College Baseball
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College baseball week in review: Fast start for Stanford slugger Rintaro Sasaki

Stanford freshman Rintaro Sasaki, the all-time home run leader in Japanese high school history, is off to a great start in his first season of college baseball. The slugging first basemen went 6 for 14 with eight RBIs as Stanford won the first three games of a four-game series at Cal State Fullerton.

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Sasaki was projected to be the top prospect in the 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball draft but opted to bypass pro ball in his native country to play collegiately in the United States. He hit 140 home runs for Hanamaki-Higashi High School, where he was coached by his father Hiroshi.

Sasaki picked Stanford over Cal, UCLA and Vanderbilt.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

A 19-year-old Stanford phenom is blazing a new trail from Japan to the majors

Around the horn

What a moment at Plainsman Park.

On Friday morning, Auburn outfielder Cade Belyeu lost his mother Staci to cancer. Later that night, the sophomore hit a solo home run in the Tigers’ 4-1 victory over Holy Cross.

“One of the most inspiring things I have seen in 32 years,” head coach Butch Thompson said on AuburnTigers.com. “That is the storyline of this ball game, regardless of outcome or result. Staci wanted her son to play. I didn’t know how it would go, but he played an amazing game. It was pretty incredible.”

Belyeu, who played locally at Auburn High School, went 2 for 4 on Friday and 6 for 12 for the weekend as the Tigers took two of three from Holy Cross.

Florida State’s Jamie Arnold, considered by many to be the top pitcher entering the 2025 season, was brilliant in the Seminoles’ 6-0 win over James Madison on Friday night. The left-hander allowed only one hit and struck out eight with no walks in six shutout innings.

Let’s check in on the other five pitchers who made The Athletic’s preseason All-America team.

• Tyler Bremner, RPH, UCSB: Bremner was removed after 25 pitches and three shutout innings of the Gauchos’ 6-1 win over Campbell. Coach Andrew Checketts told Jacob Rudner of Baseball America that the move was precautionary.

• Aidan Knaak, RHP, Clemson: Knaak struck out seven of the first eight batters before running into some trouble against Oklahoma State in Arlington, Texas. He ended up allowing five hits and four earned runs in four innings of the Tigers’ 6-5 win.

• Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma: Witherspoon allowed two hits and two earned runs while striking out nine in five innings of an 11-3 win over Lehigh.

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• Chase Shores, RHP, LSU: Shores, who missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, allowed one earned run and three hits in five innings on Sunday in an 8-1 win over Purdue Fort Wayne.

• Ryan Prager, LHP, Texas A&M: Prager, who returned to A&M after being picked in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft, threw five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and two walks while striking out eight in a 4-2 win over Elon.

Remember Hunter Elliott?

Three years ago, the left-hander emerged as a key weapon — while just a freshman — on the Ole Miss pitching staff that carried the Rebels to the national championship. In four NCAA Tournament starts, including two at the College World Series, Elliott allowed only 15 hits and four earned runs in 26.1 innings. The Mississippi native appeared headed for stardom in the SEC.

His career, however, was derailed by injury. He made only two starts early in the 2023 season before undergoing Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for essentially two full seasons.

On Friday, he made his much-anticipated return to the Rebels rotation, and it couldn’t have gone better. Facing a ranked (at the time) Arizona team, Elliott allowed only two hits in five shutout innings in a 2-1 Ole Miss win.

Elliott’s return to his freshman-year form would be a huge boost for an Ole Miss team looking to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since its national title season. The Rebels are 2-1 after wins over Arizona and Clemson and a loss to Texas.

Duke was the only team in our preseason Top 25 that lost a series at home on the opening weekend. The Blue Devils, who were ranked No. 11 and are coming off just the second 40-win season in program history, lost two of three to Cincinnati at Jack Coombs Field in Durham.

The Bearcats sandwiched wins of 8-3 on Friday and 19-5 on Sunday around a 6-5 extra-innings loss on Saturday.

It’s a great start for Cincinnati under second-year coach Jordan Bischel, who guided the Bearcats to a surprising 17-13 record in the Big 12 in 2024 — the program’s first in the league.

Most disappointing team of the opening weekend? Has to be the Arizona Wildcats, who went 0-3 at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas. Arizona lost 2-1 to Ole Miss on Friday, 16-5 to Clemson on Saturday and 13-1 to Louisville on Sunday.

