And just like that, we’re back! The college baseball regular season got underway Friday and there’s no bigger showcase to open the season than the eight-team field on hand in Arizona for the seventh iteration of the Desert Invitational.
There are four first-time participants among this year’s field (Air Force, Iowa, Northeastern and Penn State) alongside returnees UConn, Kansas State and Nebraska as well as longtime stalwart Grand Canyon, the latter making its fourth appearance.
2026 Draft:
Here’s the complete schedule breakdown for the weekend with the three games in bold carried live on the MLB Network with Gregg Caserta, Dan O’Dowd and Jesse Borek on the call.
DESERT INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
The weekend kicked off with 63 combined runs across four contests and plenty of standout offensive performances. Starting with the only nine-inning game of the day, Kansas State put up four runs over the first three frames before Dee Kennedy delivered the Invitational's first big fly with a fourth inning grand slam. The junior shortstop added another knock and two stolen bases to his ledger to complete a strong day for the Wildcats. In addition to Kennedy, redshirt freshman Chandler Murray swatted an eighth inning big fly and outfielder A.J. Evasco collected four knocks. Iowa’s Cooper Schulte left the yard in the fifth.
The remaining three contests were all decided by the mercy rule. Grand Canyon University handled Northeastern soundly thanks to strong pitching and potent bats. Right-hander Garrett Ahern tossed five scoreless innings and tallied five whiffs before handing the ball to JT Guerrero to finish the shutout. Offensively, junior Cannon Peery clubbed the Antelopes’ lone homer.
About 20 miles east at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, Nebraska’s Ty Horn started his season strong 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 in the seventh with a two-run triple to center field.
Closing out the night was Air Force and Luke Elmore. The junior utilityman lifted his club to victory with a game-high four knocks and four RBIs. Freshman outfielder Brooks Burdine also had a big performance with three hits and two walks.
Saturday, Feb. 14
3 p.m. ET: Penn State vs. Grand Canyon (Salt River Fields) -- Gameday | Watch
7 p.m. ET: Kansas State vs. UConn (Scottsdale Stadium) -- Gameday | Watch
8 p.m. ET: Iowa vs. Air Force (Salt River Fields) -- Gameday | Watch
8:30 p.m. ET: Nebraska vs. Northeastern (Sloan Park) -- Gameday | Watch
*Games in bold can also be seen live on MLB Network
All games will be streamed live on MLB.com except for Friday's contest between Northeastern and Grand Canyon.
More from MLB Pipeline:
• Top 100 prospects | Stats | Video | Podcast | Complete coverage
TOP PROSPECTS TO KNOW
While there are no Top 100 Draft prospects on hand at this year’s tournament, there’s plenty of potential 2026 Day 1 talent to watch.
Harrison Feinberg (the 2025 Co-CAA Player of the Year) was named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List and figures to be a force at the heart of the Northeastern lineup as he moves around the outfield this spring. UConn’s Tyler Minick and Nebraska’s Ty Horn will deliver the best mano-a-mano matchup of the weekend as a Big East Player of the Year candidate takes on a 6-foot-2 hurler who dominated UCLA (and No. 1 overall Draft prospect Roch Cholowsky) in last season’s Big Ten Conference title game. Third baseman Bryce Molinaro was a 17th-round choice by the Nationals last July but decided to return and finish his degree at Penn State, where he finished second on the club with 61 RBIs for the season. Grand Canyon has a pair of hurlers -- Garrett Ahern and Chase Frey -- who have popped up on evaluators’ radars, looking to continue a strong tradition of ‘Lopes earmarked for the pros with 16 Draft selections in the past five years.
Among this year’s crop of players, there are 40 former participants from MLB Summer Leagues (Appalachian League and Draft League) and MLB Develops programs. For the first time, the four-day event will span five different ballparks, four of which (Goodyear Ballpark, Salt River Fields, Scottsdale Stadium and Sloan Park) are home to big league Spring Training contests. In addition to providing stout early-season competition, the Desert Invitational provides a chance for collegiate players to perform at venues that could await them in the pro ranks.