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2026 CWS Coverage – Super Regionals Recap and CWS Preview

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We’re through the super regionals, and have a CWS field. Here’s a recap of the supers and a preview of the CWS field.

Resource links to help with this:

First, lets recap the Supers.

  • #16 West Virginia v Cal Poly: West Virginia absolutely pulverized Cal Poly, winning 12-2 and 17-1 to get to Omaha and sing Bob Denver one more time with the crowd.
  • Troy v Arkansas Little Rock: Troy made fast work of A-LR, winning 12-2 and 7-2 to get to Omaha in a dream.
  • #5 North Carolina v Southern California: USC came to hit, winning the first game before UNC pulled it back to force the decider. In the 3rd game, UNC scored once in the 8th and twice in the 9th to walk it off.
  • #4 Auburn vs Ole Miss: Ole Miss won two close games on the road to head to Omaha.
  • #3 Georgia vs #14 Mississippi State: Georgia won a ridiculous 13-12 game to open the Super Regional, then held on for an 11-9 win to secure Omaha.
  • #6 Texas vs #11 Oregon: Texas blew away Oregon to open the super regional, then scored twice in the 8th to take the lead and made it stick to get to Omaha.
  • #7 Alabama vs St. Johns: Alabama blanked St. Johns to open the series, then beat them 7-2 in a suspended match to move on.
  • #15 Kansas vs Oklahoma: Oklahoma blew out Kansas 8-1 to open, t hen destroyed them again 13-2 in the suspended 2nd game to move on.

Super Regional Predictions versus Actuals

  • predicted: WVA, Troy, UNC, Auburn, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma
  • actuals: WVA, Troy, UNC, Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma

Prediction summary: 7 for 8. Only missed Ole Miss vs Auburn

Stats/Observations of the 8 Super Regionals.

  • 6 out of 8 Super Regional Hosts to advance. Kansas and Auburn missed.
  • Only 1 regionals went to the 3rd/deciding game; the UNC-USC matchup.
  • Conference Breakdown of the eight Advancers:
    • SEC: 5 of the 8
    • ACC: 1: UNC
    • Sun Belt: 1 Troy
    • Big12: 1 West Virginia

Fun fact: not one team from 2025’s CWS field made it back to Omaha. Last year’s field was: Arizona, Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, Louisville, LSU, Murray State, Oregon State, and UCLA. Not only did none of these 8 return … none of them even made it back to a Super Regional! In fact, half of them didn’t even make the 2026 field of 64 (Arizona, Louisville, Murray State, and LSU, which didn’t make the field for the first time since 2011). I heard an interesting theory as to why, and it relates to the transfer portal. The transfer portal is open, right now, while the best 8 teams in the country and all their coaches are in Omaha trying to win a national title. Instead of recruiting and talking to transfer candidates for next year’s team, they’re preparing for one last tournament. So they’re at a massive disadvantage to players who may take the first “good” offer they get.

It seems like a simple fix: keep the transfer portal closed until the season is over. Duh.

So, your 2026 CWS Field (with original national seeds driving the teams):

  • Group 1 (1,4,5,8): #16 West Virginia, Troy, #5 North Carolina, Ole Miss
  • Group 2 (2,3,6,7): #3 Georgia, #6 Texas, #7 Alabama, Oklahoma

Once again, its a really, really lopsided CWS. Group 2 is stacked with three national seeds and four teams from the SEC, while group A has just one National seed and the random Troy team that made it.

RPIs of the CWS field: Here’s the Live/updated RPI of the field, plus the pre-CWS tournament RPI for those teams who were seeds.

  • #3 Georgia: #5 (started #7)
  • #5 UNC: #4 (started #4)
  • #6 Texas #3 (started #5)
  • #7 Alabama #6 (started #6)
  • #16 West Virginia: #14 (started #17)
  • Ole Miss #9 (started #13)
  • Oklahoma #16 (was #20)
  • Troy #26 (was #28)

We’re still looking at a pretty strong CWS field, with four teams out of the top 6 in RPI still playing.

Prospect Watch in the Super Regionals:

There were so few 1st rounders competing in the Super Regionals as compared to years’ past that I didn’t even bother to do this section this year.

My CWS Predictions

Top half: I don’t like how UNC struggled so i’m tempted to say Ole Miss, but they’ll have an easier 1st round matchup against Troy, which may serve them well. I’m still gonna say Ole Miss.

Bottom Half: Well, with all four teams in the SEC, we have some history from the regular season. Georgia-Oklahoma in game 1; they did not meet in the regular season, so advantage GA. Texas beat Alabama 2 out of 3 in a home series, so advantage Texas. Then, Georgia/Texas didn’t meet either, so advantage GA again. That puts Georgia in the title game. Alabama won 2 of 3 at Oklahoma earlier this year, so advantage to them in the first elimination game. Then Alabama would play Texas again, so i’m thinking its Georgia-Texas in the regional final.

Final: Georgia over Ole Miss.

Written by Todd Boss

June 11th, 2026 at 9:03 am

Posted in College/CWS

2026 CWS Coverage – Regional Recap and Super Regional Preview

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The busiest weekend in College Baseball has past; here’s a run down of the opening weekend of the College Baseball playoffs. There were a TON of upsets, including a historic one, and a lot of great games to recap.

Resource links to help with this:

Here are Quick Regional Recaps of the 16 regional action, ordered by National Seed super Regional matchup. that means, the pairs of regionals being reviewed (#1 UCLA regional and #16 West Virginia regional) will determine that Super Regional. The eventual winning team is bolded.

  • #1 UCLA regional: an absolute stunner as the top seed not only loses its first round, but for just the 3rd time in my memory fails to advance out of its own regional. They didn’t even get to the regional final! St. Marys beats them twice to eliminate the nation’s only team ranked #1 all year, but then the Gaels couldn’t take out #3 seed Cal Poly, who shocks the field and advances to the super regional. Pundits say this says a ton about Big 10 baseball and how weak it is. That may be fair. UCLA still endeavored to play a tough non-conference schedule (they were #28 in SoS so it’s not like they played a bunch of weaklings). But they came up short.
  • #16 West Virginia regional: this was one of those regionals you’ll remember for a while. #3 seed Kentucky was in the driver’s seat, but host WVA scored 5 in the 9th late on Sunday to force the winner-take-all game Monday, then walked it off in the bottom of the 10th. Afterwards, the entire crowd sang John Denver’s Country road in unison along with their team, a video that gave me chills. I tell you what, it doesn’t get any better than this. West Virginia moves on, somehow.
  • #8 Florida Regional: baseball powerhouse Florida was in full control of this regional … until they weren’t. Troy, one of the last teams into the tournament and one that many thought should have been left out for (In particular) Mercer, beat Florida on their home field twice in the final to head to the super as a #3 seed. Troy beat Florida 16-11 and then 10-2, results that are going to have Fla’s coach looking for pitching in the transfer portal for sure.
  • #9: Southern Miss regional: Southern Miss hosted, but they didn’t show up, going two-and-out. UVA was eliminated by powerhouse Jacksonville State (kidding), and the region’s #4 seed Arkansas Little Rock advanced to the super regional.
  • #5; UNC regional: North Carolina cruised to the regional title without really being pressed, beating ECU twice. VCU impressed with a win over Tennessee, but otherwise this was a simple region.
  • #12: TAMU regional: Texas A&M was in the driver’s seat, then suddenly Southern California couldn’t make an out. USC, after losing its first game 5-4, won by the following scores in order: 19-6, 15-4, 14-3, and 7-1, the last two beatings over host TAMU to advance. USC was an RPI anomaly heading into the event, with a top 10 RPI but just a 1-11 record against Q1 schools. Well, they’re 3-11 now, and I wouldn’t want to face this offense. Phew.
  • #13 Nebraska regional: to little surprise, the over-seeded Nebraska team fell to both baseball powerhouses in ASU and eventually winner Ole Miss, who cruised to the regional title.
  • #4: Auburn regional: All credit to Milwaukee, who beat Auburn to open the region and made them beat them two more times before falling. #4 National seed Auburn survives somehow and advances.

