Embrace nostalgia with these photos of MLB players in college as exhibition games begin

Dearest friends, it is time for celebration: Real, live baseball has finally returned. Sunday afternoon features the first exhibition game of Spring Training as the Phillies match up against the University of Tampa Spartans, and we are so very ready.

These MLB-versus-college games are exciting for a number of reasons. 1) As said before, they mark the start of ACTUAL BASEBALL. 2) While rare, every so often a college team will defeat a MLB team, and who doesn't love that? 3) You get to scope out college players before they make it big and say hip things like, "Yeah, well I knew about that guy way back when he was in school."

So in honor of Sunday's pro vs. college face-off, we present a blast-from-the-past of 13 MLB stars during their college days. Do you think they get nostalgic? Bright-eyed, baby-faced and crushing it:

A rare shot of Buster Posey playing the diamond for Florida State:

But don't worry, he was still gunning out basestealers back then, too:

David Price kept setting records and breaking them at Vanderbilt:

No wonder he won a Cy Young Award:

Chase Utley looked pretty good in UCLA blue, don't you think?

Matt Harvey was simply dashing at UNC:

Stephen Strasburg was a phenomenon at San Diego State:

Just check out his no-hitter:

Max Scherzer stretched out at Missouri:

Pedro Alvarez got dirty at Vanderbilt:

At Tennessee, R.A. Dickey was intense:

Bryce Harper's eye black game was strong at the College of Southern Nevada:

And so were his home runs:

Anthony Rendon was slugging at Rice:

Evan Longoria at Long Beach State, too:

San Diego wasn't all that long ago for Kris Bryant:

And Jeff Samardzija tore it up at Notre Dame:

Wait, wrong sport:

That's better.