Courtesy of GoXavier.com
CINCINNATI – Xavier’s Brian Bruening and Daniel Rizzie were named to the 2014 Nashville Regional All-Tournament Team after helping the Musketeers to a 1-2 mark in the NCAA Tournament, which included a victory over Clemson and loss to eventual regional-champion Vanderbilt.
Bruening put together a great tournament for the Musketeers, leading the team with a .455 batting average (5-of-11). In the Musketeers 6-4 win over Clemson on Saturday, the centerfielder was a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish. He added an RBI, run scored, walk and stolen base in XU’s three games.
Rizzie led Xavier with five RBIs and tied for the team lead with five hits and three runs scored. He hit safely in all three games of the tournament, posting a .417 average (5-for-12). The sophomore catcher also blasted a three-run homer in the final game against Oregon.
The Musketeers began the tournament with a loss to top-seed Vanderbilt in the opening game before responding with a 6-4 win over three-seed Clemson in an elimination game. Xavier then dropped a heart-breaking decision, 11-8, to No. 2 Oregon in extra innings.
Xavier closed the season with a 30-29 overall record and won the 2014 BIG EAST Championship. With wins over St. John’s, Seton Hall and Creighton, XU became the first team to eliminate every other team from the BIG EAST tourney since Villanova accomplished the feat in 1991.
2014 Nashville Regional
All-Tournament Team
C – Daniel Rizzie, Xavier
1B – A.J. Balta, Oregon*
2B – Dansby Swanson, Vanderbilt
3B – Mitchell Tolman, Oregon*
SS – Vince Conde, Vanderbilt*
OF – Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt*
OF – Brian Bruening, Xavier
OF – Tyler Baumgartner, Oregon
DH – Shaun Chase, Oregon
P – Tyler Beede, Vanderbilt*
P – Walker Buehler, Vanderbilt
MVP – Tyler Beede, Vanderbilt
Leave a Reply