-The Houston College Classic was easily the biggest event over of the weekend with four teams currently ranked in the Top 10, headlined by 4^th Texas A&M, 6^th Ranked Baylor, 9^th Ranked Rice and 10^th Ranked UC Irvine. 

Rice easily had the best weekend of any team in Houston going undefeated with wins over Texas A&M, Baylor and UCLA.  In arguably the top pitching performance of the weekend, Rice’s Ryan Barry threw a complete-game two-hit shutout (12 K, 0 BB) against Texas A&M on Saturday.  FR LHP Taylor Wall (6.1 IP, 3 H, 1R, 2 BB, 8 K) also had an outstanding performance for the Owls on Sunday, out-dueling Baylor and potential first-rounder Craig Fritsch 8-3.

In what was the most intriguing pitching match-up of the weekend, UCLA’s unsigned first-rounder FR RHP Gerrit Cole squared off against Baylor’s RHP Kendal Volz.  Volz (7 IP, 4 H, 0 R), is considered a likely first-rounder in the coming draft and he got the better of the FR Gerrit Cole in a 5-1 Baylor victory.  Cole (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER) was sharp though in defeat, reportedly running his fastball as high as 98.

-North Carolina RHP Alex White looked sharp in his second start of the season allowing only one run over 6.1 innings of work against Seton Hall on Friday.  His command was better in his second outing after giving up eight hits in five innings of work against VMI in the opening weekend.  In his last two starts White has sat at 90-94 consistently with his fastball touching 95 on a few occasions.    

White squared off against Seton Hall’s Sean Black, who was a 2^nd Round of the Nationals in 2006, but he will really need to pick it up if he plans on going anywhere near that high this year.  Black consistently sat in the 87-90 range with his fastball, touching 91 occasionally.  Black has a good pitcher’s build and a solid feel for pitching.

-Two hours east of Chapel Hill in Greenville, Oklahoma State’s Andy Oliver was also in action against East Carolina.  Andy sat at 91-94 with his fastball which he commands well to both sides of the plate.  He has an easy delivery and the ball comes out of his hand very well.  Despite the big fastball, Andy did get hit fairly hard by the Pirates and must work on tightening up his off-speed pitches.

Looking Ahead:

-The Raleigh Durham area will be a hotbed for scouts this weekend with North Carolina and Clemson opening up in ACC play, as well as the Impact Invitational at the USA Baseball Training Complex.

-North Carolina has their big two guns in RHP Alex White and 1B Dustin Ackley for scouts to drool over, but the 2^nd Ranked Tarheels have plenty of other players for scouts to get excited about. 

SR RHP Adam Warren could turn out to be one of the top senior signs in the country and assumes the role of Saturday Starter for North Carolina.  Sandwiched between Alex White and SO RHP Matt Harvey, Adam has a career record of 23-2 for the Tarheels.  Warren sits in the 88-91 range with his fastball and compliments it with a hard low 80’s slider.  He is likely a guy that will to a team in the 5^th to 8^th Round Range.

Juniors 3B Kyle Seager and C Mark Fleury, as well as RS-SO RHP Colin Bates all have the potential to go in the first five rounds of the draft as well for North Carolina.

-Clemson has one of the rarest things in college baseball this year with a draft-eligible freshman in LHP Chris Dwyer.  Dwyer who spent last year at prep school is seen as a player that could in the first two rounds if he continues on his string of impressive early season performances.  He sits in the 90-92 range with his fastball, but it his tight breaking ball that really sticks out as a plus pitch for scouts.

-The 4^th Annual Impact Invitational will give scouts the chance to see many of North Carolina High School Prospects this coming Saturday.  The biggest game of the weekend from a scouting standpoint will feature Rocky Mount HS OF Brian Goodwin and Wesleyan Christian Academy 3B/C Wil Myers squaring off against each other.  3B/RHP Richie Shaffer and his Providence HS squad will also be in attendance, giving the event all three of North Carolina’s teams that were ranked in the Preseason Top 100 High School Teams.  Daniel Tuttle and his Randleman HS squad will not be in attendance, but the right-hander has reportedly been up to 94 in early outings this spring.

-In recent years the LaGrange Invitational in Georgia has consistently attracted the top teams throughout the southeast.  Last year’s feature match-up saw First-Rounders Ethan Martin and Eric Hosmer face off, while this year’s tournament has three players that are projected as first-round picks heading in to the spring.  Cartersville’s OF Donavan Tate, Eagle’s View Academy’s C/RHP Austin Maddox and East Paulding’s RHP Zach Wheeler headline the tournament field.