THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,416 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,416 MLB PLAYERS | 15,806 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
College  | Story | 4/26/2018

Weekend Preview: Week 11

Photo: Colin Simpson (Oklahoma State Athletics)




RAC vs. RPICollege Top 25 | Player/Pitcher of the Week | College Player Database
Quick Takes: Florida | Kentucky | College Notebooks: Stanford | Arizona


The schedule during the 11th weekend of the 2018 college baseball season doesn't offer as many series between ranked opponents as recent weeks have, but there are two very big series that include the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the nation. The top-ranked Gators, who have yet to lose a weekend series this year, host a strong Auburn club that is coming off of a huge series sweep over Alabama as they continue to rebound from a rough three-week stretch that saw them lose to Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas. And the projected Thursday night matchup of Casey Mize vs. Brady Singer is must-see TV.

No. 2 NC State hosts North Carolina in an in-state showdown between the Atlantic and Coastal Division leaders. Both squads currently have 15-6 records in conference, as the host Wolfpack have yet to lose a weekend series this year. However, North Carolina is trending upward as we take a deeper look at the Tar Heels' success below.

Each of the other Power 5 Conferences offers an intriguing matchup, even if both opponents aren't ranked. In the Pac-12 Stanford stays close to home despite traveling across the Bay to face California and their red-hot slugger, Andrew Vaughn. The Big 12 offers the Bedlam Series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in what could be a classic shootout between these long-time successful programs (read more on this series below). Indiana faces a significant test as they host Illinois and Perfect Game's Midseason Player of the Year, Bren Spillane. And don't look past Houston at East Carolina in the American Athletic Conference, as the Cougars have a pair of lefthanded starters enjoying successful seasons in Trey Cumbie and Aaron Fletcher.

Stay tuned to Perfect Game over the weekend as Vinnie Cervino will be on hand to see VMI at Mercer and Wake Forest at Georgia Tech.


Top 25 in Action

Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 Florida home vs. No. 19 Auburn Gainesville, FL
2 NC State home vs. No. 18 North Carolina Raleigh, NC
3 Stanford home vs. California Stanford, CA
4 Texas Tech at Texas Christian Fort Worth, TX
5 Oregon State home vs. Arizona State Corvallis, OR
6 Ole Miss home vs. LSU Oxford, MS
7 East Carolina home vs. Houston Greenville, NC
8 Clemson at Virginia Charlottesville, VA
9 Arkansas home vs. Alabama Fayetteville, AR
10 UCLA at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA
11 Southern Miss at Old Dominion Norfolk, VA
12 Indiana home vs. Illinois Bloomington, IN
13 Vanderbilt home vs. South Carolina Nashville, TN
14 Kentucky home vs. Missouri Lexington, KY
15 Duke at Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
16 Florida Atlantic home vs. UAB Boca Raton, FL
17 Florida State home vs. Miami Tallahassee, FL
18 North Carolina at No. 2 NC State Raleigh, NC
19 Auburn at No. 1 Florida Gainesville, FL
20 Texas A&M at Mississippi State Starkville, MS
21 Texas at West Virginia Morgantown, WV
22 Oklahoma at/away vs. Oklahoma State Stillwater/Tulsa OK
23 South Florida home vs. Memphis Tampa, FL
24 Coastal Carolina home vs. Louisiana-Monroe Conway, SC
25 Jacksonville home vs. NJIT Jacksonville, FL


Pure Bedlam

None of the three ranked Big 12 teams – No. 4 Texas Tech, No. 21 Texas or No. 22 Oklahoma – currently leads the conference. With a 12-3 mark in league play it is Oklahoma State that sits on top of the standings, one game ahead of the Longhorns and two games ahead of both the Red Raiders and Sooners.

The annual Bedlam Series takes place this weekend in both Stillwater and Tulsa, Oklahoma as the Cowboys and Sooners prepare to do battle. This is the third straight weekend in a row that Oklahoma has faced a stiff test in Big 12 play, losing to Texas and Texas Tech each of the last two weekends and needing to salvage their Sunday contests in both series to avoid being swept. At 28-15 they are still very much a competitive, well-balanced team with star power in both the every day lineup – as evidenced by outfielder Steele Walker, who is hitting .373-11-44 – and pitching staff – led by Friday ace Jake Irvin, who is 5-0 with a 2.87 ERA.

After a slow start (10-8-1) to the season, Oklahoma State has taken their game to another level with the beginning of conference play. While they did lose their series to Texas, in Austin, they have sweeps over TCU, Kansas State and Kansas and also won their series at West Virginia. Next weekend they play Iowa on the road and finish up the season against Baylor on the road and Texas Tech at home as they close out the regular season with a very challenging schedule.

