College Baseball Opening Weekend Preview

The road to Omaha begins this weekend as NCAA Division 1 Baseball is set to kick off its season on Friday, February 13. Here’s what to know heading into opening weekend.

Opening weekend will feature every preseason top-25 team in action. Several key invitational tournaments and ranked matchups headline the weekend, each with a variety of teams across the power conferences.

Shriners Children’s College Showdown

College baseball begins this weekend at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers, showcasing six powerhouse programs – Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, and Vanderbilt.

The first game is set for 12:00 p.m. on Friday, February 13, where the Oklahoma Sooners will take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders, with many other marquee matchups happening throughout the weekend.

A few other games to look out for include No. 23 Vanderbilt vs. Oklahoma State and Texas Tech vs. preseason No. 7 Arkansas. The final game of the series will be the Sooners vs. the No. 10 Horned Frogs of TCU at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.

This will be a huge tournament to keep an eye on, offering a great preview for the regular season and playoffs, as it features preseason top-25 SEC and Big 12 powerhouses who dominate the college baseball landscape consistently on the national stage.

College Baseball Series

Another notable tournament of the opening weekend is the College Baseball series in Surprise, AZ. This is a smaller tournament featuring Arizona, Michigan, Stanford, and Oregon State.

The No. 12 Oregon State Beavers will be the host team of this series. A highly anticipated Beavers vs. No. 24 Arizona Wildcats matchup is set for 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 14. This former Pac-12 matchup should be circled on your calendars.

Other games throughout the weekend to look out for are Arizona vs. the Michigan Wolverines, as well as the Wildcats vs. Stanford.

MLB Desert Invitational

The third big tournament happening this opening weekend is the MLB Desert Invitational, also taking place in Arizona. This tournament will have multiple locations, with games being held in Mesa and Scottsdale.

Eight top-tier programs will kick off their season in the Grand Canyon State, including GCU, Kansas State, UConn, Air Force, Iowa, Nebraska, Penn State and Northeastern.

Standout showdowns for this tournament include the UConn Huskies vs. the Nebraska Cornhuskers at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, as well as Penn State vs. Grand Canyon at 3:00 p.m and Iowa vs. Air Force at 8:00 p.m. Saturday.

All games will be covered on MLB.com or MLB Network, and several teams have multiple MLB draft prospects, making this tournament especially significant.

Puerto Rico Challenge

The last tournament to wrap up opening weekend is going international to the Puerto Rico Challenge, which is also featuring eight teams.

The programs attending will be Boston College, Houston, Indiana State, Manhattan, NC State, Seton Hall, Wake Forest and Washington.

Several different conferences are being represented throughout the weekend, and some from mid-majors, including the Big East, MAAC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, bringing a lot of variety to the tournament.

Although these are some smaller programs, there are still games to look out for. Those being the Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. the Houston Cougars at 10:30 a.m and the NC State Wolfpack vs. the Washington Huskies at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

Although there may be some smaller programs, it will be a good preview into the season for some mid-major teams.

This is just the beginning, as the race to Omaha starts this weekend. This preview will set the tone for the season, and it is going to be interesting to see how all of these programs unfold.

Gina Scarpa is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email gfs5427@psu.edu.