And similar to that, we’re again! The faculty baseball common season bought underway Friday and there’s no greater showcase to open the season than the eight-team area readily available in Arizona for the seventh iteration of the Desert Invitational.
There are 4 first-time members amongst this 12 months’s area (Air Power, Iowa, Northeastern and Penn State) alongside returnees UConn, Kansas State and Nebraska in addition to longtime stalwart Grand Canyon, the latter making its fourth look.
Right here’s the whole schedule breakdown for the weekend with the three video games in daring carried stay on the MLB Community with Gregg Caserta, Dan O’Dowd and Jesse Borek on the decision.
DESERT INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
The weekend kicked off with 63 mixed runs throughout 4 contests and loads of standout offensive performances. Beginning with the one nine-inning sport of the day, Kansas State put up 4 runs over the primary three frames earlier than Dee Kennedy delivered the Invitational’s first huge fly with a fourth inning grand slam. The junior shortstop added one other knock and two stolen bases to his ledger to finish a powerful day for the Wildcats. Along with Kennedy, redshirt freshman Chandler Murray swatted an eighth inning huge fly and outfielder A.J. Evasco collected 4 knocks. Iowa’s Cooper Schulte left the yard within the fifth.
The remaining three contests had been all determined by the mercy rule. Grand Canyon College dealt with Northeastern soundly because of robust pitching and potent bats. Proper-hander Garrett Ahern tossed 5 scoreless innings and tallied 5 whiffs earlier than handing the ball to JT Guerrero to complete the shutout. Offensively, junior Cannon Peery clubbed the Antelopes’ lone homer.
About 20 miles east at Salt River Fields at Speaking Stick, Nebraska’s Ty Horn began his season robust with six strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. Three Cornhuskers collected three knocks apiece — Dylan Carey, Cole Kitchens and Case Sanderson. Carey delivered the knockout blow within the seventh with a two-run triple to middle area.
Closing out the evening was Air Power and Luke Elmore. The junior utilityman lifted his membership to victory with a game-high 4 knocks and 4 RBIs. Freshman outfielder Brooks Burdine additionally had an enormous efficiency with three hits and two walks.
Saturday, Feb. 143 p.m. ET: Penn State vs. Grand Canyon (Salt River Fields)7 p.m. ET: Kansas State vs. UConn (Scottsdale Stadium)8 p.m. ET: Iowa vs. Air Power (Salt River Fields)8:30 p.m. ET: Nebraska vs. Northeastern (Sloan Park)
Sunday, Feb. 152 p.m. ET: Kansas State vs. Penn State (Sloan Park)3 p.m. ET: Iowa vs. Northeastern (Salt River Fields)7:30 p.m. ET: Nebraska vs. Grand Canyon (Sloan Park)8 p.m. ET: Air Power vs. UConn (Salt River Fields)
Monday, Feb. 163 p.m. ET: Kansas State vs. Air Power (Sloan Park)3 p.m. ET: Stanford vs. Nebraska (Salt River Fields)
All video games will probably be streamed stay on MLB.com apart from Friday’s contest between Northeastern and Grand Canyon.
Whereas there are not any High 100 Draft prospects readily available at this 12 months’s event, there’s loads of potential 2026 Day 1 expertise to look at.
Harrison Feinberg (the 2025 Co-CAA Participant of the Yr) was named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch Listing and figures to be a pressure on the coronary heart of the Northeastern lineup as he strikes across the outfield this spring. UConn’s Tyler Minick and Nebraska’s Ty Horn will ship one of the best mano-a-mano matchup of the weekend as a Large East Participant of the Yr candidate takes on a 6-foot-2 hurler who dominated UCLA (and No. 1 total Draft prospect Roch Cholowsky) in final season’s Large Ten Convention title sport. Third baseman Bryce Molinaro was a Seventeenth-round selection by the Nationals final July however determined to return and end his diploma at Penn State, the place he completed second on the membership with 61 RBIs for the season. Grand Canyon has a pair of hurlers — Garrett Ahern and Chase Frey — who’ve popped up on evaluators’ radars, seeking to proceed a powerful custom of ‘Lopes earmarked for the professionals with 16 Draft choices previously 5 years.
Amongst this 12 months’s crop of gamers, there are 40 former members from MLB Summer season Leagues (Appalachian League and Draft League) and MLB Develops applications. For the primary time, the four-day occasion will span 5 totally different ballparks, 4 of which (Goodyear Ballpark, Salt River Fields, Scottsdale Stadium and Sloan Park) are house to huge league Spring Coaching contests. Along with offering stout early-season competitors, the Desert Invitational offers an opportunity for collegiate gamers to carry out at venues that might await them within the professional ranks.
