Xavier Musketeers baseball not selected to NCAA Tournament

The Xavier Musketeers baseball season is over.

After falling short of a fifth consecutive trip to the Big East Tournament Championship, Xavier was not selected to the NCAA Tournament during Monday's Selection Show.

When the dust settled from the weekend, Xavier was ranked No. 40 in the NCAA's College Baseball RPI Rankings. In 2023, the top-41 teams in the RPI made the NCAA Tournament. Xavier was a top-30 RPI team in the final weeks of the season before losing four of its last six games, sinking its at-large chances.

Xavier (30-27) had a strong start to the Big East Tournament, defeating top-seeded UConn in extra innings, 3-2. In the Musketeers' next two games, though, they came up short with late-inning rallies by both St. John's in the semifinals and Georgetown in an elimination game at Prasco Park.

St. John's would go on to win the Big East Tournament and grab the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament that comes along with it.

Xavier head coach and Elder High School graduate Billy O'Conner made his case for the Musketeers to get an at-large bid.

"I know we've put together a great resume between the RPI, the Quad 1 wins and the strength of schedule. We deserve to keep playing. It's another step forward for the program that our season's not over when we lose in the conference tournament. We're gonna sit and watch the selection show on Monday and I think we're gonna see our name on the board," O'Conner said.

Senior first baseman Matt McCormick added: "We’re definitely underrated, for sure. People really counted us out in the beginning just because we lost so much last year. I know we’re just as good as last year. We had injuries that took us out. We pulled through with those and we still won through all that adversity. If that’s not enough to put you in, I don’t know what is.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Xavier Musketeers baseball not selected to NCAA Tournament