SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Overall records, brackets mean very little when the NCAA Division I National College Baseball World Series rolls in Friday and Saturday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
First take a glance at the overall records. No. 1 Wake Forest leads the way at 52-10, and who’s second, unranked Oral Roberts at 51-12, and both lead off the 2 p.m.games the first two days.
And both deserve the headlines, for it will be the first CWS for the Deamon Deacons since 1955, and the Golden Eagles had to make a trip from Tulsa, Okla., to Eugene, Ore., to make the prestigious field.
Quickly Wake Forest had to erase doubts, for after edging Alabama, 5-4, in Game 1 of the best-of-three double elimination series, it shellacked the Crimson Tide, 22-5, and now meets up with No. 8 Stanford, which is 42-18, and got past ill-fated Texas, 7-6, in the deciding Game 3 when no Longhorn could catch a normal fly ball to right-center field in the ninth inning.
So that’s Wake versus the lucked-out Cardinal in the 2 p.m. Fridayopener. In Game 2 ay 7, it’s No. 3 Louisiana State at 48-15, against unranked Tennessee at 42-20.
The remaining contest is the 7 p.m. Friday closer matching the No. 2 Gators (50-15) with the No. 4 Cavaliers (50-13).
So however the brackets are laded out, it appears more like they were chosen out of a cap — one with two unranked and No. 2 meeting No. 4, and the other with No. 1 facing No. 8 and No. 3 paired with an unranked.
On Monday, six of the eight in the field of the 76th annual World Series (73rd in Omaha), landed prior to the brackets being assembled, and the other two spots were awaited.
That was when the Texas at Stanford and Tennessee at Southern Mississippi games were contested. The Longhorns had won Game 1, the Cardinal Game 2, and then came Game 3 when the home side raced out of the dugout to celebrate a fly ball that Texas failed to touch with one on and two out.
At Hattiesburg, the Volunteers lost Game 1 to Southern Miss, 6-4, claimed Game 2, 8-3, and then won the decider in a 5-0 shutout.
The two Monday games forced a delay in the start of this World Series from Thursday to Friday. Of those in the field, the Deamon Deacons are 0-2, not only losing in 1955, but also in 1949.
But LSU did win it in 2010, Virginia in 2007, and Florida in 2003, 1999 and 1997. That’s it, none of the others have hoisted the championship trophy.
TCU is one of the red-hot teams after winning 19 of its last 21 starts, but not ranked. Oral Roberts, about the nearest to Omaha of those in this field, is also soaring-hot with wins in its last 24 outings, but not ranked.
The Gators and Cavaliers figures to be the closest, but don’t bet on it, for once these teams take the field, it becomes a guessing game. Heck, LSU is ranked, Tennessee is not, but it’s already tough to figure this one out.
Wake Forest and Stanford? You’ve got to like the fired-up spirit of both. Horned Frogs and Golden Eagles, two programs playing their best ball at just the right level.
Tickets for the event are always tough to come by. They go fast despite no entries from Nebraska, for Omaha is a flashy town with lots to see and the biggest stage for the Division I schools.