And, the eventual CWS Bottom Half:

  • #3 Georgia cruised to the regional title, giving up just five runs in three games. They are as advertised, and are now the CWS title favorites.
  • #14 Mississippi State scored 39 runs in three games, blasting their way to the super regional.
  • #11 Oregon got to beat a couple of their old Pac-10 teammates en route to the regional title.
  • #6 Texas advanced in their own regional without having to deal with UCSB ace Jackson Flora, who they indeed saved for an anticipated winner’s bracket game two. Unfortunately, UCSB’s pitchers not named Flora pooped the bed against little-known Tarlton State and thus Flora was wasted on hapless Holy Cross, who he crushed for his final collegiate start. Quick: can you name where Tarlton State is, or what conference they play in?
  • #7 Alabama wasn’t too troubled in its regional win, beating all three of its opponents on the way to the title.
  • #10 Florida State hosted a crazy regional where the two lower seeds both won on opening day. Coastal Carolina had saved their ace Cameron Flukey for game 2, but a huge weather delay cut short his outing to just 3 1/3, wasting his final college start. FSU survived, but couldn’t overcome St. Johns of all teams, who wins as a #4 seed.
  • #15 Kansas. Bravo to Kansas, who nearly everyone thought would lose to Arkansas in this regional. Instead, Kansas beat them twice to move on.
  • #2 Georgia Tech scored 22 in its opener and topped #2 seed Oklahoma to take over the regional, but the Sooners had other plans, beating them late Sunday and then getting a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th to eliminate the #2 overall seed. Here’s the video; its at the 4:30 mark. He pulverized it to straight away cf, 390 and a 20 foot fence. Phew.

Thus, your Super Regionals are (with the presumed host listed first):

  • #16 West Virginia v Cal Poly
  • Troy v Arkansas Little Rock: one of these two teams will be in Omaha. Amazing.
  • #5 North Carolina v Southern California
  • #4 Auburn vs Ole Miss
  • #3 Georgia vs #14 Mississippi State
  • #6 Texas vs #11 Oregon
  • #7 Alabama vs St. Johns
  • #15 Kansas vs Oklahoma

Stats/Observations of the 16 regionals.

  • 9 out of 16: Seeds/Hosts to advance, but the two top seeds (UCLA and Georgia Tech) are out.
  • 6 regionals went to Monday extra game; lots of close regionals this year.
  • Conference Breakdown of the 16 advancers:
    • SEC: 7 advancing (12 made the tourney)
    • Big12: 2 advancing (West Virginia, Kansas)
    • Big10: 2 advancing (Oregon and USC, both former Pac12)
    • ACC: Just 1 UNC (of the 9 teams that made the tourney, a pretty awful showing)
    • One each from Sun Belt, Big West, Ohio Valley, and Big East.
  • Seed breakdown of advances
    • #1 seeds/hosts: 9
    • #2 Seeds: 3 (Southern California, Ole Miss, Oklahoma)
    • #3 Seeds: 2 (Cal Poly and Troy)
    • #4 Seeds: 2 (Arkansas-Little Rock, St. Johns)

Super Regional Prospect Watch. Man, lots of top prospects are gone, many surprisingly so. In fact, there’s only one name here that’s even projected to be a top 15 pick; Alabama’s Lebron. So, not a lot of star power in the supers.

  • West Virginia v Cal Poly
  • Troy v Arkansas Little Rock
  • North Carolina v Southern California
  • Auburn vs Ole Miss: Auburn is led by 2B Chris Rembert, a late 1st rounder, while Ole Miss’ ace is Cade Townsend, also a late 1st rounder.
  • Georgia vs Mississippi State: Miss State’s Ace Reese is a late 1st round 3B prospect.
  • Texas vs Oregon
  • Alabama vs St. Johns: Alabama’s SS and leading hitter is Justin Lebron
  • Kansas vs Oklahoma

Super Regional predictions: Here’s what i think happens when these Regional champs meetup next weekend:

  • #16 West Virginia v Cal Poly; hard to see WVA losing.
  • Troy v Arkansas Little Rock: Troy is the better team, by far.
  • #5 North Carolina v Southern California: I’d like to think UNC can hold the line, but USC impressed.
  • #4 Auburn vs Ole Miss: they did not face each other in SEC play, but Auburn is the better team.
  • #3 Georgia vs #14 Mississippi State: Georgia swept Miss State on their field in conference play, beat them in the SEC tournament, and I see no reason to think they’ll lose this Super Regional. I think its safe to say that Georgia was the CWS favorite at the beginning of this tournament, given that they’re the best team in the best conference, but now without UCLA and Georgia Tech they’re easily the team to beat.
  • #6 Texas vs #11 Oregon; I favor the SEC team here, even if Oregon is good.
  • #7 Alabama vs St. Johns; this one may get ugly.
  • #15 Kansas vs Oklahoma; Kansas has been surprising teams all year, even if Oklahoma is more battle tested. I’ll go with OK.

Predicted CWS field: West Virginia, Troy, UNC, Auburn, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma

Written by Todd Boss

June 5th, 2026 at 8:21 am

Posted in College/CWS

2026 CWS Coverage – Field of 64 and Regional Preview

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Roch Cholowsky leads the #1 ranked UCLA team into the post-season. Photo via BA

Its College Baseball post-season time, something we’ve followed in this space for years. Here’s a quick guide to the CWS 2026 post season. The field of 64 was announced on Memorial Day Weekend at Noon, so here’s a preview of this coming weekend’s 16 regional events.

First off, some resources for you.

