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College  | Story | 5/7/2021

Weekend Preview: Week 12

Photo: TCU Baseball (TCU Athletics)
The show goes on as we enter week 12 of college baseball, and despite all that’s been played there’s still some series with major conference and postseason implications. From major matchups to major awards races to postseason bubble teams, the 2021 season looks like it’s coming down to the wire in a number of different areas, and as such, let’s dive in to see what this weekend looks like.

Rank Team Opponent Location
1 Arkansas vs. Georgia Fayetteville, Ark.
2 Mississippi State at No. 16 South Carolina Columbia, S.C.
3 Notre Dame vs. No. 13 Florida State Notre Dame, Ind.
4 TCU vs. No. 6 Texas Fort Worth, Texas
5 Vanderbilt vs. Alabama Nashville, Tenn.
6 Texas at No. 4 TCU Fort Worth, Texas
7 Tennessee at Missouri Columbia, Mo.
8 Arizona at No. 16 Stanford Stanford, Calif.
9 Florida at Kentucky Lexington, Ky.
10 Texas Tech TBD TBD
11 Louisville vs. Duke Louisville, Ky.
12 East Carolina vs. No. 22 Tulane Greenville, N.C.
13 Florida State at No. 3 Notre Dame Notre Dame, Ind.
14 Stanford vs. No. 8 Arizona Stanford, Calif.
15 Ole Miss at Texas A&M College Station, Texas
16 South Carolina vs. No. 2 Mississippi State Columbia, S.C.
17 Indiana at Rutgers, vs. Nebraska Piscataway, N.J.
18 Liberty vs. Kennesaw State Lynchburg, Va.
19 Charlotte vs. Marshall Charlotte, N.C.
20 Old Dominion at UTSA San Antonio, Texas
21 Oregon vs. Washington Eugene, Ore.
22 Tulane at No. 12 East Carolina Greenville, N.C.
23 UC Irvine at UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, Calif.
24
Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee Hattiesburg, Miss.
25 Pittsburgh vs. Boston College Pittsburgh, Pa.


Top-10 Lone Star State Matchup
No. 6 Texas dropped its first series since the opening weekend last week against Texas Tech and there’s no break for the Longhorns as they’ll head to Fort Worth to take on No. 4 TCU. This has major implications for the regular season Big 12 winner as the Frogs stand just a game and a half better than the Horns, and could lose that lead with a series loss or sweep. For both teams it’s been the story of pitching staffs as there are going to be some pretty good matchups when you look at the starters in Ty Madden, Tristan Stevens, Austin Krob, and Russell Smith, among others. TCU has enjoyed breakouts from guys like Philip Sikes and Brayden Taylor, while Texas’ big sluggers have performed well in Ivan Melendez and Zach Zubia. This will be must-watch college baseball and promises to be one of the more entertaining series’ of the year. 



Home Run Champion Watch
Who’s going to finish on top in the Division-I home run race? The favorite right now is the resurgent Matheu Nelson, the Florida State backstop who has been on a complete tear over the last month and a half. Nelson currently leads with a mark of 20, but he’s just ahead of South Carolina’s Wes Clarke who hit his 17th in the midweek and was the national leader for the first half of the year. Jud Fabian is another candidate with 16 after knocking two off of presumptive 1:1 favorite Jack Leiter, and there might not be anyone as hot as Fabian in the country right now. Texas Tech’s Jace Jung has 16 of his own and following him are a trio of senior first basemen in Notre Dame’s Niko Kavadas, Kentucky’s TJ Collett, and Wake Forest’s Bobby Seymour. Transfer Christian Encarnacion-Strand of Oklahoma State also has 15, as does the top mid-major power bat in VCU’s Tyler Locklear. Nelson is currently the favorite, but there’s no counting out a hot streak by anyone listed above as we’ve seen it’s certainly possible to go on a run. 

