The 13th weekend of college baseball kicked off yesterday and while most of the better pitchers go on Friday night, tonight still had some impressive pitchers on the mound These players, and many others, have less than a month to impress scouts in advance of the draft. Check out the schedule for this weekend here. Check out the draft preview posted here and the recap of the 12th 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 hit his 26th homer Friday night, as his team ran away with a victory over Portland. He finished the game 2-for-5, with three runs scored, two RBI’s and he reached once by HBP. On Saturday, Bryant had a triple and an RBI, but otherwise had a rough day. He went 1-for-5 in his team’s 10-2 win, striking out twice and committing an error.
Colin Moran and North Carolina took a tough loss to Georgia Tech Friday, just their fifth loss of the season. Moran finished the game going 1-for-2, with a solo homer(13th) and two walks. On Saturday, he had two walks, a fly out and a strikeout in his team’s 3-1 win.
Austin Wilson went 1-for-3 Friday night in Stanford’s 7-3 loss. He had a strike out in the first inning, followed by a single, a foul out and he was hit by a pitch in the seventh. On Saturday, Wilson hit his fifth home run of the season. Oregon State still won 10-4 though, as Wilson finished the game 1-for-3, with a walk and two RBI’s.
DJ Peterson and Aaron Judge played game two of their team’s three game weekend series against each other. New Mexico won 7-2, as Judge went 0-for-3, with a HBP and a stolen base, while Peterson went went 2-for-5, with a triple, home run and two RBI’s. The homer was the 15th of the year for Peterson, who also homered yesterday in New Mexico’s win.
Phillip Ervin went 2-for-3 today in Samford’s 8-7 loss to Elon. He scored three runs, stole a base and reached base four times, adding a walk and HBP. Yesterday, he had two hits and three RBI’s.
Hunter Renfroe from Mississippi State went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk, as Ole Miss won the completion of yesterday’s game by a 3-0 score. Bobby Wahl had started the game, striking out three batters in the first inning before rain ended play for the day. In game two on Saturday, Renfroe went 3-for-5, with three singles, three runs scored and two RBI’s.
Eric Jagielo was mentioned here yesterday for the first time. The Notre Dame third baseman has moved well up the draft charts recently, into a possible mid-first round range. He went 1-for-2 today against St John’s, with a double and two walks. He was supposed to play a doubleheader, but game two was postponed until tomorrow.
Jonathan Gray had a rough time against rival Oklahoma State tonight, picking up his second loss of the season. He was sick earlier in the week, so it is perhaps a little unfair to judge his start this week too harshly. Gray allowed three runs on six hits and three walks over five innings. He threw 109 pitches on the night and picked up eight strikeouts.
Ryne Stanek from Arkansas, took on Tennessee tonight and was very impressive. He threw seven shutout innings, striking out nine, while allowing just five hits and two walks. It was a nice bounce back start for Stanek, who struggled last week against Kentucky.
Marco Gonzales pitched a complete game shutout against Alcorn State tonight. Gonzaga won 4-0, with Gonzales holding the opposition to six hits and two walks, while picking up ten strikeouts. Last week against Santa Clara, he picked up 12 strikeouts.
Kevin Ziomek threw six innings in Vanderbilt’s 11-3 win today. He allowed one earned run on seven hits and three walks, picking up four strikeouts. He was followed on the mound by Walker Buehler, the 2012 draft pick of the Pirates. Buehler threw three innings, allowing one run on five hits and a walk, getting two strikeouts.
Chris Anderson from Jacksonville, threw a complete game against Lipscomb on Friday, picking up the victory. He gave up two runs(both unearned) on six hits and two walks, hitting two batters and striking out four.
Ryan Eades from LSU, threw 6.1 solid innings today in a win against Texas A&M. He allowed one run on eight hits and a walk, though he only picked up one strikeout and he also hit two batters. He pitched well against South Carolina last week, but prior to that, he had two very poor outings.
Draft Notes
Keith Law has posted his latest draft rankings and has Colin Moran ranked #9 and Trey Ball ranked #14, the two spots where the Pirates pick. The full article can be read here by subscribers. Both of these players have been linked to the Pirates, so it wouldn’t surprise me if these rankings turned out to be correct.
Speaking of Trey Ball, Nick Faleris from Baseball Prospectus covered his start today and saw him throw a seven inning complete game shutout. He had him hitting 92 MPH in his last inning. Ball has been mentioned many times as either the #9 or #14 pick and anywhere in between.
Jonathan Mayo has a must read piece on Austin Meadows and Clint Frazier, two HS players from Georgia that are very highly rated, but as we discussed in the latest podcast, one could drop to the Pirates in the draft.
High School outfielder Ryan Boldt out of Minnesota had to have season-ending knee surgery, which will likely drop him out of the first round. He has been rated as high as #13 overall. Boldt has already had four operations on his non-throwing arm, so he comes with some big question marks of health.