Unlike the Sooners, the Cowboys don’t boast a lot of star power, as they don’t have gaudy performance numbers to point to as the reason for their success. They do have a good hero-by-committee team approach to the game of baseball, although Colin Simpson is one of the league’s better mashers as he is second in the conference with 12 home runs and leads OSU in hits (43), RBI (40) and total bases (89).

In addition to beating their in-state rivals with pride and so much more on the line, Oklahoma’s spot in the Top 25 could be in jeopardy. As the 22nd-ranked team a series loss almost assuredly would mean they get bumped from the rankings. However, a series win would get them back to their winning ways at the right time considering the most challenging part of their Big 12 schedule would be behind them (although they do travel to Orlando in mid May to play UCF).

A series win for Oklahoma State, especially a convincing one, could lock up a spot in Monday’s ranking update.

Tar Heels back on top

North Carolina entered the season with lofty expectations, and while they started off a little slow, it would seem as though they’re starting to live up to those preseason prognostications. Despite losing several key contributors from a year ago, and seeing their 2017 season finish in disappointing fashion – losing to Davidson in Chapel Hill in Regional play despite having a 49-14 overall record – the Tar Heels opened this year ranked seventh largely due to a very strong sophomore class.

While they opened the season with a hard fought series win over South Florida, who entered the Top 25 for the first first time this past week, they struggled for the most part over the first month of the season. By mid-March they had fallen out of the rankings, suffering series losses to then-unranked East Carolina and then-ranked Louisville, adding another series loss to Florida State after their rankings dismissal.

Since then North Carolina has gone 14-3 with home sweeps over Wake Forest and Georgia Tech and road series wins over Miami and Virginia, something they had not accomplished since 2008 and 2012, respectively.

The team’s sophomore class hasn’t been as dominant as initially expected, particularly among the pitchers, although first baseman Michael Busch is enjoying a strong, breakout season, hitting .325 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI. Junior third baseman Kyle Datres has also enjoyed a strong season at the plate as the two lead an offense that is collectively hitting .286 and is second in the ACC in runs scored behind NC State, their opponent this weekend.

Expected to be the team’s strength coming into the year, the pitching hasn’t been as strong, at least when it comes to their starting staff. Gianluca Dalatri was lost early in the season while 2015 PG All-Americans Tyler Baum and Austin Bergner have ERAs of 4.42 and 4.53, respectively. The bullpen, however, has been a bright spot as five different pitchers have made at least 16 appearances this year and all five of them have sub-3.00 ERAs.

Now 28-13, North Carolina is currently fourth in the nation in RPI and sit on top of the ACC Coastal Division with a 15-6 conference record, which is tied with Atlantic-leading NC State. The Wolfpack, who have been ranked the nation’s second-best team for three weeks now, have a very tough test ahead of them in Raleigh in what figures to be the weekend’s best matchup.

Gone streakin’

Two of the hottest teams in the nation will look to continue their impressive win streaks this weekend as Tennessee Tech and Michigan have reached 26 and 20 victories in a row, respectively. Tennessee Tech hosts Southeast Missouri while Michigan travels to Iowa City, Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes.

Michigan’s success was briefly broken down a week ago in the Week 10 preview as one of the nation’s more surprising conference leaders, and they continue to lead the Big Ten with a 11-0 mark in league play after their three-game sweep over Penn State. While winning 20 games in a row is no easy task, Iowa presents their toughest opponent, by far, during that stretch with the No. 47 RPI. Of the teams the Wolverines have beaten during their win streak, Maryland and Toledo (123 and 179) have the highest RPIs, and are the only two programs with a mark below 200. Despite losing to Minnesota last weekend, the Big Ten’s second-place team, Iowa has recent series wins over Illinois and Ohio State and split weather-shortened series against Indiana and Nebraska.

Tennessee Tech on the other hand has wins over four teams with RPIs less than 100, including their most recent win against Tennessee (72) as well as another against West Virginia (32). At 35-5, the Golden Eagles feel just short of forcing their way into the Top 25 and are the easy favorite to advance to the postseason from the Ohio Valley Conference, regardless if they win the OVC Tournament.

Looking at Tennessee Tech’s stats is a fun exercise, as they lead the nation, as a team, in almost every significant offensive category.  Their .358/.455/.645 triple slash line looks like an MVP season from Barry Bonds, and while Bonds never approached 95 home runs it’s a number that is 31 more than the second place team (Florida with 64).

No one in their regular starting lineup is batting below .300, five hitters have more than 10 home runs and two hitters have slugging percentage over .700. If you want to find a reason to not like their offense you could point to their 17 stolen bases, but with the firepower they possess risking outs on the basepaths wouldn’t seem to be a wise course of action anyway.

