College ball gets underway this weekend, here's what to watch
The road to Omaha starts on Friday.
College baseball returns this weekend with a full slate of games featuring top Draft prospects and the best programs in the country -- and the action spans six time zones. Opening Day gets an early start with Houston taking on No. 21 Wake Forest in Ponce, Puerto Rico, at 9:30 a.m. ET and concludes in Hawaii, where the Rainbow Warriors will host Gonzaga 14 hours later.
The weekend includes must-watch tournaments like the Shriner's Children's College Showdown at Globe Life Field, the College Baseball Series in Surprise, Ariz., and the seventh iteration of the MLB Desert Invitational.
Thirteen of the top 20 on MLB Pipeline's newly minted Top 100 Draft Prospects list come from the college ranks. Of those 13, there are 10 who will suit up for top 25-ranked teams entering the season, and seven of those players represent teams in the top 10.
Here is a breakdown of the college Draft prospects in the top 20 and where they will open the 2026 campaign:
No. 1 Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA (1) vs. UC San Diego
No. 3 Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama vs. Washington State
No. 5 Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech (5) vs. Bowling Green
No. 6 Derek Curiel, OF, LSU (2) vs. Milwaukee
No. 9 Cameron Flukey, RHP, Coastal Carolina (6) vs. Fairfield
No. 10 Sawyer Strosnider, OF, TCU (10) vs. Vanderbilt (23), Arkansas (7), Oklahoma at the Shriner’s Children’s College Showdown (Arlington, TX)
No. 12 Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech (5) vs. Bowling Green
No. 13 Liam Peterson, RHP, Florida (13) vs. UAB
No. 14 Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara at Southern Miss (20)
No. 15 A.J. Gracia, OF, Virginia vs. Wagner
No. 16 Chris Hacopian, SS, Texas A&M (25) vs. Tennessee Tech
No. 18 Ace Reese, 3B, Mississippi State (4) vs. Hofstra
No. 20 Caden Sorrell, OF, Texas A&M (25) vs. Tennessee Tech
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And here is a look at the opening matchups for the top 10 college baseball teams in the country:
No. 1 UCLA vs. UC San Diego
No. 2 LSU vs. Milwaukee
No. 3 Texas vs. UC Davis
No. 4 Mississippi State vs. Hofstra
No. 5 Georgia Tech vs. Bowling Green
No. 6 Coastal Carolina vs. Fairfield
No. 7 Arkansas vs. Oklahoma State, TCU (10) and Texas Tech at the Shriner’s Children’s College Showdown (Arlington, TX)
No. 8 Louisville vs. Michigan State
No. 9 Auburn vs. Youngstown State
No. 10 TCU vs. Vanderbilt (23), Arkansas (7), Oklahoma State at the Shriner’s Children’s College Showdown
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The MLB Desert Invitational will feature eight top-flight programs in Phoenix. All of these games -- except for Northeastern vs. Grand Canyon on Friday -- will stream live on MLB.TV, MLB.com and the MLB app. The three bolded games below also will be broadcast on MLB Network with Gregg Caserta, Dan O’Dowd and Jesse Borek on the call.
Friday, Feb. 13:
3 p.m. ET: Iowa vs. Kansas State (Goodyear Ballpark)
8 p.m. ET: UConn vs. Nebraska (Salt River Fields)
8 p.m. ET: Northeastern vs. Grand Canyon (Brazell Field @ GCU Ballpark)
8 p.m. ET: Air Force vs. Penn State (Goodyear Ballpark)
Saturday, Feb. 14:
3 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 Force (Salt River Fields)
8:30 p.m. ET: Nebraska vs. Northeastern (Sloan Park)
Sunday, Feb. 15:
2 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 Force vs. UConn (Salt River Fields)
Monday, Feb. 16:
3 p.m. ET: Kansas State vs. Air Force (Sloan Park)
3 p.m. ET: Stanford vs. Nebraska (Salt River Fields)