Weekly College Prospect Roundup: 2/28 - 3/2

UCLA has been spoiled with great pitching over the last few years. Trevor Bauer, Gerrit Cole, Adam Plutko, Nick VanderTuig. But this weekend may have been the best weekend of pitching they've ever seen. The Irish Classic began with Bruins starter James Kaprielian striking out 11 Notre Dame batters, then continued with Grant Watson out-dueling Carlos Rodon. It ended with sophomore righty Cody Poteet striking out 13 Michigan hitters and allowing just two hits en route to a 5-0 win. All told, the Bruins' starters fanned 27 batters over 25 innings, against just 3 walks.

For his part, Rodon was held until Saturday, skipping the Friday night game against Michigan so that he could face the defending champion Bruins. After cruising through the first inning, he allowed a single to the first batter of the second inning, allowed another runner on an E-1, hit a batter, and allowed a two-run single. He allowed just one more hit the rest of the way, but Watson held firm and Rodon earned the loss to drop to 1-2 on the season.

Meanwhile, Austin Robichaux (one of my Fifty "Very Luhnow" Prospects) threw a shutout - the second of his career - against Alabama. The 6'5" righty issued a single walk through nine innings, striking out eleven. Evansville's Kyle Freeland also tossed a shutout, striking out nine Western Illinois hitters while walking none.

Also making an impact was East Carolina righty Jeff Hoffman, who struck out fourteen batters over eight innings, allowing just a single walk, five hits, and no earned runs.

And then there's Virginia's Mike Papi, another "Very Luhnow" prospect, who went 3-for-6 and drew six walks and zero strikeouts. Thus far this season, Papi has a 24% walk ratio and four times as many walks as strikeouts.

South Carolina's catcher, Greyson Greiner, continued his torrid pace at the plate, as well, hitting a grand slam in the Friday night game (which you can watch here) to put the Gamecocks within one run of Clemson in the fifth inning. The Gamecocks would go on to win the game 9-6 powered by Greiner's 5 RBI. He ended the weekend 4-for-10 with three strikeouts and four walks, and is slashing .343/.465/.657 with three home runs and 15 RBI on the season.

Hitters

• Greg Allen, OF, San Diego State - 5/12, 2 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K vs. St. Mary's (CA)
• Matt Chapman, 3B/OF, Cal State Fullerton - 4/12, 2B, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB, 2 K, SB vs. Oregon
• Austin Cousino, OF, Kentucky - 6/14, 2 2B, 3B, 5 R, 3 RBI, SB vs. Eastern Michigan
• Aramis Garcia, C, Florida International - 4/10, 3B, HR, 3 R, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 0 K vs. Dartmouth
• Greyson Greiner, C, South Carolina - 4/10, HR (GS), 4 R, 5 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K vs. Clemson
• Ross Kivett, 2B, Kansas - 6/12, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, K, 2 SB vs. Grand Canyon and Missouri State
• Mark Laird, OF, LSU - 6/10, 2 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI, BB, K, SB vs. Yale
• Joey Pankake, 3B, South Carolina - 1/12, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K, SB vs. Clemson
• Mike Papi, 1B/OF, Virginia - 3/6, 3 R, 2 RBI, 6 BB, 0 K vs. Monmouth
• Kyle Schwarber, 1B/C, Indiana - 4/7, 2 2B, 3B, 5 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, SB vs. Louisville and Toledo
• Bradley Zimmer, OF, San Francisco - 8/14, HR, 4 R, 6 RBI, 3 SB vs. Cal State Sacramento

Pitchers

• Tyler Beede, RHP, Vanderbilt - 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K vs. Stanford
• Aaron Brown, LHP, Pepperdine - 7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K vs. Hawaii
• Brandon Finnegan, LHP, Texas Christian - 6.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 11 K vs. Sam Houston State
• Kyle Freeland, LHP, Evansville - 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K vs. Western Illinois
• Jeff Hoffman, RHP, East Carolina - 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 K vs. Western Kentucky
• Daniel Mengden, RHP, Texas A&M - 7.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB 7 K vs. Fresno State
• Aaron Nola, RHP, LSU - 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K vs. Yale
• Austin Robichaux, RHP, Louisiana - Lafayette - 9.0 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K vs. Alabama
• Carlos Rodon, LHP, NC State - 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K vs. UCLA
• Ben Smith, LHP, Coastal Carolina - 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 7 BB, 9 K vs. Rhode Island
• Colin Welmon, LHP, Loyola Marymount - 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K vs. Utah