First Place Battles in American, Big West
With just a few weeks left in the season, both the American and Big West conferences could be decided this week as we have two matchups with teams ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in their respective conferences. No. 22 Tulane heads to No. 12 East Carolina as Tulane leads the conference but East Carolina finds themselves just a game and a half behind the Wave. No. 23 UC Irvine leads UC Santa Barbara by just two games, but that could also get made up with a four-game set this weekend. The Pirates have been one of the more consistent and complete teams all season, enjoying performances from steady performers like Connor Norby and Thomas Francisco, as well as breakouts from Gavin Williams and Carson Whisenhunt. Tulane features veteran ace Braden Olthoff amongst other talented players like shortstop Collin Burns and Tyler Hoffman. UC Irvine has made a remarkable bounce-back from last season and finds themselves as postseason favorites while the Gauchos were a preseason top-10 team and have one of the best pitching staffs in the country led by Michael McGreevy and Rodney Boone. 

ACC Coastal in Flux
Barring some sort of collapse, it looks as though the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be able to hold off Louisville on the Atlantic side of things in the ACC, while the Coastal side remains very much in contention. Due to COVID protocols, Pittsburgh hasn’t been able to play the last two weeks, but they return to action this weekend against Boston College. Pitt was one of the feel-good early season stories turned into mainstay power in the ACC, though it certainly isn’t without competition. In terms of percentage points, just .050 separates first from third place in the Coastal with Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech right behind Pittsburgh. What the Panthers needed was to get back on the field and it looks like they’ll do so, but with that being said they’ll still have to go out and take care of business against the Eagles. Creating even more of a logjam, Pittsburgh defeated Georgia Tech in a weekend series earlier this year and also got swept by Virginia Tech so there will be a ton at play in terms of winning percentage and tiebreakers to see who claims the regular season title in the Coastal.  

First Place #MACTion on the Line
In what seems to be the theme of this week, first-place is also on the line in the MAC, where Ball State will travel to Central Michigan in a battle of the two top teams in the conference. The Chippewas lead the Cardinals by just one game and both teams could be deserving of at-large bids regardless of who comes away with the conference title. Pitching has been the strength for Central Michigan and, in particular, a duo at the top of the rotation in Jordan Patty and Andrew Taylor, as both arms have an ERA south of 2.00 with Patty coming off a seven-inning perfect game and Taylor establishing himself as one of the top 2022 draft arms in the country. Ball State has a top-five round draft arm of their own in Chayce McDermott, along with one of their career pitching leaders in John Baker. This series has big implications for the rest of the season with an automatic bid likely on the line this weekend.

College | Story | 7/21/2026

Coppy's Corner: July 21 Summer Edition

John Coppolella
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The amateur players in the Cape Cod Baseball League are the future stars of the 2027 MLB Draft. The league runs from June 13th through August 2nd. Games are played at historic stadiums in Old New England towns. It’s beautiful and charming. Hollywood even made a movie about the Cape Cod League ~25 years ago called Summer Catch. It scored an 8% (!) on Rotten Tomatoes, but, on the plus side, it featured 2001 Jessica Biel in a starring role.  It was so much fun writing Coppy’s Column this spring. My hope is to highlight a pitcher and position player each week from the Cape. And, who knows, maybe somewhere out there Jessica Biel is reading it.    Player of the Week: Coen Niclai – Wareham Gatemen  The Internet tells me that 12 MLB players have come from Alaska, 10 of whom were from Anchorage, and the best of which is Curt Schilling. Niclai, who is also...
Tournaments | Story | 7/22/2026

15u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 5

Perfect Game Staff
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15u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 Noah Rumley (‘29 NC) has been up to 90 so far in this start w/ 8 Ks in 4 innings of work. Really jumps out of the hand at foot strike w/ some ride to it; has also mixed in a SL w/ horizontal action. #WWBA @PG_Coastal pic.twitter.com/OcU57a3Syl — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) July 21, 2026 Noah Rumley (2029, Summerfield, N.C.) got the ball for GBC Lopez 2029 15u in their final game of pool play and dominated, going up against a tough lineup in the East Cobb Astros. The 6-foot-2 left-handed pitcher ended up going five innings, allowing only one hit and one run, while striking out nine. It’s premium stuff at the 15u level as he worked easily in the upper-80s, topping at 90 mph in the first. The breaking ball showed two-plane shape in the upper-70s as well. There’s a ton of things to like already and even...
Tournaments | Championship | 7/22/2026

