A look at college baseball’s Friday night action

My weekend started a bit early with Arkansas hosting UIC, where Cubs prospect Tyler Schlaffer had committed before signing with the North Siders. Flames starting pitcher (lefty Nate Peterson) 13 in a row from the first through the end of the fifth. Which is impressive against Arkansas, a good offensive side. Arkansas' Connor Noland fanned 11 in 6⅔ innings, and is a "live-armed SEC starting pitcher" that one fan base will be revved about in the fourth or fifth round. Peterson sounds more 14th round, if that. Arkansas won 12-4.

The funny moment was when the Flames called to the pen (with double-barrelled action), and the wrong reliever headed in. And had to be returned to the bullpen. The second game (The twinbill was due to expected bad weather on Friday.) saw the Flames lead most of the way. The starter exited with a seven-walk shutout. The Razorbacks scored five in the eighth to win 5-4.

Of draft interest is Arkansas second baseman Robert Moore. A switch-hitter, he's unlikely to go top eight, or last until the second round.

Brigham Young defeated No. 6 Oklahoma State despite a sweet swing from Roc Riggio. Pretty swing.

Big-name arm Victor Madeiros was severely cuffed around.

A number of years ago, I was draft-fascinated by a short-ish starting pitcher from Duke. Though the Cubs selected Albert Almora, I was still intrigued by Marcus Stroman. Told of some ongoing exploits today by Blue Devils starting pitcher Marcus Johnson, I jumped to the Duke game against Virginia and lefty Nate Savino. Savino just missed a Maddux, and fanned seven walking none, but I was impressed by Johnson, as well. Jake Gelof, a two-way third baseman for next draft cycle, homered twice, drove in four, and scored three in a 5-0 win by the Hoos.

My Friday night game was a pitchers' duel in Stanford. The second-ranked Cardinal led 2-0 early on a couple of errors, but Oregon's bullpen was scary good for seven innings. Successive triples by the Ducks led to a tie score midway through. Both teams tallied in the eighth, before a solo blast in the ninth by Tanner Smith closed the scoring. Oregon wound up winning 4-3.

LSU is loaded on offense.