The Wildcats, ranked No. 15 in the preseason, have made a Regional in four straight seasons, including the last three under coach Chip Hale.

The SEC claimed five of the top six spots in The Athletic’s preseason Top 25, and those five teams went a combined 15-0 in home games against mostly overmatched opponents. (Arkansas concludes its four-game set with Washington State this afternoon.)

• No. 1 Texas A&M struggled a bit in its opener but rallied for a 4-2 win over Elon on Friday. The Aggies won the next two with ease, by scores of 16-6 and 12-6. All-American Jace LaViolette had three hits — and three home runs — in 14 plate appearances (10 official at-bats).

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• No. 2 Arkansas survived a scare in the opener but beat Wazzu 3-2 in extra innings after scoring two runs (on no hits) in the bottom of the 10th. The Hogs’ pitching staff, maybe the best in the nation, has allowed a total of six runs and 17 hits heading into Monday’s series finale.

• No. 4 LSU barely broke a sweat in a three-game sweep over Purdue Fort Wayne, winning by scores of 14-0, 10-1 and 8-1. Second baseman Daniel Dickinson, a highly touted transfer from Utah Valley, went 5 for 9 with a double and a home run. Freshman outfielder Derek Curiel, one of the top recruits to make it to campus, went 4 for 11 with a home run.

• No. 5 Tennessee run-ruled Hofstra in three straight games, winning 15-0 on Friday, 18-1 on Saturday and 13-1 on Sunday. Liam Doyle, a transfer from Ole Miss, settled into his role as the Vols’ Friday night starter by striking out 11 and allowing only one hit in five scoreless innings.

• No. 6 Florida swept Air Force by a combined score of 28-5. The Gators got a big weekend from catcher/DH Brody Donay, who went 7 for 10 with three home runs and two doubles.

It’s safe to say Wagner ran out of pitching after opening the season with a 3-2 win over Indiana State on Friday afternoon in Gastonia, N.C. ISU bounced back with a 16-6 win in Game 2 later on Friday and then pounded the Seahawks 36-6 on Sunday thanks to a 20-spot in the third inning and a 10-spot in the fifth.

The carnage from the third inning: 24 batters to the plate, seven singles, seven walks, four doubles, two errors and one hit by pitch.

There were even more offensive fireworks in Williamsburg, Va., where Rhode Island outlasted host William & Mary 36-24 in only seven innings on Sunday afternoon. URI scored in every inning, highlighted by a 17-run fifth that featured four home runs.

College baseball is back!

And finally

• Stetson opened the Puerto Rico Challenge with wins over UConn, Penn State and Missouri. The Hatters, who went 41-22 and played in the Tallahassee Regional in 2024, play Michigan at 12:30 p.m. on Monday.

• Speaking of the Wolverines, Tracy Smith’s club shocked Virginia, No. 3 in our preseason rankings, 5-4 on Friday afternoon and followed up with wins over Rice and Villanova.

• Northwestern took two of three at Long Beach State, marking the first time since 2008 the Wildcats have opened the season with a series win. They have not had a winning record since going 30-27 in 2000.

• Wake Forest junior Marek Houston, considered by some to be the top college shortstop in the 2025 MLB Draft, had quite the opening weekend at the plate. The Florida native went 10 for 14 with three home runs, 11 runs scored and 13 RBIs as the Deacons took two from LIU and two from Marist by a combined score of 63-12

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• TCU opened its season with three straight wins at San Diego, a team picked to contend in the West Coast Conference. The Frogs, who missed a Regional in 2024 for the first time since 2018, will look to finish the four-game sweep on Monday afternoon.

• Nebraska bounced back from a 10-5 loss to UC Irvine on Friday to beat Vanderbilt 6-4 on Saturday and San Diego State 13-0 on Sunday. Left fielder Gabe Swansen drove in all six runs against Vanderbilt, clearing the bases with a three-run triple in the first, doubling in a run in the third and drilling a two-run home run in the seventh. The Huskers play at Grand Canyon on Monday afternoon.

• South Carolina swept Sacred Heart, giving Paul Mainieri a 3-0 start in his return to coaching.

(Photo: John Lozano / ISI Photos)

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