Champions Named at Southwest Select

Emily Hicks
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Another week of Perfect Game baseball concluded as champions were crowned in the 15U, 16U, and 18U divisions of the Southwest Select Championship. After several days of pool play and championship bracket action, three teams rose above the competition to capture tournament titles following a week of high-level baseball. Throughout the tournament, teams from across the Southwest and beyond competed in closely contested matchups, producing standout pitching performances, timely offense, and memorable defensive plays. As the bracket narrowed, each division featured championship-caliber baseball before the final trophies were awarded. 15U Championship The 15U division title was claimed by AZ Prodigy, who defeated Nomadic 14U Premier by a score of 2-1 in the championship game. After putting together a strong tournament run, AZ Prodigy continued its momentum in the title game with contributions...
All American Game | Story | 7/22/2026

PG All-American Classic Roster Reveal

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  667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   PERFECT GAME ANNOUNCES TEAM ROSTERS FOR 2026 DICK'S ALL-AMERICAN CLASSIC AT CITIZENS BANK PARK   The rosters span 20 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Canada, with California leading the way Jersey City's Finnian O'Loughlin gives the host region a player in the spotlight Field includes sons of Hall of Famer Frank Thomas & MLB All-Star Brad Hawpe   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Wednesday, July 22, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced the Team East and Team West rosters for the 2026 DICK'S All-American Classic, set for Sunday, August 16 at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The 60-player field represents the top...
Tournaments | Championship | 7/22/2026

Florida Burn Cruise to 17U BCS Crown

Alyssa Golden
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Ranked fifth nationally entering the tournament, Florida Burn 2027 Scout left no doubt who the best team was at the 17U BCS National Championship. Burn finished a perfect 9-0 tournament, earning an 11-1 semifinal victory before defeating No. 86-ranked Original Florida Pokers 2027 National, 9-1, Tuesday afternoon at JetBlue Park. Burn seized control early and never looked back in a game that ended after the fifth inning per Perfect Game’s mercy rule. Burn carried its explosive offense into the championship game as Braedon Mackay launched a two-run home run in the first inning, giving his team an early 2-0 lead. Mackay’s home run sparked a five-run opening inning, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon. The Florida commit later earned tournament MVP honors after helping lead Burn to an unbeaten championship run. “I was just trying to get something started,”...
Tournaments | Story | 7/22/2026

17u BCS Scout Notes: Days 2-3

Perfect Game Staff
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17u BCS Scout Notes: Day 1 Kenniel Nieves Medero (2027 SS, PR)  Nieves Medero put together another quality offensive showing, continuing the consistent production he displayed throughout the tournament. The 8.5 PG grade shortstop features quick hands and does an excellent job creating separation with strong hip rotation, allowing him to generate easy bat speed through the zone. The swing remains balanced and efficient with present feel for the barrel. A polished offensive profile with tools that continue to translate in game action.  Oscar Cambero (2027 3B, FL)  Cambero turned in an impressive offensive performance, smoking a triple into the gap while showcasing both speed and gap-to-gap power. The right-handed hitter generates quality bat speed and consistently impacts the baseball with authority. Plays with a high motor on both sides of the ball and competes with energy...
Tournaments | Story | 7/22/2026

