After a Big East Championship title, a bus breakdown and a 16-plus hour journey from Maryland, Xavier’s baseball team barely made it to Buffalo Wild Wings in Montgomery for Monday’s noon NCAA tournament Selection Show on ESPNU.

Players raced inside and learned that they would, for the second time in three years, travel to Nashville to face perennial powerhouse and top-seeded Vanderbilt in an 8 p.m. regional Friday at Hawkins Field.

The team erupted into cheers when the Musketeers (30-28) were pitted against the Commodores (43-17) in the double-elimination tournament.

Senior catcher Dan Rizzie was just glad the team didn’t miss the big reveal.

“We were pretty nervous. A couple guys pulled up (directions) on Google maps and we made it there at 11:59. We sprinted off the bus and got inside really quick,” Rizzie said.

Xavier is no stranger to Vanderbilt, and not just because of their 2014 tournament meeting. The Commodores swept the Musketeers in a three-game series just this March, piling on to XU’s 3-11 start.

But Xavier isn’t the same team as it was then. Despite being picked to finish fourth in the Big East, coach Scott Googins has led the group to a massive turn-around featuring regular-season and conference tournament crowns as well as the NCAA tournament automatic bid.

“I feel like now, especially since we’ve hit our stride, I’d like to see where we match up against (Vanderbilt),” Googins said. “They were in the national championship game last year. They won the national championship two years ago. They’re a premier team – not only in the Southeastern Conference, but in college baseball. That’s kind of your benchmark. Let’s see where we stack up.”

The leadership of seniors Rizzie, Andre Jernigan and Dave Morton has propelled success in a season in which XU has remained largely injury-free, Googins said. What’s more, the group has shown resilience in the face of adversity instead of crumbling – something it struggled with last year when it finished last in the Big East.

Xavier shored up its identity against St. John’s in a series April 23 and 24. The Red Storm were picked to finish first in the league and escaped with a win in the first game.

“We had first and second against St. John’s. We didn’t get the bunt down so now we have one out and Dave Morton hit a ball right up the middle. Their shortstop made a great catch and doubled us off and so we ended the game,” Googins said.

“It was like a disgusting moment, and a lot of times disgust is negative. It was kind of a positive where it was like, ‘You know, we’re just going to go play.’”

Xavier won the next two games against St. John’s, setting in motion 16 victories in its next 18 outings.

The Big East Championship title was the icing on the cake. Top-seeded Xavier trailed Creighton by four runs early in the finale but rallied for the 8-7 victory and second tournament title in two years.

“It was huge. Obviously looking at the beginning of the season, we played a tough schedule with a lot of good teams. This team has a lot of resilience. It really fought back, battled back, scratched and clawed the entire year. Everyone on this team is a bunch of fighters,” said Big East player of the year Jernigan, XU’s shortstop.

“When we get down in games, we’re not too worried about it. We’re confident that our pitchers will continue to make pitches and our offense will come around and help us out.”

The Musketeers departed from Maryland at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in a return trip derailed by the bus breakdown. For several hours they made the best of their time in a Pennsylvania parking lot, playing cards and devising baseball-like games before a brief hotel stay.

“It was kind of a nightmare, but what are you going to do? We went from a high to a low pretty quick,” Rizzie said. “We made the most of it and had a good time. If we’d have lost the tournament, it would have been a lot worse. But the tournament win helped us a lot.”