Previewing the 2025 Desert Invitational

Love baseball? Then how about this confluence of events: the date most dedicated to love on the calendar -- Valentine¡¯s Day -- will mark the official opening of the 2025 college baseball season.

The Desert Invitational (formerly known as ¡°MLB4¡±) returns for its sixth spin around Arizona, bringing the ping to a pair of top-notch Spring Training parks and one blockbuster standalone game Friday night at Grand Canyon University. It marks the second consecutive year that the event includes eight clubs as the quest for Omaha begins in the sun-splashed desert.

Here¡¯s a complete list of the matchups, which will primarily take place at Sloan Park (Spring Training home to the Cubs) and Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (home to the Rockies and D-backs):

Feb. 14: 3 p.m. ET: Nebraska vs. UC Irvine (Salt River Fields)
Feb. 14: 7:30 p.m. ET: Austin Peay vs. New Mexico (Sloan Park)
Feb. 14: 8 p.m. ET: Seton Hall vs. San Diego State (Salt River Fields)
Feb. 14: 8 p.m. ET: Vanderbilt vs. Grand Canyon (Brazell Field at GCU)
Feb. 15: 2:30 p.m. ET: New Mexico vs. UC Irvine (Sloan Park)
Feb. 15: 3 p.m. ET: Seton Hall vs. Austin Peay (Salt River Fields)
Feb. 15: 7:30 p.m. ET: San Diego State vs. Grand Canyon (Sloan Park)
Feb. 15: 8 p.m. ET: Vanderbilt vs. Nebraska (Salt River Fields)
Feb. 16: 2 p.m. ET: UC Irvine vs. Vanderbilt (Sloan Park)
Feb. 16: 2:30 p.m. ET: New Mexico vs. Seton Hall (Salt River Fields)
Feb. 16: 7 p.m. ET: Nebraska vs. San Diego State (Sloan Park)
Feb. 16: 7:30 p.m. ET: Austin Peay vs. Grand Canyon (Salt River Fields)
All games will be streamed live on MLB.com
Bolded games also live on MLB Network

Grand Canyon, now in its third year participating in the event, will get to showcase one of the most unique home atmospheres in the sport when the Antelopes welcome the proverbial powerhouse Commodores on Friday night as Gregg Caserta, Dan O¡¯Dowd and Jesse Borek will be on the MLB Network call. The club is expecting another jam-packed sellout in Phoenix on the heels of its run to the Tucson Regional in 2024, the latest banner moment after four consecutive WAC regular-season titles.

¡°Most teams around the country are preparing for their opener, and preparing diligently, but ours is just on such a different level with the MLB broadcast and Vanderbilt [coming in] -- we know it's gonna be a packed ballpark,¡± Grand Canyon head coach Gregg Wallis said. ¡°It's been a really great partnership with MLB and it's brought a ton of enthusiasm to our opening nights. I feel like we're very fortunate to have the opportunity to do this again.¡±

The highest-ranked club (No. 16 nationally) participating in this year¡¯s event, Vanderbilt, is also back for the third time. The Commodores swap spots with in-state rival Tennessee, who went into Grand Canyon two years ago on opening night as the No. 2-ranked club in the country before being upset.

¡°I think it's a great opportunity,¡± Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said of playing in front of a hostile environment on the first night. ¡°You have to face resistance. You have to face really good talent in order to understand who you are.¡±

Five clubs are first-time participants at the Desert Invitational: Nebraska, Seton Hall, UC Irvine, New Mexico and Austin Peay, boasting an eclectic coast-to-coast group that has a track record of playing meaningful baseball late into the year and producing players that go on to become big leaguers.

¡°We're honored, we're fired up, we're excited,¡± said Austin Peay head coach Roland Fanning, who led the club to 36 wins and its first conference title in a dozen years last season. ¡°Our guys are ready to get maybe a sunburn which would be nice. We're playing some opponents we've never played before in our school history which is kind of neat, unique and I think it's gonna be a really cool situation for everybody -- our kids getting this experience is one they'll remember for the rest of their lives.¡±

That desire to head to a cradle of February baseball, bask in the sunshine and compete against a clubs wearing different jerseys is mutual among the participants.

¡°We're just excited to get out of the snow, to be honest,¡± Seton Hall head coach Rob Sheppard said. ¡°We feel that it'll be a good opportunity for us to learn a lot about our team and what we need to do to continue and improve as the season goes on. ¡­ Just to get out there and get an opportunity to play the game we love at a really fantastic venue, we're just really excited to be part of such a prestigious tournament.¡±

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The eight schools involved in last year¡¯s event went on to have 20 players selected in the 2024 Draft, including six in the first five rounds. Two players on hand at this year¡¯s iteration find themselves among the Top 100 Draft prospects: left-handed pitcher J.D. Thompson (No. 65) and outfielder RJ Austin (No. 79), both from Vanderbilt.

¡°We have done this several times and we've enjoyed the environment. Anything that MLB and MLB Network is attached to makes for a very good situation,¡± Corbin said. ¡°I think it's just a great way to start for your kids. Opening Day is always exciting anyway, but just to do it with the group of teams that we have in front of us is great.¡±

The Desert Invitational stage offers players a national spotlight to begin the season. Many have come up through MLB-affiliated programs such as MLB Develops (10 such alumni at this year¡¯s event) or the Appalachian League, a wooden-bat collegiate summer league, in which the 2024 MVP (Brodie Johnston, Vanderbilt) and Pitcher of the Year (Brock Toney, Grand Canyon) are both in attendance among this year¡¯s participants.

Fans can purchase tickets for the weekend extravaganza at brushfire.com/mlbdesertinvitational. Children ages 10 years or younger will receive free admission.