Your top 8 seeds and favorites to make Omaha, in order, along with their D1Baseball Rank, RPI and their Strength of Schedule (SoS) denoted:

  1. UCLA (51-6): D1Baseball #1, RPI #1, SoS #25
  2. Georgia Tech (48-9): D1Baseball #2, RPI #2, SoS #15
  3. Georgia (46-12): D1Baseball #3, RPI #7, SoS #24
  4. Auburn (38-19), D1Baseball #5, RPI #3, SoS #1
  5. North Carolina (45-11-1), D1Baseball #4, RPi #4, SoS #13
  6. Texas (40-13) D1Baseball #6, RPI #5, SoS #9
  7. Alabama (37-19). D1Baseball #16, RPI #6, SoS #3
  8. Florida (39-19), D1Baseball #10, RPI #11, SoS #2

UCLA has put in one of the most dominant seasons we’ve seen in some time, and has never NOT been ranked #1 on any poll at any point during the season. They’re 51-6. here’s their 6 losses:

  • 2/15/26 vs UC San Diego on the first Sunday of the season
  • 2/24/26 vs San Diego State, a mid-week Tuesday game
  • 4/14/26 vs UC Santa Barbara, another mid-week Tuesday game
  • 4/26/26 vs Sacramento State, a Sunday series finale
  • 5/9/26 vs Oregon, the Saturday game of their marquee series of the season
  • 5/14/26 At Washington, the “Friday” game of their last league series of the season.

As for the rest of the top 8 seeds, Georgia Tech won the ACC tournament and #3 Georgia won the SEC tournament, so no surprise there. You can quibble slightly with Georgia’s RPI versus its ranking, but winning the SEC gives them that spot. Auburn gets seeded ahead of several other higher ranked SEC schools mostly because of its RPI and SoS, but they’re just 17-18 against Q1 schools, meaning I suspect they’ll be favored to get to Omaha but will go 2-out once they’re there. Same with Alabama, who is also .500 in Q1 games and is the only top 8 seed that seems to be out of line with their ranking. UNC is basically the 2nd best ACC team. Texas probably would have been above Auburn had they done better in the SEC tourney. Lastly we have Florida, who sneaks into a top 8 seed ahead of its rival Florida State, who has a slightly worse Q1 record and who lost too early in the ACC tourney.

The National seeds 9-16 and the other regional hosts go as follows:

  • #9: Southern Miss (44-15). D1baseball ranked #7, RPI #12, SoS #35.
  • #10: Florida State (38-17): D1Baseball ranked #12, RPI #8, SoS #5
  • #11: Oregon (40-16), D1Baseball ranked #15, RPI #15, SoS #29
  • #12: Texas A&M (39-14), D1Baseball #11, RPI #14, SoS #17
  • #13: Nebraska (42-15), D1Baseball #20, RPI #10, SoS #40
  • #14: Mississippi State (40-17), D1Baseball #17, RPI #13, SoS #7
  • #15 Kansas (42-16) D1baseball #13, RPI #19, SoS #60
  • #16 West Virginia (39-14), D1Baseball #9, RPI #17, SoS #56

Are there any hosting snubs here? Yeah probably. I’d say Arkansas has the biggest beef here: they’re ranked 14th, just made the SEC tourney final, are a bit depressed in RPI but have a 18-13 Q1 record. But it’s splitting hairs; who would you take out? WVA is screwed as the #16 seed playing into UCLA when they’re ranked top 10 and just made their conference final. Maybe Nebraska is a little weak here, but they won the Big 10 and have to get some props. The highest ranked RPI team not hosting is USC out in California … but they went just 1-11 in Q1 games.

Conference Breakdown

As usual, the SEC and ACC dominate the field with 12 and 9 teams respectively. Every team in the ACC with a 14-16 conference record or better made the field, which included a couple of arguable bubble teams in UVA and NC State. Meanwhile, the SEC got 12 teams in, including Kentucky with its 13-17 conference record ahead of Vanderbilt. Big12 got 6 teams and the Big 10 got 4 teams to round out the rest of the power conferences. Big Baseball conference Sun Belt got a record 5 teams as well, led by Southern Miss and joined by Coastal Carolina, Troy, Louisiana, South Alabama, and Texas State.

Local DC/MD/VA local teams in the tourney:

Once again, it is kind of a down year for DC/MD/VA baseball in terms of top-ranked teams; not one local team finished the year anywhere close to the top 25. UVA has some down-ballot votes but that’s it; they were shredded when their coach took a huge contract and left the program. Several local teams are in the field of 64 from the state however: Virginia, Virginia Tech, VCU, Liberty plus neighbor schools that usually have VA kids like West Virginia, ECU, CCU).

Snubs and Surprises in the field

The biggest snub seems to be Mercer; they’re RPI #28 and there’s a slew of at-large teams with lower ranks that got picked over them. their SoS hurts them, and they left themselves in jeopardy after getting upset in their conference tourney.

Quick Regional Thoughts

Here’s one sentence or so on each regional

  1. UCLA should have no issues advancing; Virginia Tech gets a 3,000 mile flight to play in this regional.
  2. Georgia Tech has to fend off a top 25 edge case team in Oklahoma but shouldn’t have any issues.
  3. Georgia gets a weak ACC also ran in Boston College and Liberty; easy regional.
  4. Auburn has to fend off UCF and a team in NC State that probably shouldn’t have made the field.
  5. North Carolina gets a mid-pack SEC team in Tennessee and VCU. Tennessee has a late 1st round starter Tegan Kuhns who could cause issues if they save him, but UNC is favored here.
  6. Texas has a joke of a regional with UCSB, Holy Cross, and Tarleton State. UCSB likely holds their 1st round pick Jackson Flora for the Texas matchup, but they don’t have much after him.
  7. Alabama’s #2 seed is Oklahoma State, who can be plucky but not a challenge. They’re the most vulnerable of the top 8 seeds.
  8. Florida gets their buddies Miami for a fun regional, but should advance. Florida and Miami met early in the season at Miami and Florida won both weekend games (the Sunday game got rained out).
  9. Southern Miss has UVA in their regional, who would be a decent foe but who are a long ways from home. Some may think an ACC team is favored here, but Southern Miss is a tough team.
  10. Florida State should have been a top 8 seed and will have to deal with Coastal Carolina’s ace Cameron Flukey to advance. But, Flukey can only pitch once, so advantage FSU.
  11. Oregon has a cakewalk of a regional against two former Pac12 foes in Oregon State and Washington State.
  12. Texas A&M has to be happy with their #2 being Southern California, who is an RPI darling who can’t beat any big teams (1-11 in Q1 games). Their #3 team Texas State might be more formidable.
  13. Nebraska will struggle with SEC battle-tested Ole Miss in their bracket, along with the college baseball legends from Arizona State, who also has a 1st round projected starter who may get burned before they face Nebraska. Upset watch here, unless both Ole Miss and AZ State burn their aces in game one.
  14. Mississippi State has to love this regional; Cincinnati and Louisiana? Really?
  15. Kansas beat West Virginia for the Big 12 tourney title and for their trouble will get Arkansas, who likely blows them away.
  16. West Virginia gets both an ACC and SEC team in Wake Forest and Kentucky. This should be a dog-fight. Wake as a #2 seed here is my slight favorite b/c of the strength of the conference.