Naturally, the pitching isn’t as strong as the offense, and they’re going to have to continue to out-slug their opponents into the postseason. However, it’s a formula that has worked up to this point of the season, and with the 28th-best RPI in the nation after last weekend’s action they have even more gaudy numbers to support their case.



College | Story | 4/23/2026

Coppy's Corner: April 23 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
Article Image
Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.     Player of the Week: Tague Davis – University of Louisville  Between 2016-2022, the University of Louisville produced 14 players taken in the Top 5 Rounds of the MLB Draft, seven of whom were taken in the 1st Round. The Cardinals haven’t produced a Top 5 Rounds pick since 2022, but that will change soon with Davis. Still only 20 years old and not draft-eligible until 2027, Davis continued his assault on college baseball this weekend with a 7-for-12 performance that included 5 HR. On the 2026 season, Davis is hitting .389 AVG / .489 OBP / .911 SLG / 1.392 OPS. That’s a 400+...
Draft | Prospect Scouting Reports | 4/24/2026

2026 MLB Draft Reports: Top 100

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
PG Draft: Top-100 Reports (April Update) 1. Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA R-R, 6-2/202, Chandler, AZ Previously Drafted: Never Drafted Roch Cholowsky has consistently ranked at the top of the class throughout the cycle due to the safety and upside of the profile. Defensively, he is a plus defender at shortstop with soft hands, consistent actions, and quality range. Not only should he stick at the position long term, he should excel there at the next level. Offensively, there is a strong mix of hit and power potential from the right side of the plate. The swing is a bit unorthodox with a shorter finish, but Cholowsky consistently finds the barrel and drives the ball with authority to all fields. He has strong bat to ball skills with impact. He has walked more than stuck out during his collegiate career, giving him a high on-base ability. The run tool is the only tool that doesn’t jump...
Draft | Rankings | 4/24/2026

2026 MLB Draft Board: Top 400

Tyler Henninger
Article Image
Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown State Commitment 1 Roch Cholowsky C SS R-R UCLA Chandler AZ 2 Grady Emerson H SS L-R Fort Worth Christian Argyle TX Texas 3 Vahn Lackey C C R-R Georgia Tech Suwanee GA 4 Jackson Flora C RHP R-R UC Santa Barbara Pleasanton CA 5 Jacob Lombard H SS R-R Gulliver Schools Miami FL Miami 6 AJ Gracia C OF L-L Virginia Monroe NJ 7 Ace Reese C 3B L-R Mississippi State Canton TX 8 Eric Booth Jr. H OF L-L Oak Grove Bassfield MS Vanderbilt 9 Justin Lebron C SS R-R Alabama Miramar FL 10 Drew Burress C OF R-R Georgia Tech Perry GA 11 Gio Rojas H LHP L-R Marjory Stoneman Douglas Coral Springs FL Miami 12 Ryder Helfrick C C R-R Arkansas Discovery Bay CA 13 Chris Hacopian C SS R-R Texas A&M Potomac MD 14 Cameron Flukey C RHP R-R Coastal Carolina Egg Harbor Township NJ 15 Cole Carlon C LHP L-L Arizona State Tempe AZ 16 Jared Grindlinger H LHP/OF L-L Huntington...
Press Release | Press Release | 4/23/2026

Kash Shaikh Named Perfect Game CMO

Article Image
  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME NAMES KASH SHAIKH CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AND HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL   Sanford, Florida (Thursday, April 23, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced that Kash Shaikh has been named the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Head of International. In this role, Shaikh will serve on Perfect Game’s executive leadership team, overseeing global marketing, brand strategy, creative, partnerships and sponsorships, while leading the company’s international P&L and expansion. Shaikh brings more than two decades of experience building brands, businesses and communities across sports, media and consumer...
Softball | Softball Tournament | 4/22/2026

PG Softball Battle for the Belt

Article Image
Perfect Game Softball Battle for the Belt April 18-19, 2026 Des Moines, Iowa It was a cold and very windy weekend, but the girls still came out and put in their best efforts. If you wanted the place to see some of the state’s top talent, this was the tournament to be at. The 18u division was quite the slugfest! The Ankeny Centennial 18U -Kennedy team took down a tough Iowa Alliance Select-Benge team in the championship. Both teams had double digit homeruns on the weekend. In the 16u division the Iowa Aries CE Fire Black took control of the game from the start and never let up on the gas, taking down a solid Alliance Select- Harper team. 18U Division Kori Lincicum (2026 Ankeny, IA) of the Centennial Jaguars- Kennedy and Drake Bulldog softball commit was the weekends MVP Pitcher. Lincicum defeated a tough Alliance team in the championship game finishing with that game with 11...
High School | General | 4/23/2026

