A look at college baseball’s Friday night action

The big Friday night SEC matchup was Vanderbilt at South Carolina. The Commodores continued to be on mulch mode and won 10-0. A few "teams at the top" seem quite a bit better than a few of the traditional powers. I never got too much actionable information on Vandy’s starting pitcher Chris McElvain, but he cruised to a seven-inning start. Second-round possible (and the list of the top 50 prospects in the draft likely make Michael Conforto not worth considering) shortstop Carter Young walked three times, drove in two, and scored. Without a hit!

It was really not a good night for Gonzaga, as they lost 11-2 to BYU as well as losing in the basketball tourney. I haven't put Gonzaga's Gabriel Hughes on my draft list yet, but he likely belongs.

There was another SEC battle royale Friday with No. 5 Tennessee visiting No. 1 Ole Miss, but early games aren’t available. I miss them from other seasons. Even the SIU/Northwestern game got pushed back five hours due to weather.

The game in Starkville wasn't close, with Tennessee winning 12-1. The Volunteers jumped for six in the second inning, and freshman Chase Burns tossed seven two-hit innings, fanning 11. Whether pitchers or hitters, draft-eligible or not, Tennessee is loaded. Trey Lipscomb added three more RBI, and looks really good in the second- or third-round range as a two-way third baseman. Tennessee hit five homers on a Friday night in the SEC. That's ridiculous. If the Cubs get a Vol in the draft, that's cool.

Georgia's Jonathan Cannon (and Cannon is a great pitcher name) is making a compelling top-50 case (in effect, second-round, for the Cubs). On Friday, he went seven (against Kentucky) allowing four hits and no walks, fanning six. Georgia won 6-4.

It isn't about "It has to be Cannon, Lipscomb, or some other specific name. It's that, since it appears Jed Hoyer, Carter Hawkins and Tom Ricketts are (or, at least, really seem) pot-committed to player development, getting a quality player in the mid-40s to develop this July is (and always was) more likely than losing the pick over signing a qualified free agent.

In other words, Cannon or someone else on the Cubs Draft Top 50 might be far preferable to Michael Conforto long-term, especially when linked to an international spending space amount. Jed wants to get his contract extended. 2024 and 2025 are more important, to that end, than 2022.

If your wish is for the Cubs to add "more live arms" in the draft, your wish will likely be granted. Their dossiers might be thinner than desired, but velocities tend to continue to nose higher at the higher levels.

Here's your walkoff of the night/week/month/year.

Here’s D1 baseball’s wrap of Friday’s action.