The 14th weekend of college wrapped up for some teams tonight, a night that saw a huge pitching match-up at LSU fall well short of expectations. For most teams, this is the last weekend of their regular season and they start conference tournament play next week. Check out the schedule for this weekend here. Check out the draft preview posted here and the recap of the 13th week’s action here. Just a reminder, the Pirates pick #9 and #14 in this year’s June amateur draft, so for the duration of the college season, leading up to draft day, we are following the players closely that are ranked in that range. This year’s draft will be held June 6-8. 
San Diego’s Kris Bryant has off this weekend. The power hitting third baseman hit his 30th homer during a mid-week game this week. He is the top ranked bat in this draft and will almost certainly go somewhere in the top five picks.
Colin Moran and North Carolina lost 10-4 on Thursday night. Moran went 1-for-5 in the loss, driving in one run. In Friday’s game, Moran had possibly his worst night of the season. He did drive in a run, but he went 0-for-5, with two strikeouts. That gave him five strikeouts in his last three games, after striking out 13 times in his first 51 games. He came up big on Saturday, going 4-for-5, with three RBI’s. He had three singles, a triple and a walk. NC lost on Saturday, their second series in a row that they lost after not losing a season all season.
Austin Wilson went 1-for-2 Friday night, with three walks and three runs scored in Stanford’s 9-8 win. His only hit was a single. They won 9-4 on Saturday, but Wilson reached base just once in five plate appearances, drawing a walk. Stanford is one of the few teams that plays on Sunday.
DJ Peterson has been linked twice to the Pirates recently, plus has also been mentioned with three other teams in the top 14 picks. On Thursday night, he took on San Diego State, behind the pitching of Michael Cederoth, who is one of the top players in next year’s draft. Peterson went 1-for-5 in the game, striking out twice, but the one hit was a big one. In the third inning, Peterson hit a three-run double, his 23rd double of the season. He popped up and flew out in his other two AB’s against Cederoth. Both strikeouts came against relievers. On Friday night, Peterson went 1-for-3, with a walk and a single. He finished his weekend on Saturday with a 1-for-3, two walks, an RBI and a sacrifice fly.
Aaron Judge had a tough game on Thursday, going 0-for-3, with three strikeouts. He made up for the bad game on Friday night, when he hit two homers and drove in four runs during Fresno State’s 10-4 win. Saturday night he went 1-for-4, with a double. He has recently been linked to the Padres with the 13th pick, the highest mention he has received.
Hunter Renfroe and Mississippi State finished up their weekend today against South Carolina. Some people have him as the highest ranked college outfielder in this draft class. On Thursday, he went 1-for-4, with a walk and two strikeouts. On Friday, Renfroe and his team had a tough day. They lost 5-3 and he went 0-for-4, walking once and striking out once. The weekend didn’t end any better for him. Another 0-for-4 on Saturday, left him 1-for-12 for the week.
Eric Jagielo from Notre Dame had a strong game on Saturday, going 2-for-3, with a home run, walk, sac fly and two RBI’s. The homer was his ninth of the season. On Friday, Jagielo had three singles, two RBI’s and scored two runs. He began the weekend with a double and an RBI in five AB’s on Thursday.
Phillip Ervin and Samford played a doubleheader Thursday and a single game on Friday this week. He went 1-for-3 in the opener against Davidson, walking twice, stealing two bases and scoring three runs. In game two, he had a single and run scored in four AB’s. Ervin and his teammates ended the weekend quietly in a 12-1 loss. He went 0-for-3 in a game that was shortened to seven innings.
In LSU tonight, Ryan Eades and Bobby Wahl were supposed to battle it out in a pitcher’s duel between two first round picks. Someone forgot to tell the bats for each team that. Ole Miss won the game 11-9, but Wahl lasted just 2.2 innings. He gave up six runs on six hits and two walks. Eades was barely better, allowing five runs on seven hits and three walks in just four innings. It is possible that one of these players could be available when the Pirates pick in the second round, giving them a strong starting pitching option to choose.
Tomorrow we will finish up the week and talk about some other college players who could fall to the Pirates in the second round, plus have some HS updates.