Prospect Watch. By region, here’s some guys to watch that are like top 50 college prospects in this year’s draft:

  1. UCLA regional: Roch Cholowsky is the leading 1-1 overall candidate for UCLA. UCLA also has a late 1st round arm in Logan Reddeman and 3B Roman Martin. 3 1st round talents will help you go 51-6.
  2. Georgia Tech regional: GaTech’s catcher Vahn Lackey is likely going top 5. Drew Burress has been top5 in this cycle and has been mocked to the Nats in some drafts.
  3. Georgia regional: (no 1st rounders in this regional)
  4. Auburn regional: Auburn is led by 2B Chris Rembert, a late 1st rounder.
  5. North Carolina regional: Tennessee’s ace is late 1st rounder Tegan Kuhns.
  6. Texas regional: UCSB’s Jackson Flora is an upper 1st rounder.
  7. Alabama regional: their SS and leading hitter is Justin Lebron, who might be in the mix for the Nats at #11.
  8. Florida regional: Fla’s ace is Liam Peterson, likely the 2nd or 3rd arm off the board.
  9. Southern Miss regional: UVA’s Eric Becker and AJ Gracia have 1st round buzz.
  10. Florida State regional: Coastal Carolina’s ace Cameron Flukey is a mid 1st rounder.
  11. Oregon regional: (no 1st rounders in this regional)
  12. Texas A&M regional: TAMU is led by SS Chris Hacopian, who has mid 1st round projections. The Aggies also have a power hitting 1B in Gavin Grahovac, who may be end of 1st/supp-1st pick and another late 1st pick in Of Caden Sorrell.
  13. Nebraska regional: Ole Miss’ ace is Cade Townsend and AZ State’s ace is Cole Carlon, who may meet in game one of the regional.
  14. Mississippi State regional: Ace Reese for the hosts is a late 1st round 3B prospect.
  15. Kansas regional: Arkansas’ ace is 1st rounder Hunter Dietz and they have 1st round Catcher prospect Ryder Helfrick as well.
  16. West Virginia regional: Kentucky’s SS Tyler Bell is a 1st rounder.

Top 1st round prospects whose team outright missed the post season:

  • LSU had a shockingly bad year. Derek Curiel is likely a mid-1st rounder.
  • TCU just missed the bubble, so no post-season scouting of both their 1st round outfielders Sawyer Strosnider and Chase Brunson.
  • Louisville had a down year; OF Zion Rose is a late 1st rounder.

We’ll circle back next week with Regional recaps and Super Regional projections. We probably will also return with a check-in on the 1-1 candidates in our regular series.

Written by Todd Boss

May 26th, 2026 at 1:33 pm

Posted in College/CWS,Draft,Prospects

2025 CWS Final: LSU Wins Again!

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Requisite dog pile picture via LSU Reveille

Here’s a quick game by game recap.

  • Game 1: LSU’s ace Kade Anderson finished off his college career with a 1-0 3-hit 130 pitch shutout that was both amazing and concerning for his arm health.
  • Game 2: LSU finally got to CCU’s ace Jacob Morrison, putting up 4 runs in the 4th that stuck and they held on for a 5-3 win.

Your 2025 College World Series Champion: LSU, winning their 2nd since we started hyper covering the CWS and their 8th title since 2001.

Final list of all CWS coverage this year:

Here’s some links to past years of CWS coverage here. I’ve been doing this for more than 10 years now! Each link below is the blog post covering that CWS final.

That’s it for the 2025 CWS tournament. I think its safe to say that it was an odd year for college baseball, seeing a mid-major cruise relatively untested into the final and having the all-powerful SEC win the event but (frankly) disappoint with its overall post-season performance.

We now get to focus entirely on 1-1 watch for a while.

Written by Todd Boss

June 23rd, 2025 at 7:44 am

Posted in College/CWS

2025 CWS Coverage – Omaha Group Play and Finals preview

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We get one more look at Anderson in the CWS final. Photo via MLB.com

After a couple of frenetic weeks of tracking CWS play-in games, we’re through the pedestrian-paced group play in Omaha and have reached the final of the 2025 CWS tournament; here’s a recap of group play in Omaha.

Resources/links I use heavily during CWS time:

In the Top Bracket ( Louisville, Coastal Carolina, Arizona, #8 Oregon State )

  • In the opening games, Coastal continued on its current 24-game winning streak, scoring 3 in the 8th to break open a tie-game to top Arizona. They havn’t lost since April 22nd. Meanwhile, Lousville tied it in the top of the 9th only to have Oregon State walk-it off in the bottom, with 1-1 candidate Arquette scoring the winning run, to cap an exciting day for the top bracket.
  • In the first elimination game, Louisville blew open a close game with 6 in the eight to make Arizona the first team eliminated.
  • In the winner’s bracket game, Coastal’s saturday starter Jacob Morrison spun a gem, shutting down OSU for nearly 8 innings to put CCU in the driver’s seat.
  • In the play-in game, OSU’s Arquette did his best to help his team, but Louisville walked it off in a 7-6 back and forth affair to eliminate Oregon State and move into the group final.
  • In the group final, Coastal Carolina kept its win streak alive with a beat down of OSU 11-3 to win the group unblemished and return to the National title game.

Final Group standings: Coastal Carolina, Louisville, #8 Oregon State, Arizona

In the Bottom Bracket (#15 UCLA, #3 Arkansas, #6 LSU, Murray State)

  • In the opening games, UCLA got to Murray State’s starter in the 5th for enough runs to make it stick to move on. In the night cap, probably the best game we’ll see in CWS featured the two SEC teams and two best ranked teams battle, with LSU’s Kade Anderson putting up the best possible line you could expect in a CWS game: 7ip 3 hits, 1r (on an inside FB that Arkansas’ light-hitting 1B turned on), 7/2 K/BB. Just 100 pitches to get through 7.
  • In the first elimination game, Arkansas’ Gage Woods threw probably the greatest game in the history of the CWS, a 9ip no-hitter with 19 Ks (!!) to send Murray State home. He had a perfect game into the top of the 8th and only let five balls even get into fair territory. 119 pitches. Amazing.
  • In the winner’s bracket game, LSU bashed their way to a rain-delayed 9-5 win over UCLA to take control of the group.
  • In the play-in game, Arkansas scored early and often and were in control throughout, downing UCLA 7-3 to setup an all-SEC group final.
  • In the group final, Arkansas certainly made it interesting, with 2 in the 8th and 2 in the ninth to take the lead, but then LSU’s middle of the order came through, with 3 in the 9th to walk it off for a shot at the title. What a game.

Final Group standings: #6 LSU, #3 Arkansas, UCLA, Murray State

Analysis/commentary

I suppose its fitting that this year of regional upsets gives us a national powerhouse back in the title game in LSU, along side a team from a mid-major that probably should have been a National seed had the committee sniffed their noses at Coastal Carolina’s pedigree, and now they ride a massive 26 win game winning streak heading into the final series that they have no doubt they can win.

Projected 1st Rounder Performance:

We’ll throw this into the next 1-1 conversation, since there’s only a couple 1-1 candidates left in CWS play.

CWS Preview and Prediction:

One big plus here for neutrals: neither of the groups went the “extra game,” so none of the star pitchers got burned. This is in contrast to two years ago, when LSU threw its stud Skenes just to get into the final, and then the national spotlight never got to see him (except for an inning at the end).

Here’s the best i can make out for pitching matchups in the final, based on how the pitchers were used in the playoffs to get here so far. Everyone below is basically on full rest, so no usage concerns here.

