NEW YORK – The 2023 Baseball season is set to continue for a pair of BIG EAST programs, as 2023 BIG EAST tournament champion Xavier and 2023 BIG EAST regular season champion Connecticut will both hit the road Friday for the start of NCAA Regional action.
Competing in the NCAA Gainesville Regional, No. 10 UConn, the region’s No. 2 overall seed, will take on No. 3 seed Texas Tech at Noon ET on ESPNU.
The Huskies enter the matchup with a 43-15 overall record, including 15-5 in BIG EAST play, while Texas Tech sits at 39-21 (12-12 BIG 12). Hosting the regional as the No. 1 seed, No. 2 Florida (44-14, 20-10 SEC) takes on No. 4 seed Florida A&M (29-28, 18-12 SWAC) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
The tournament appearance marks the ninth in the last 10 seasons for the Huskies, winning the 2011 Clemson Regional and 2022 College Park Regional. The Huskies are one of just 12 teams to reach nine NCAA Regionals since 2010, as well as make five-straight tournament appearances. The Huskies have won 40 games in back-to-back regular seasons for the first time in program history.
Leading the offense for UConn, BIG EAST Player of the Year Dominic Freeberger is batting .349 with 82 hits, 57 runs and 60 RBI. In addition, Ben Huber leads the team with 16 home runs and a .675 slugging percentage. Overall, the team has hit 77 home runs in 2023, while batting a collective .306 and tallying 463 runs.
Fresh off the program’s fourth BIG EAST Championship victory, No. 3 seed Xavier travels to Nashville, Tenn., to open play against No. 2 seed Oregon Friday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in the Nashville Regional.
The Musketeers enter the tournament with a 37-23 overall record and 14-7 BIG EAST mark, while the Ducks head to Nashville with a 37-20 overall record and 16-14 mark in the Pac-12. Both the Musketeers and Ducks secured tournament bids with their respective conference championship wins.
Vanderbilt, the host and No. 1 seed in the region, is coming into the NCAA Tournament at 41-18 overall and 19-11 in SEC play, earning the 4-seed in the SEC Tournament. Eastern Illinois is the No. 4 seed in the region, entering NCAA play at 38-19, with a 13-11 record in OVC play in the regular season. The Dores and Panthers will compete at 8 p.m. on Friday.
The Musketeers are 6-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, playing in the Regional Finals in each of Xavier's last two NCAA appearances (2016 - Nashville; 2017 - Louisville). With 37 wins in 2023, Xavier has won the second most games in program history and is two wins from tying the school record of 39, set in 2009.
BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player Jack Housinger has batted lead-off in 39 games, with a .220 average on the season and 25 of his 49 hits going for extra bases, including 12 home runs. Brant Alazaus has made 16 starts this season with an ERA of 3.87 through 100.0 innings pitched, and leads the team with 98 strikeouts to just eight walks for the season.