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The final week of the regular season often functions as college baseball’s last true proving ground before the chaos of postseason play begins. For Draft prospects, it’s a chance to reinforce months of momentum, answer lingering questions or force evaluators to revisit old opinions one final time before conference tournaments and regional pressure distort the lens.
Some stars simply stayed on script. Others delivered the loudest performances of their seasons when scouting coverage was at its heaviest. A handful looked every bit like players who could hear their names called early next July.
Here are 10 prospects who stood out during the final week of the regular season.
Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA
Sometimes it’s easiest to appreciate greatness in the rare moments it looks human. The final weekend of the regular season marked just the second time all year that Roch Cholowsky failed to record a hit in back-to-back games, as the nation’s No. 1 prospect went 0-for-5 in Games 1 and 2 at Washington before salvaging the series finale with a 1-for-3 performance. Even then, Cholowsky still found ways to impact the game, drawing five walks and getting hit by a pitch across 14 plate appearances. That “quiet” weekend still encapsulated the offensive floor that has made him one of the sport’s premier players all spring. Cholowsky closed the regular season ranked 46th nationally in OPS and entered conference tournament week as one of just 31 Division I hitters with at least 20 home runs.
Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech
Lackey left no doubt about his top-three candidacy while closing a spectacular regular season, going 10-for-15 with three doubles, two home runs and a triple at Boston College to help the Yellow Jackets secure the ACC regular-season crown. Lackey finished the regular season on an 11-game hitting streak and has also thrown out seven of 31 would-be basestealers behind the plate this year.
Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara
Flora’s roughest outing of the season in the penultimate week of the regular season proved to be little more than a brief detour. The top pitching prospect in this year’s Draft responded by delivering one of the most dominant starts of his career, spinning his second complete-game shutout of the season with 12 strikeouts, no walks and just two hits allowed while facing only two batters over the minimum against UC Riverside. Flora overwhelmed hitters from the outset, throwing 81 of his 108 pitches for strikes while sitting at 96-98 mph and touching 99 with a fastball that generated 15 whiffs. He paired it with a sharp slider that produced a 73% strike rate and 55% miss rate. Flora closed the regular season leading all Division I pitchers in ERA while ranking seventh nationally in strikeouts.
Cameron Flukey, RHP, Coastal Carolina
After two weeks spent searching for consistency, Flukey looked fully back in rhythm at Louisiana with arguably his sharpest outing of the season. The Coastal Carolina righty struck out five, walked one and allowed just two hits across four scoreless innings while consistently attacking the zone. Flukey threw 76% of his pitches for strikes, including an 84% strike rate with a fastball that sat at 95-97 mph and accounted for eight of his 12 whiffs on the day. His high-70s downer curveball complemented the heater effectively, generating three misses on just seven swings while showing strong command throughout the outing.
Cole Carlon, LHP, Arizona State
Carlon made headlines for the wrong reasons to close the regular season of his Draft year when he was pulled from his start after just 1 2/3 innings due to a velocity dip. Carlon’s fastball, which averaged 96 mph over his previous 13 starts entering the outing at Houston, topped out at 94 and was thrown as low as 91, prompting head coach Willie Bloomquist to remove him from the game. Arizona State has maintained that the decision was precautionary, but Carlon’s status will nonetheless be important to monitor over the coming weeks.
Liam Peterson, RHP, Florida
Peterson completed seven innings for just the third time in his career (all this season) at LSU to close out the regular season, striking out his SEC-play-high 11 against one walk while allowing one run on three hits. The Florida right-hander posted a 70% strike rate, showing some of the sharpest control of his season, which helped him generate 24 whiffs throughout the outing, including 19 with his slider alone. Peterson also generated whiffs on all three swings against his curveball. The start served as another reminder of his sky-high potential when he’s able to consistently keep his electric stuff around the zone.
Mason Edwards, LHP, Southern California
Edwards closed his regular season with another dominant outing, striking out 12 over six shutout innings. He finished the regular season ranked second nationally among qualified pitchers with a 1.49 ERA and first with 154 strikeouts across 84 1/3 innings. Three of Edwards’ pitches generated miss rates north of 60% over the full regular season: his curveball (60%), slider (63%) and changeup (64%).
Daniel Jackson, C, Georgia
Jackson wove himself into the historical fabric of college baseball in the final week of the regular season when he became the first primary catcher and just the sixth player in Division I history to produce a 25-homer, 25-steal season. What makes the accomplishment even more remarkable is how clearly Georgia head coach Wes Johnson saw it coming. Johnson told Baseball America in the fall that Jackson, then unranked by BA, was one of the best athletes he’d ever coached and fully capable of reaching the 20-20 benchmark. Jackson blew past that projection and now enters postseason play needing just three home runs and five steals to reach the 30-30 club.
Ryan Peterson, RHP, Sam Houston
Peterson’s outing against Louisiana Tech was abbreviated but still enough for him to become just the sixth Sam Houston pitcher ever to strike out 100 batters in a season and the 10th to eclipse 200 for a career. Peterson possesses some of the most advanced feel for spin in the class, headlined by a pair of high-octane breaking balls -- a curveball and slider -- that both average roughly 3,000 rpm.
Taylor Rabe, RHP, Ole Miss
Rabe continued to look like one of the biggest late helium names when he turned in the best outing of his season: six one-hit, shutout innings with 13 strikeouts and one walk at No. 19 Alabama. Rabe generated a staggering 25 whiffs in the outing, including 15 with a mid-to-high 80s cutter that he commands particularly well. He has issued just eight walks all year and recorded 27 of his 81 strikeouts over the final two weeks of the regular season.