The CWS national series starts on Saturday 6/21:

  • 6/21: CCU’s Cameron Flukey (7-1, 3.29 ERA, 109/22 in 95ip) versus LSU’s Kade Anderson (11-1, 3.44 ERA, 170/30 K/BB in 110 IP)
  • 6/22: CCU’s Jacob Morrison (12-0, 2.08 ERA, 102/22 in 104 ip) versus LSU’s Anthony Eyanson (11-2, 2.92 ERA, 143/35 in 101 ip).
  • 6/23 CCU’s Riley Eikhoff (7-2, 3.10 ERA, 71/11 K/BB in 90 ip) versus LSU’s Zac Cowan (3-3, 2.94 ERA, 60/12 in 52 ip).

If you recognize the Eikhoff name, its because he is from NoVa, went to Patriot HS, and is the brother of Nate Eikhoff, who starred for UVA just before Covid.

LSU doesn’t really have a reliable 3rd starter; they’ve given starts to six different guys in that #3 spot this year. They have a super reliever Casan Evans (5-1, 2.05 ERA, 71/19 k/BB in 52ip) who could also slot in to that third start, if necessary.

That being said, I don’t think this series is going three. I think Anderson shuts down CCU in game one and wins a close one in game two to take the title. With all due respect to Coastal, they have not seen a starter like Anderson all year and has managed to make it all the way to the title game without facing a top prospect starter who can easily tame their bats.

LSU in two.

Written by Todd Boss

June 19th, 2025 at 10:26 am

Posted in College/CWS

2025 CWS Coverage – Super Regionals Recap and CWS Preview

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I’m not sure if this is Murray State dogpile #1, or dogpile #2. Photo via MVC home page

We’re through the super regionals, and have a CWS field. Here’s a recap of the supers.

Resource links to help with this:

First, lets recap the Supers.

  • Louisville vs Miami: Louisville dominated visiting Miami (note: I thought Miami would get the host) 8-1 in a game where all the scoring happened in the first few innings. Miami took back game two to force the tie-breaker game Sunday. In game three, Louisville clawed back to take a close 3-2 win and advance.
  • #8 Oregon State v #9 Florida State: FSU let one get away in game one, giving up 3 runs in the ninth to send the game to extras, then watching an RBI single allow OSU to walk them off. Brutal. FSU turned around to win game 2 and force the decider. In the final, both teams ran out of pitching and played to an old-school pre-BBCOR aluminum game score of 14-10 as OSU advances.
  • #5 UNC v Arizona: UNC Destroyed AZ in game one 18-2. AZ fought back to win game two in a slugfest to force the 3rd game. In the final, Arizona shocked the national seed and top ranked UNC with three runs in the 8th inning to steal a 4-3 win and to claim the CWS spot.
  • #4 Auburn v #13 Coastal Carolina: Coastal Carolina shocked Auburn in game one, edging them with a run in the 10th to win in extras. They followed it up with a 4-1 game two win to be the first team to punch their ticket to the CWS and to prove naysayers wrong.
  • #3 Arkansas v #14 Tennessee; Arkansas got a close game 1 win 4-3, got to Doyle easily in game two and cruise into the CWS.
  • #6 LSU v West Virginia: LSU battered their way to a game 1 win 16-9 and was never troubled in game two to advance easily.
  • Duke v Murray State: Host Duke opened with a win, taming Murray State’s bats 7-4. Murray State got back to bashing in game two, winning 19-9 and force a Monday finish. There, Murray State persevered, even with a crazy overturned call at the end that forced them to win twice, to advance as a #4 seed, a rarity in the college game.
  • UT-San Antonio v #15 UCLA: UCLA won 5-2 in the first, then blanked UTSA in the second to move on.

Super Regional Predictions versus Actuals

  • predicted Miami, FSU, UNC, Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, Murray State, UTSA
  • actuals: Louisville, OSU, Arizona, CCU, Arkansas, LSU, Murray State, UCLA

My predictions were awful: I went just 3 for 8 after going 8-for-8 last year in the supers.

Stats/Observations of the 8 Super Regionals.

  • 5 out of 8 Super Regional Hosts to advance.
  • 4 regionals went to the 3rd/deciding game.
  • Conference Breakdown of the eight Advancers: 2 SEC, 1 ACC, 1 Big10, 1 Big12, 1 Independent, 1 Sun Belt, and 1 MVC. wow. What great distribution. If we were playing by the old rules … there’d be three Pac12 teams here.
  • Murray State to the CWS as a #4 regional seed is super rare: it’s only happened three other times since the CWS expanded to 64 teams in 1999.  Fresno State (2008, who frigging won the CWS), Stony Brook (2012), and most recently, Oral Roberts (2023).

So, your 2024 CWS Field (with original national seeds driving the teams):

  • Group 1 (1,4,5,8): Louisville, Coastal Carolina, Arizona, #8 Oregon State
  • Group 2 (2,3,6,7): #15 UCLA, #3 Arkansas, #6 LSU, Murray State

So, we have a pretty lopsided CWS field. Group 1 features just one national seed in OSU, while group two features three National seeds plus the crazy Cinderella Murray State.

RPIs of the CWS field: Here’s the Live/updated RPI of the field, plus the pre-CWS tournament RPI for those teams who were seeds.

  • Arkansas: #1 (started #5)
  • Coastal Carolina #3 (Started #8)
  • Oregon State: #5 (started #7)
  • UCLA #9 (started #15)
  • LSU #11 (started #10)
  • Arizona #19
  • Louisville #29
  • Murray State: #53

CCU was pretty underseeded going into the tourney and probably should have been a top 8 seed, and now they’re vindicated with a live RPI of #3, making them the favorite in the group 1.

Performance of 1st Round projected players in the Super Regionals:

I’ll summarize the performance of the few 1-1 candidates we care about in my “check-in” post coming soon.

My CWS Predictions

Top half: I think it comes down to Coastal versus Oregon State, with Oregon State heading to final.

Bottom Half: Hard not to go with an all SEC final here, with things setup for the SEC teams to be on opposite sides of the group. LSU beat Arkansas at home in a series in early May, but on a neutral field I sense Arkansas bashes their way forward. LSU only has one Kade Anderson.

Final: Arkansas over OSU

Written by Todd Boss

June 10th, 2025 at 10:22 am

Posted in College/CWS

2025 CWS Coverage – Regional Recap and Super Regional Preview

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The busiest weekend in College Baseball has past; here’s a run down of the opening weekend of the College Baseball playoffs.

Resource links to help with this:

Quick Regional Recaps of the 16 regional action, ordered by National Seed super Regional matchup. that means, the pairs of regionals being reviewed (#1 Vanderbilt regional and #16 Southern Miss regional) will determine that Super Regional. The eventual winning team is bolded.