Northeast High School Notebook

Jheremy Brown
Article Image
In a season that has already had many exciting matchups across various events, we as a staff would like to highlight or “Shout-Out” notable performers along with an Uncommitted Spotlight and Team Spotlight.  Uncommitted Spotlight: Mason Rosenberg, 1B, 2027, Bishop Eustace Prep  Uncommitted Mason Rosenberg (2027, NJ) has been an absolute force within the Bishop Eustace lineup, as the left-handed hitting slugger is hitting .481 through eleven games including six homers. The strength has vastly improved, allowing for Rosenberg to impact the baseball with authority to all fields. Couple that with improved speed and athleticism, this uncommitted 2027 can be a welcomed addition to a class looking for offense.  Team Spotlight: Northern Burlington (9-0) Northern Burlington is once again off to a hot start, as the Greyhounds sit at 9-0 thus far and have continued to...
Juco | Rankings | 4/22/2026

JUCO Top 25: April 22

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
Another week down and Johnson County continues their torrid run to remain at number 1. They're 46-2 on the season with multiple hitters over 25 bombs which is astonishing for the level as the Cavs have announced themselves as title favorites. Just a couple of weeks left heading down the stretch and our field remains mostly the same with the two additions of midwest powerhouse Iowa Western and the Warriors of East Central who will have a tough test Wednesday in Poplarville against fellow Mississippi adversary Pearl River in a mid-week double header.   Rk. School Record 1 Johnson County (KS) 46-2 2 Gaston (NC) 47-3 3 Walters State (TN) 42-10 4 McLennan (TX) 38-8 5 Southern Nevada (NV) 33-9 6 Chipola (FL) 39-9 7 Blinn (TX) 33-12 8 Florida Southwestern (FL) 32-13 9 Florence-Darlington (SC) 42-10 10 Pearl River (MS) 39-9 11 Cloud County (KS) 40-4 12 Cochise (AZ) 39-11 13 Midland (TX)...
College | Rankings | 4/22/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: April 22

Nick Herfordt
Article Image
The final weeks of the college baseball regular season have a way of separating programs that are genuinely postseason-ready from those that have simply been good enough for long enough. Conference tournaments loom, selection committees are paying close attention, and every game on the schedule carries weight that it simply didn't in February. This week's action, combined with the latest Perfect Game Top 25, paints a picture of a college baseball landscape where the top is clearly defined — and where the middle is a genuine battle. What follows is a cross-level look at teams across the NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III ranks who find themselves in that uncomfortable space: not safely in, not clearly out, but firmly on the bubble. Some have built compelling résumés that should hold up under scrutiny. Others have excellent records against soft competition...
High School | Rankings | 4/21/2026

High School Top 50 Update: April 21

Tyler Russo
Article Image
Another few weeks have wrapped up this high school season as we’re flying through the spring and most southern states are starting playoffs right around the corner. With the end of the regular season, we have another National Top 50 update to bring to you, along with this will be the start of the weekly editions of our National Top 50. We have a change at the top of the rankings as Venice (FL) takes over the top spot after just dominating their competition in the state of Florida this year. Orange Lutheran (CA) drops one spot to No. 2 after dropping a series but still holds firm at No. 2 in the country. Barbe (LA) has continued to dominate and holds onto the No. 3 spot while Tomball (TX) skyrockets in this update to No. 4 in the country, currently holding an incredible 30-0-1 record. The rest of the top-10 is names we’ve become accustomed to see with Aledo (TX) at No. 5, IMG...
Tournaments | Story | 4/21/2026

Southeast Super NIT #2 Scout Notes

Jason Phillips
Article Image
Chase Jelks (‘30 GA)- with a long double to deep CF. Huge day from the primary SS, 5-for-6 w/ 4 doubles & 6 RBI. #SESuperNIT @TheDreamBall @PG_Georgia https://t.co/biFSzXCrUt pic.twitter.com/HCQMduedb5 — Perfect Game Youth (@PGYouthBB) April 20, 2026 Chase Jelks (’30, Atlanta, Ga.)- the left-handed hitting Jelks was all over the barrel on Sunday in a pair of games for The Dream 14U Black. He finished the day with five hits in six at-bats which included four doubles and six runs batted in. His two doubles and four runs batted in played a big part in the Gold Playoffs Round 1 victory over the talented BPA squad out of California. He backed up that performance with three more hits in a quarterfinal’s loss to the East Cobb Astros 14U Orange to finish the tournament with a .600 batting average and 1.636 on-base plus slugging percentage. A primary utility infielder,...
Loading more articles...