#BIGEASTbase Minute – Thursday’s Seton Hall-Xavier Game On FS1
NEW YORK – League play continues on Thursday as Georgetown hosts Creighton, Xavier hosts Seton Hall and Butler hosts St. John’s. Villanova hosts George Washington in the non-conference bye weekend. This weekend’s schedule is highlighted by an FS1 broadcast of the Seton Hall-Xavier series opener at 8 p.m. on Thursday. The game will be played at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio.
After the first weekend of play, Butler, Creighton and Villanova are tied at the top of the leaderboard at 2-1 in BIG EAST play. St. John’s, Xavier and Seton Hall are all 1-2 with Georgetown starting Thursday with a clean league slate.
SERIES NOTES
Creighton at Georgetown
Creighton is on the road at Georgetown after claiming a 2-1 series win of then-No. 14 St. John’s in Omaha to open the league season. The Bluejays are on a three-game win streak coming into the weekend, including a non-conference 11-inning win over South Dakota State on Tuesday. Georgetown will be playing in its first conference series of the season having the non-conf bye with a series against New York Tech last weekend. The Hoyas are on a six-game winning streak coming into Friday’s afternoon contest. Creighton leads the series with Georgetown 10-2, seven of nine in conference play. For the Hoyas, look for offense led by Michael DeRenzi (.388), who also leads the team in stolen bases, 10 in 13 tries. Creighton boasts back-to-back BIG EAST pitcher of the week accolades with Keith Rogalla and Rollie Lacy. Rogalla has a 2.85 ERA on the season with a 2-2 record, 36 strikeouts.
St. John’s at Butler
St. John’s, still ranked as high as No. 12 in the national polls, rebounded from its 1-2 series loss at Creighton with a 9-3 win over Albany on Tuesday. Butler extended its win streak to two games with a 10-3 win over Fort Wayne in midweek action. Butler took two on the road at Seton Hall last week to be in the top half of the BIG EAST leader board. Key to Butler’s game is ace Jeff Schank. Schank boasts a 1.12 ERA going into the weekend, a 4-1 record and 66 strikeouts in 56.0 innings. St. John’s offense, although not on display last week in Omaha, still leads the conference. As a team, the Red Storm batting average of .329 is third in the country. Jesse Berardi leads the SJU bats with a .422 average (46-for-109) with 31 RBI and 23 walks. He has scored 28 times. Playing on the road for the second week in a row, St. John’s needs a series win to get to the middle of the standings. Butler will have the home advantage to try to stay at the top of the leader board.
Seton Hall at Xavier
The series opener between Seton Hall and Xavier will be played at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio and will be broadcast on FS1 at 8 p.m. ET. It is the first and only BIG EAST game on FS1 this season. Xavier and Seton Hall were both favorites going into last weekend’s series as the Musketeers were picked to win the league this season, along with St. John’s, and Seton Hall was picked fourth. Both teams found themselves on the losing side of the opening series although neither team was swept. Xavier bats continue to be led by freshman Conor Grammes (.345) who has 41 hits, 20 RBI, four homers and eight doubles. Pitcher Zac Lowther had a near perfect game last Friday, going eight perfect innings before giving up a leadoff walk in the ninth. Seton Hall’s pitching core of Zach Prendergast (4-2, 3.75 ERA) and Dana Cullen (2-3, 3.83 ERA, 47 K’s) continue to be a strength for the Pirates.
George Washington at Villanova
Villanova hosts George Washington after winning their BIG EAST series opener against Xavier last weekend. The Wildcats are 6-18 on the season. GW is 16-17.
Upcoming #BIGEASTbase Schedule (all times Eastern)
Thursday, April 13
CREIGHTON at GEORGETOWN at 3 p.m.
George Washington at VILLANOVA at 3 p.m.
ST. JOHN’S at BUTLER at 4 p.m.
SETON HALL at XAVIER (FS1) at 8 p.m.
(played at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio)
Friday, April 14
George Washington at VILLANOVA at 1 p.m.
SETON HALL at XAVIER at 3 p.m.
ST. JOHN’S at BUTLER at 4 p.m.
CREIGHTON at GEORGETOWN at4 p.m.
Saturday, April 15
CREIGHTON at GEORGETOWN at Noon
SETON HALL at XAVIER at Noon
ST. JOHN’S at BUTLER at 1 p.m.
George Washington at VILLANOVA at 1 p.m.
Tuesday, April 18
NYIT at ST. JOHN’S at 3 p.m.
SETON HALL at Rutgers at 3 p.m.
GEORGETOWN at Mount St. Mary’s at 3:30 p.m.
Easter Illinois at BUTLER at 4 p.m.
VILLANOVA at Wagner at 6 p.m.
XAVIER at CINCINNATI* at 6:30 p.m.
Nebraska at CREIGHTON at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 19
TBA vs. XAVIER* at 3 p.m.
* Nuxhall Classic.