Louisville Baseball Opponent Preview: Xavier Musketeers

The First Midweek Game of the Year is a Big One

Sixty feet, six inches. ninety feet. 330 to the corners at Jim Patterson Stadium. Baseball measurements are uniform, but can vary slightly. Some parks are farther to the foul poles, some seat more, but overall, the field stays the same. The measuring stick by which we grade a program, however, can be all over the place.

Louisville’s measuring stick this past weekend looked a lot like the ones that have been used since COVID took the 2020 season from us that could have been THE year for Dan McDonnell’s program. Timely hitting, and pitchers able to preserve a lead or stop the bleeding long enough to allow the offense to mount a comeback are of the utmost importance to any program, but they both have tended to rear their head at inopportune times for Louisville. The grumbling about middle relief got very loud last year before something sunk in and the entirety of the staff brought its best stuff in Nashville, Louisville, and all the way to the Final Four in Omaha. Middle relief was an issue this past opening weekend, and it could be the reason Louisville doesn’t see the result that the promise of this season could bring.

It could also become a pillar of this team. Sprinkled into the iffy performances were some promise. Brandon Shannon, Joe Olson, Jake Schweitzer, Zane Stahl, and Aaron England all put up good performances against Michigan State when their numbers were called. In Midweek games, such as today, the staff bringing its best stuff is imperative as multiple arms will likely see the mound against Xavier. Let’s look at the matchup.

Read also: Louisville Baseball: Cards Get Humbled in Opening Series with Michigan State

Xavier schedules what many could consider the toughest schedule year-in and year-out, especially recently. Billy O’Conner has the mentality of ‘anyone, anywhere, anytime.’ This season is no different, as they went down to ECU and promptly took the first two games from the Pirates before dropping game three. Last season, their record appears pedestrian, but Oregon State, Indiana, Stanford, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, LSU, and Kentucky all made appearances on the Musketeers’ schedule in 2025. They had Louisville scheduled last season, but weather canceled the game. In the last meeting between Louisville and Xavier in 2024, The Cards took their best punch and couldn’t respond, falling 9-1 at home.

So, this midweek tilt is not a pushover in any sense. The Cardinals will most certainly get a team that is ready to play and is familiar with big games against Power 4 competition. The Big East’s coaches tabbed Xavier to finish third in a league, and if this past weekend is any indication, that could be too low.

The Musketeers are led by Big East Preseason Player of the Year Connor Misch, who will suit up at 1B tomorrow. Misch ended 2025 on the All-BIG EAST First Team, starting all 59 games of the season, batting .332 with a team-leading 65 hits, and had 44 walks. He led the Musketeers with a .485 on-base percentage as well, driving home a team-best 50 RBI.

Two other Musketeer stars to watch for are Clay Burdette and Ryan Piech. Both are on the preseason Big East All-League Team, although we are unlikely to see Piech, as he pitched the weekend series against ECU, getting a no-decision after 4.0 innings of two-hit ball with two strikeouts and two walks. Clay Burdette did not play the weekend series against ECU, so it’s up in the air if an injury is going to keep him out against the Cardinals. He led the team with 13 home runs last season, batting .292 for the season.

How do the Teams Stack Up?

Let’s look at the stats from Opening Weekend head-to-head:

What Should We Expect Today?

Look for a veteran presence like Peter Michael to get the start on the mound. The batting order should remain pretty intact although the Sunday lineup against Michigan State was very solid. I’d think the tweak to a lineup like that would be Jimmy Nugent back behind the plate, Jax Hisle in the DH role, and Griffin Crain back in Left Field if Zion Rose is unable to make his 2026 debut due to the nagging ankle injury which kept him sidelines against Michigan State. If the Cards can get a good stretch of starting pitching, and play complimentary baseball by jumping out in front of Xavier, Louisville can take a quality Midweek win into the Friday matchup at 4:00pm in Arlington, TX at the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series against another Big Ten foe in Nebraska.

Xavier will swing it, and their staff is capable of keeping a good batting lineup in check, as was evident this past weekend. This will be a good back-and-forth game that is truly up in the air and will come down to which team does the little things correctly and strings small victories into the overall end result.

The season is young. There is a ton of baseball to be played. We know what this staff and order is capable of, and seeing them work to put it together will be a lot of fun.

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