Texas Region Scout Notes

Geoff Billock
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Jack Soete (2028, Houston, Texas) had a big weekend for HP 2028 Woods. Went 4-9 at the plate with two doubles and a home run. Strong approach at the top of the order as well, drawing five walks. Closed stance with an athletic, projectable frame. Gains ground on the stride and stays on plane with his swing. Bat-to-ball ability is present and power should continue to develop. Lot to like from the athletic, left-handed bat. Kai Anderson (2028, Missouri City, Texas) was an absolute force for 2028 South Texas Sliders 16U Pierce. Went 4-8 with two doubles, six runs batted in, and a no-doubt walk-off home run in the semifinal. Some physicality in the frame. Leverages the upper half decently as he shows some ability to elevate with more than enough juice. Some pretty serious flashes as a middle of the order bat at the next level. Valentin Ceballos (2028, New Braunfels, Texas) was extremely loud...
PG Select Baseball Festival | General | 7/21/2026

13u Select Festival Roster Reveal

Jheremy Brown
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With the completion of the 2026 13u National Showcase, an event that featured some of the best talent the age group has to offer, 42 players came out with the label of "Festivaler" as they received a phone call shortly after the event concluded. Moving back to the University of Tennessee after a two year stay at the University of Virginia, Ole Rocky Top will see a mixed bag of returners; three-timers, new faces and a couple who bridged the gap from the 11u game into the 13u iteration.  Of the 42 players, 9 players call Florida their home base which is the most of any state while Texas (8), California (7) and Georgia (5) are all close behind nearly three-quarters of the players selected. In total 17 different states are represented, from Hawaii to Arkansas, Washington to Maryland and everywhere in between.  Quick roster breakdown: Three-time Select Festival: 13 players ...
Tournaments | Story | 7/21/2026

UBC Midwest X Atlantic Notes: Part 1

Blaine Peterson
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Jack Postma (2028, Barrington, IL) made an impression in Chicago this week. A 6-foot-5 right hander with a starter pitch mix. Topped out at 93 in his outing at UBC Midwest and pitched at 88-93 for 2 innings on the mound. Slider showed late horizontal bite at its best when finished out front. Change up is a usable third pitch with fading action and ability to miss bats. Clean overall operation in the delivery. Upside with added stability in the arm action. Chance to be one of the top prospects in Illinois and potentially the country with necessary adjustments moving forward.  Connor Basinski (2028, Columbia, IL) an athletic player with 2-way potential. Physicality stands out for a player in the 2028 class. Swung the bat impressively well in Chicago. Hits from a wide stance and stays balanced using strength and leverage to drive the baseball to all fields. Launched a long pull side...
Tournaments | Story | 7/21/2026

15u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 4

Perfect Game Staff
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15u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 Mason Conner (2029, Palestine, Texas) was a force in the middle-of-the-order for Gold Culture. The right-handed hitter starts from a medium stance with in-line feet and a low handset with a low back elbow, utilizes a negative leg lift stride. Strides through and uncoils the lower half well and creates separation in the back shoulder. Solid hand speed with a flat bat plane and feel to leverage and lift. Impacts the ball well with feel to impact and drive. The shortstop showed the power upside belting a two-run homer over the fence in left field and added a two-RBI knock later in the game. Medium 6-foot, 175-pound frame that was consistently on the barrel and showed a good approach at the plate working two walks. Lennon Dunn (2029, Mansfield, Texas) competed and showed the upside on the mound for Stix 2029 Scout. The right-handed pitcher...
Tournaments | Story | 7/21/2026

16U BCS Rolls into Fort Myers

Alyssa Golden
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The 21st annual 16U BCS National Championship returns to Fort Myers, Florida from July 23-27, bringing together many of the nation’s top 2028 graduates. The tournament features 44 teams, including six nationally ranked clubs, competing for a national title across five days of high-level competition. Year after year, the event has served as a proving ground for elite talent. Defending champion Showtime Select National 16U returns after capturing last year’s championship, while a talented field from across the country will look to add its name to the event’s prestigious history. One of the premier prospects in the field, shortstop Gabriel Coupet enters as the highest-ranked player in attendance, checking in at No. 49 overall in the Class of 2028 and No. 8 player in Florida. The Boynton Beach, Fla., native has established himself as one of the country’s most talented...
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