College Baseball’s Top Week 1 Freshmen

The opening weekend of the college baseball season was dominated by freshmen- both true and redshirt. Whether it was Texas Tech’s Nate Rombach or Alabama’s Owen Diodati just going off, or Vanderbilt’s Jack Leiter having a dominant debut, freshmen were everywhere.

This doesn’t even get into strong weekend starts from Alabama’s Conor Prielipp and Georgia Tech’s Zachary Maxwell, or a quietly strong outing by another son of a big leaguer in UCLA’s Jared Karros.

Teams like Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, and UCLA really help to fill up this list, while others like Texas, Vanderbilt, Alabama, and LSU were also well represented. This list wasn’t just about the big schools though, as San Diego and Cal Poly were also among those represented.

All stats are from games played through Tuesday February 18th.

I took the added step of highlighting the 10 freshmen who stood out above everyone else, and you can see them in bold below.

Silas Ardoin, C, Texas

2-5, 2B, 3 BB, 2 RBI

Hunter Barco, LHP, Florida

3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

One start and one relief appearance

Will Bednar, RHP, Mississippi State

3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K

Sam Bello, RHP, Maryland

3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 SO

Adam Berghorst, RHP, Michigan State

4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 SO, 1 SV

Tyrell Brewer, 3B, Florida State

2-8, 2B, 4 BB, SB, 3 RBI

Porter Brown, OF, TCU

3-16, HR, 3 BB, 3 RBI, HBP

Sean Burke, RHP, Maryland

5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO

Jonathan Cannon, RHP, Georgia

2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Dillon Carter, OF, Texas Tech 

5-12, 2 2B, 2 BB, 3 HBP, 3 RBI, 3 SB

Drew Compton, 1B, Georgia Tech

2-10, HR, 6 BB, RBI

Cal Conley, SS, Texas Tech

7-17, 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 BB, HBP, SB

Riley Cornelio, RHP, TCU

5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

One start and one relief appearance

Max Cotier, 2B, Virginia Tech

4-12, RBI, SB

Reggie Crawford, 1B/LHP, UConn

3-10, 2B, BB, 5 RBI- all in one game against Michigan

Michael Curialle, 2B/OF, UCLA

6-16, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, BB, 2 SB

Zane Denton, 3B, Alabama

2-7, 2B, 3 RBI, HBP

Derek Diamond, RHP, Ole Miss

5.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Owen Diodati, C/OF, Alabama

6-9, 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB

Brenden Dixon, 2B, Texas

2-14, HR, 2 RBI

Michael Dixon, OF, San Diego

2-12, 3 BB, 2 RBI, SB

Cade Doughty, 3B, LSU

2-13, HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, SB

Hayden Dunhurst, C, Ole Miss

0-11, BB

While Dunhurst didn’t do anything with the bat, it was his highlight worthy throws from behind the plate that earned him a spot on this list.

Logan Evans, RHP, Penn State

2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 6 SO

Trey Faltine, SS, Texas

4-15, 2B, HR, BB, 4 RBI

Tucker Flint, OF, Maryland

6-11, 6 R, 2 2B, RBI, BB

Jack Frank, OF, Michigan State

4-18, 2 R, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB

Will Frisch, RHP, Oregon State

2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K

Luke Gold, 2B, Boston College

4-14, 2B, HR, 3 RBI

Peyton Graham, 3B, Oklahoma

5–14, 2 2B, 4 BB, 2 SB

Josh Hahn, DH, UCLA

2-10, BB, SB

Steven Hajjar, LHP, Michigan

6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO

Pete Hansen, RHP, Texas

3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

Brody Harding, INF, Illinois

2-8, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB

Sam Hliboki, RHP, Vanderbilt

3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Douglas Hodo, DH, Texas

1-14, HR, 2 BB, RBI, SB

Jake Holland, C, Georgia Tech 

3-11, 2 2B

Antoine Jean, LHP, Alabama

4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Andrew Jenkins, DH/RHP, Georgia Tech

4-11, 2B, RBI, HBP

Hunter Jessee, OF, Indiana

2-9, 3B

Brock Jones, OF, Stanford

2-15, BB, SB

Spencer Jones, 1B/LHP, Vanderbilt 

2-13, 2 BB, 3 HBP, 2 RBI

Jace Jung, 3B, Texas Tech

8-17, 2B, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 3 BB, SB

Dillon Kark, INF, Michigan State

4-13, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI

Jared Karros, RHP, UCLA

5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K

Cole Kirschsieper, LHP, Illinois

3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

Nate LaRue, C, Auburn

2-6

Jack Leiter, RHP, Vanderbilt

5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K

Brennan Malone, 3B, South Carolina

0-3, 3 BB

Nick Marincoz, 3B, Cal Poly

2-12, 3 BB, 2B, RBI

Zachary Maxwell, RHP, Georgia Tech 

4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K

Jared McKenzie, OF, Baylor 

10-17, 2 2B, 2 BB, 4 RBI, SB

Christian McLeod, LHP, Mississippi State

5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K

Alex Milazzo, C, LSU

3-10, 2B, 3 RBI, SB

Evan Minarovic, INF, Northwestern

2-5, 2 R, 1 BB

Robert Moore, 2B, Arkansas

1-12, HBP

Dawson Netz, RHP, Arizona 

4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Chris Newell, OF, Virginia Tech

1-6, 3 BB, 3 SB

Conor Prielipp, LHP, Alabama

4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K

Ryan Ramsey, LHP, Maryland

2.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 SO

Tre Richardson, 3B, Baylor

4-12, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 BB

Josh Rivera, SS, Florida

4-14, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB

Nate Rombach, C, Texas Tech

7-14, 2 2B, 5 HR, BB, 4 HBP, 15 RBI

TJ Rumfield, 1B, Texas Tech

7-12, 2 2B, RBI, 2 BB

Carter Rustad, RHP, San Diego 

5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K

JT Schwartz, 1B, UCLA

7-16, 2B, 3 RBI, BB, 2 SB

Victor Scott, OF, West Virginia

3-16, 2 3B, BB, HBP, 2 RBI, SB

Dalton Smith, RHP, Georgia Tech

5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K 

Two relief appearances

Brandon Sproat, RHP, Florida 

1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K

Hayden Travinsky, C, LSU

1-6, HR, RBI

Peyton Williams, 1B, Iowa

3-12, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB

Matt Wood, C, Penn State 

7-15, 3 R, 1 2B, 4 RBI, 2 BB

Carter Young, SS, Vanderbilt

3-14, RBI