  • #1 Vanderbilt Regional Recap: Vanderbilt failed to advance to the Super Regionals as the #1 overall seed for the 2nd time in recent memory (they were #1 overall seed with David Price as their ace and also fell at a home regional), losing twice to Louisville to go home early.
  • #16 Southern Miss Regional Recap: host Southern Miss inexplicably lost to Ivy League champ Columbia to open the regional, got back to the final and even forced an extra game, but the strain on their resources was too much as they fell to Miami.
  • #8 Oregon State Regional Recap: Oregon State got upended in game one by a #4 seed in St. Marys, but clawed their way back, crushed St. Marys 20-3 in the loser’s bracket, then beat USC twice to advance. Phew.
  • #9 Florida State Regional Recap: Florida State advanced in a relatively straight-forward regional, cruising past eventual regional finalist Mississippi State twice, once behind top-5 pick Arnold’s 7ip effort.
  • #5 UNC Regional Recap: North Carolina got stretched to an extra game but persevered versus Oklahoma to move on.
  • #12: Oregon Regional Recap: Host Oregon went 2-and-out to finish last as the seed and host, while Arizona beat Cal Poly twice to win the regional and advance. Props to Utah Valley for the win as the #4 seed.
  • #13 Coastal Carolina Regional Recap: ECU ousted Florida, but Coasal Carolina beat them twice to win the region and advance as one of the few mid-majors remaining.
  • #4 Auburn Regional Recap: Host Auburn beat all three teams in its region to advance, crushing NC State 11-1 in the regional final.

And, the eventual CWS Bottom Half:

  • #3 Arkansas Regional Recap: Arkansas handled Big East’s Creighton twice to advance with ease.
  • #14 Tennessee Regional Recap: Tennessee got stretched by Wake Forest to an extra game but moved on, as 1-1 draft candidate finished off the finale to the horror of the GMs drafting in that range.
  • #11 Clemson Regional Recap: West Virginia came out on top of a crazy regional that saw host Clemson get whacked by last-team-in Kentucky before WVU topped the SEC team in a wile 16-15 regional final.
  • #6 LSU Regional Recap: Arkansas-Little Rock as a #4 seed gave LSU everything they could handle, but the Tigers advanced to get another super regional.
  • #7 Georgia Regional Recap: Everything started great for Georgia, then it fell apart; they lost the winner’s bracket game to Duke, then couldn’t even get back to the regional final, losing to Oklahoma State, to finish 3rd as a national top-8 seed. Not a good look. Duke took out OkState to win the regional.
  • #10 Ole Miss Regional Recap: holy cow, how about #4 regional seed Murray State?! Beat the hosts 9-6 to open, then score 13, 19, and 12 against SEC and ACC royalty to win the regional and move on. Bravo!
  • #15 UCLA Regional Recap: UCLA won an offense-first regional by beating all three teams to advance.
  • #2 Texas Regional Recap: UT-San Antonio shocked the field with two wins over #2 overall seed Texas to win the region and move on.

Thus, your Super Regionals are ...

  • Louisville vs Miami
  • #8 Oregon State v #9 Florida State
  • #5 UNC v Arizona
  • #4 Auburn v #13 Coastal Carolina
  • #3 Arkansas v #14 Tennessee
  • #6 LSU v West Virginia
  • Duke v Murray State
  • UT-San Antonio v #15 UCLA

Stats/Observations of the 16 regionals.

  • 9 out of 16: Seeds/Hosts to advance. Three of the top 8 seeds are out, including #1 Vandy, #2 Texas, and #7 Ole Miss.
  • 6 regionals went to Monday extra game; lots of close regionals this year.
  • Conference Breakdown of the 16 advancers: ACC 5, SEC 4, Big12 2, Big10 1, others 4.
  • Seed breakdown of advances: #1 seeds/hosts – 9. #2 Seeds: 5. #3 seeds: 1 (Miami). #4 Seeds: 1 (Murray State).

Comments

  • How about the ACC? 9 teams in, 5 going to supers. Versus SEC: 13 teams in, just 4 moving on.
  • Murray State; holy cow. Usually we’re ecstatic to talk about a #4 seed getting a win, not moving on.
  • UT-San Antonio; a #2 seed who took out a power house.

Performance of 1st Round projected players in the Regionals:

(we’ll put this content into our 1-1 candidate review post, coming out later this week)

Super Regional predictions: Here’s what i think happens when these Regional champs meetup next weekend:

  • Louisville vs Miami: two teams with .500 records in ACC conference play are now going to give the CWS a representative from between them. I would guess Miami gets to host based on pedigree. These teams didn’t meet at all this year so no history. Prediction: Miami had a slightly harder SoS and may have a slight advantage here.
  • #8 Oregon State v #9 Florida State: I’m going FSU just based on having a better arm to throw game 1. FSU faced a better slate of teams all year.
  • #5 UNC v Arizona: hard to pick against UNC in this position. I think these former Pac12 teams are overrated generally.
  • #4 Auburn v #13 Coastal Carolina: Auburn will outclass the mid-major former CWS champ here.
  • #3 Arkansas v #14 Tennessee: They played late in the season, at Arkansas; Tennessee won the first game, then lost the 2nd when Doyle pitched (Arkansas lit him up for 11 hits and 8 runs). I think Arkansas repeats the feat and moves on. If they can get to Doyle that easily, they’ll be tough to beat.
  • #6 LSU v West Virginia; with all due respect to WVU, LSU isn’t going to lose at home with a top 5 pick throwing one of the games.
  • Duke v Murray State: Murray State played, nobody, I mean, nobody this year; SoS #222. But they showed up in the Regional and I’ll bet they show up again. Murray State to CWS!
  • UT-San Antonio v #15 UCLA: UTSA is big-time. Top 20 RPI, 8-4 record against Q1. I think they’re going to beat UCLA.

CWS field: Miami, FSU, UNC, Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, Murray State, UTSA

Written by Todd Boss

June 3rd, 2025 at 10:16 am

Posted in College/CWS

2025 CWS Coverage – Field of 64 and Regional Preview

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Its College Baseball post-season time, something we’ve followed in this space for years. Here’s a quick guide to the CWS 2025 post season. The field of 64 was announced on Memorial Day Weekend at Noon, so here’s a preview of this coming weekend’s 16 regional events.

First off, some resources for you.

  • Your final top 25 heading into the post-season according to d1baseball, baseballamerica, and usatoday Coaches poll.
  • Local teams in the rankings: it’s a really down year for area college: there’s not one Virginia team anywhere near the top 25 this year. In fact, there’s not a single VOTE for a DC/MD/VA college team in the final USA Today poll.
  • WarrenNolan’s RPI rankings are a very important part of the seeding and selection process, as we’ll discuss in a bit.
  • Here’s D1Baseball.com’s Tournament Central, my favorite place to track the tourney.
  • Here’s the NCAA.com field of 64 Bracket with some great data points at NCAA.com

Your top 8 seeds and favorites to make Omaha, in order, along with their RPI and their Strength of Schedule (SoS) denoted:

  1. Vanderbilt (42-16): RPI #1, SoS #2
  2. Texas (42-12): RPI #4, SoS #19
  3. Arkansas (43-13): RPI #5, SoS #14
  4. Auburn (38-18): RPI #3, SoS #1
  5. North Carolina (42-12): #6 RPI, #23 SoS
  6. LSU (43-14): #10 RPI, #36 SoS
  7. Georgia (42-15): #2 RPI, #4 SoS
  8. Oregon State (41-12-1): #7 RPI, #42 SoS

There’s definitely some interesting stuff to digest here. Vanderbilt finished 4th in the SEC regular season but won the post-season title, which vaulted them above Texas for #1. They’ve been RPI #1 for a bit, so no surprise here. Texas won the SEC regular season title by two games over Arkansas, who gets the #3 national seed. UNC finished 3rd in the ACC regular season but won the ACC title, likely cementing their slot as a top 8 seed. Interestingly Georgia Tech was the ACC regular season winner but didn’t even get a hosting spot. LSU sneaks into a regional spot at the expense of #8 RPI Coastal Carolina, likely a nod to the amazing atmosphere at LSU’s home stadium. Lastly the orphaned Oregon State team more than earned its #7 seed with its barnstorming season. There’s no easy outs amongst the top 8 seeds.

