseason bracket, either. There are some differences, as Creighton holds the automatic bid and is a 3-seed in No. 15 Nebraska’s Lincoln Regional. St. John’s is the first team out and Xavier isn’t in the bracket or bubble. Rutgers (3-seed) and UC Santa Barbara (3-seed) are both in the field, as well as single-game foes in Bryant (4-seed), UC Irvine (2-seed), Kansas State (2-seed), Indiana State (2-seed) and Northeastern (3-seed).
The Week Ahead
Friday: Xavier; 3:05 p.m.; FloSports
Saturday: Xavier; 2:05 p.m.; FloSports
Sunday: Xavier; 11:05 a.m.; FloSports
Tuesday: Bryant; 3:05 p.m.; UConn+
Wednesday: Maine; 3:05 p.m.; UConn+
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