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