The National seeds 9-16 and the other regional hosts go as follows:

  • #9 Florida State (38-14) : #14 RPI, #24 SoS
  • #10 Ole Miss (40-19): #12 RPI, #5 SoS
  • #11 Clemson (44-16): #9 RPI, #16 SoS
  • #12 Oregon (42-14): #16 RPI, #35 SoS
  • #13 Coastal Carolina (48-11): #8 RPI, #66 SoS
  • #14 Tennessee (43-16): #11 RPI, #12 SoS
  • #15 UCLA (42-16): #15 RPI, #22 SoS
  • #16 Southern Miss (44-14): #19 RPI, #67 SoS

Unlike 2024, there’s no real hosting shocks here. Oregon remains a host despite losing early in the Big 10 conference tournament. Ole Miss made a huge run to the SEC tourney final and will be a tough out. Alabama ends up being the highest RPI team to not host (#13), likely due to an early exit in the SEC tournament and a 16-14 league record.

Local DC/MD/VA local teams in the tourney:

None. Last year there were three Virginia teams in the field of 64, including UVA as a national seed. This year, not so much. West Virginia is in, along with nearby Carolina schools like ECU and Coastal Carolina that sometimes recruit in the state. This year, nothing.

Quick Regional Thoughts

Here’s one sentence or so on each regional

  1. Vanderbilt (42-16): The #1 seeds get a super easy regional with their #2 as RPI #32 Louisville. No upsets here, but Louisville has a big-time arm that could throw a monkey wrench into the plans.
  2. Texas (42-12) gets a really easy regional, with three mid-majors and no real threats.
  3. Arkansas (43-13) gets the Big East champ Creighton as a #3 seed, a bit troubling, but may not even see them. Their #2 seed is Kansas, not exactly a baseball powerhouse this year.
  4. Auburn (38-18): gets NC state as their 2nd seed, and gets Stetson, who got into the tournament in controversial fashion when their conference tournament got rained out.
  5. North Carolina (42-12) was not done any favors by the committee, getting #2 Oklahoma and the big10 tourney champs Nebraska as a #3. Ouch.
  6. LSU (43-14) will have Dallas Baptist to contend with (#20 RPI), but otherwise has an easy draw.
  7. Georgia (42-15) gets two storied programs in Duke and Oklahoma State, but both programs struggled this year against Quadrant-1 schools.
  8. Oregon State (41-12-1) has a pretty manageable regional that includes TCU and USC in down years.
  9. Florida State (38-14) gets the team with the best record in the land in Northeastern (48-9 with a 25-2 in-confernece record), but they have almost no Q1 experience.
  10. Ole Miss (40-19) comes in red-hot, having made the SEC tourney final. For their troubles they get ACC regular season champ Georgia Tech, but being hosts will make the difference here.
  11. Clemson (44-16) struggled at season’s end and has a tricky regional that includes West Virginia and the controversial Kentucky, who squeaked into this draw as the last of 13 SEC teams in the tourney.
  12. Oregon (42-14): Upset watch here: Oregon has two tough teams in Arizona and Cal Poly to contend with.
  13. Coastal Carolina (48-11): They’ll have to prove their lofty RPI here; they have to deal with Florida. Florida is certainly battle tested: 28 of their 58 games were against Q1 schools.
  14. Tennessee (43-16): probably saves their Ace for Wake Forest in game two and should cruise in a relatively easy regional.
  15. UCLA (42-16): gets three other West Coast teams, any of whom seem to be possible to win here. UC Irvine, Arizona State, and Fresno State all have major college baseball pedigree, and California college baseball is just different.
  16. Southern Miss (44-14); the mid-major has to contend with both Alabama, who arguably should have had a host, AND Miami. Ouch.

Prospect Watch. We’ve talked the top guys to death, but here’s where they’re playing. By region, here’s some guys to watch that are like top 50 college prospects in this year’s draft:

D1baseball.com’s Prospect Watch post is here as well.

CBS sports RJ Anderson had top 10 prospects to watch post as well.

  1. Vanderbilt Regional: Vandy could have to contend with Supp-1st projected Alabama ace Patrick Forbes in game 2 of their regional.
  2. Texas Regional: Texas’ speedy OF Max Belyeu is a late 1st round projection.
  3. Arkansas Regional: their transfer SS Wehiwa Aloy projects as back of 1st round now, and they have a big left in Zach Root who’s a supp-1st rounder projection.
  4. Auburn Regional: their big hitter is Ike Irish a C/OF type.
  5. North Carolina Regional: UNC’s catcher Luke Stevenson projects as a late 1st rounder. Oklahoma’s ace Kyson Witherspoon could face UNC in game 2.
  6. LSU Regional: left ace Kade Anderson will lead the way for LSU.
  7. Georgia Regional: Georgia is really a team effort; they only have one top 200 projected draft player in OF/1B Tre Phelps
  8. Oregon State Regional: top-5 projected pick Aiva Arquette stars for OSU.
  9. Florida State Regional: FSU’s ace Jamie Arnold likely goes game 2.
  10. Ole Miss Regional: Ole Miss’ big arm is Mason Morris, a likely 3rd rounder.
  11. Clemson Regional: their leading hitter Cam Cannarella was on upper 1st round watch early, but has faded.
  12. Oregon Regional: Arizona’s leading hitter Brendan Summerhill leads their attack.
  13. Coastal Carolina Regional: Their leading prospect is C Caden Bodine, who has seen his star really fade this season.
  14. Tennessee Regional: top-5 projected Liam Doyle will have scouts out for sure. Tennessee also has mid-1st rounder Gavin Kilen and supp-1st round Andrew Fischer in the lineup. Wake’s Marek Houston has top-5 buzz and would be a great matchup when Doyle pitches. Wake also has late 1st rounder Ethan Conrad in the OF.
  15. UCLA Regional: there’s a slew of 3rd and 4th rounders amongst all the teams here, typical for a California-heavy regional.
  16. Southern Miss Regional: Southern Miss is led by ace RHP JB Middleton, a late 1st round projection. He could face off in game 2 against Alabama’s Riley Quick, a Fastball/Slider guy who also projects in the same range.

Top 1st round prospects whose team outright missed the post season:

  • TAMU and Jace LaViolette, projected 1-1 to begin the year, now a mid-1st rounder.
  • UC Santa Barbara and Tyler Bremner: how his stock has fallen this year.
  • Indiana and Devin Taylor got a couple of shout outs, but he’s pushed back to end of 1st round.

We’ll circle back next week with Regional recaps and Super Regional projections. We probably will also return with a check-in on the 1-1 candidates in our regular series.

Written by Todd Boss

May 28th, 2025 at 11:19 am

Posted in College/CWS,Prospects

2024 CWS finals: Tennessee Wins

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Requisite dog pile. Photo via NCAA.com

So, for as good of a 2023 CWS finals matchup that we had (Florida vs LSU), this year we might have had an even better matchup: #1 Tennessee versus #3 Texas A&M. They were #1 and #2 in RPI, #1 and #4 in D1baseball’s final rankings, and TAMU probably had a better argument to be seeded ahead of Kentucky had they not gone 2-and-out in the SEC tourney. Both mostly cruised through the entire post-season to get here (TAMU went 8-0 in the CWS before the final, Tennessee 8-1 after going 4-1 in the SEC tourney to win it).

So it was fitting that it went three, and that it came down to a nail-biting 9th inning with the tying runs on base before Tennessee took it. Here’s a quick game by game recap.

  • Game 1: Tennessee’s starter didn’t get out of the first (though I thought it was a quick hook), and it didn’t matter as TAMU put 7 runs up in the first three innings to cruise to an easy win.
  • Game 2: A close game was opened up with two late homers from Tenn to force the tiebreaker.
  • Game 3: Tennessee’s starter Zander Sechrist shut down TAMU and the game 2 winner Aaron Combs came back on zero days rest after throwing 60+ pitchers to almost give away the game.

Your 2024 College World Series Champion: Tennessee, the first #1 seed to win it in 20+ years.

Quick recap of top draft prospect CWS finals performance:

  • TAMU’s Braden Montgomery, injured in the regional, is falling on draft boards and could get to the Nats at #10.
  • Christian Moore, 2B, Tennessee: 0-5 in the 1st game, 1-3 in the 2nd game and was pulled (not often you see your 1st round prospect replaced), 1-5 in the 3rd. Not a good final.
  • Billy Amick, 3B, Tennessee: 1-3 with 2 BB in the 1st game, 0-5 with a sombrero in the 2nd, 1-4 in the 3rd. Also not a good final.

Here’s some links to past years of CWS coverage here. I’ve been doing this for more than 10 years now! Each link below is the blog post covering that CWS final.

Written by Todd Boss

June 25th, 2024 at 11:05 am

Posted in College/CWS

2024 CWS Coverage – Omaha Group Play and Finals preview

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We’re to the final of the 2024 CWS tournament; here’s a recap of group play in Omaha.

Resources/links I use heavily during CWS time:

In the Top Bracket ( #1 Tennessee, #8 Florida State, #12 Virginia, #4 UNC )

  • In the opening games, UNC tied the game in the 7th and walked-it off on star Vance Honeycutt‘s bottom of the ninth RBI single to win it 3-2. Tennessee came back to score FOUR in the bottom of the ninth, three of them with two outs, to steal a win from Florida State.
  • In the first elimination game, Florida State cruised past UVA to send the Cavaliers home 2-and-out.
  • In the winner’s bracket game,#1 Tennessee cruised past #4 UNC 6-1 to take control of the group.
  • In the play-in game, Florida State took out UNC to earn a rematch with Tennessee for the title game.
  • In the group final, Tennessee cruised past FSU 7-2 to win the group going away.

Final Group standings: Tennessee, FSU, UNC, UVA

In the Bottom Bracket ( #3 Texas A&M, Florida, #10 NC State, #2 Kentucky)

  • In the opening games, Seeds held as #3 TAMU and #2 Kentucky held serve to move to the winner’s bracket game. Kentucky continued the trend of late-game comebacks so far, getting a HR in 9th to tie it and send it to extras, and then walking off with a homer to win it in the 10th. TAMU got 3 runs early and made it stick against Florida.
  • In the first elimination game, Florida eliminated the one ACC team in the group, getting a 3-run homer from its star Caglianone and making the lead stick.
  • In the winner’s bracket game, TAMU exploded for 5 runs in the sixth to break up a 0-0 game and Kentucky didn’t get a hit until there was 2 outs in the 7th to never challenge.
  • In the play-in game, which was delayed by weather, Florida destroyed #2 Kentucky with 7 in the first and with a final score of 15-4 to get another crack at TAMU in the regional final.
  • In the group final, TAMU blanked Florida 2-0 to win the group going away and advance to the final.

Final Group standings: TAMU, Florida, Kentucky, NC State

Analysis/commentary

Well, you can’t ask for much more than #1 versus #3. Both teams dominated this entire off season, with only an 11-10 blip against Evansville being a loss either team has suffered. The CWS was stocked, and the two best SEC teams have advanced to the final (with all due respect to #2 Kentucky of course).

Projected 1st Rounder Performance:

We’ve been tracking the same crew of players since the opening round; there’s a few 1st rounders who were in Omaha; here’s how they performed (note: TAMU is in Omaha but their projected top 5 pick is out with a broken ankle).

  • Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP Florida: 2-3 with a dbl and a BB in game one. 1-3 with a 3run HR in game two, which he also started but got pulled at 33 pitches in the first. In game 3; 2-2 with 3BBs and a solo homer in Fla’s destruction of KY. Went 2-4 in Florida’s shutout to exit. What a CWS. Caglianone probably convinced the entire MLB world how good his bat is and how unreliable he is on the mound for the final time
  • Cam Smith, 3B, Florida State: 1-3 with 3BB in the opener. 1-3 with a dbl in game 2. 0-5 in game 3. 0-4 in Game four. A dud of a CWS.
  • James Tibbs, OF, Florida State: 1-6 with 4 Ks (ouch) in the opener. 0-2 with 2 BB in game 2. 1-4 with 2BB in game 3. Just 1-4 in the final. After a fantastic super regional, he no-showed the CWS unfortunately.
  • Vance Honeycutt, CF, North Carolina: Just 1-5 in the opener but that one hit won the game in the bottom of the 9th. Went 1-3 with another HR in game 2. 3-5 with a third straight HR in the last. Honeycutt certainly left scouts with a heck of an impression and probably made himself some last minute money by pushing his draft stock into the mid 1st round.
  • Christian Moore, 2B, Tennessee: 5-6 and hitting for the cycle in the opener (!!), 1-4 in game 2. 2-4 with 2 runs in the gruop final. Solid CWS
  • Billy Amick, 3B, Tennessee: 2-4 in the opener. 0-3 in game 2. 2-5 with 2R in the group final. 4-12 for the CWS group stage but with little in the way of power.

CWS Preview and Prediction:

I think i like #1 Tennessee to enter as #1 and win as #1. Normally i focus on pitching matchups, but neither Tennessee or TAMU really is driven by pitching. TAMU’s workmanlike advancing without their best player is impressive for sure, but will probably be the difference maker.

Written by Todd Boss

June 20th, 2024 at 12:34 pm

Posted in College/CWS

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