NCAA baseball tournament winners and losers: College World Series full of surprises
NCAA baseball tournament winners and losers: College World Series full of surprises
One thing is certain as the College World Series advances to Omaha, Nebraska: There will be a new national champion in 2025.
Defending winner Tennessee was ejected in super regional play by Arkansas, which swept the Volunteers in their best-of-three series. The Razorbacks join LSU to make the SEC the only league with multiple schools in the eight-team field.
Instead, the World Series features an eclectic makeup of national programs representing six conferences along with one independent, Oregon State. There's even a Cinderella story in Murray State, which beat Duke 5-4 in Monday's elimination game to continues its magical run through the tournament.
For a few teams, this year's College World Series marks a long-awaited return to Omaha. That includes the Beavers, who hadn't reached this point since 2018, and UCLA, which hadn't advanced to the final eight since winning the 2013 national championship.
With no obvious favorite heading into the weekend – on paper, the Razorbacks and LSU are probably the teams to beat – this looks to be a wide-open CWS that could end with any one of the teams celebrating on Charles Schwab Field.
The double-elimination World Series format will conclude with the top two teams playing a best-of-three championship series. The initial matchups will be Arizona against Coastal Carolina, Louisville against Oregon State, UCLA against Murray State and Arkansas against LSU.
Before moving on to Omaha, let's look back at the biggest winners and losers from the super regionals:
Winners
Murray State
The Racers will make the program's College World Series debut after winning two in a row against the Blue Devils, rolling to a 19-9 win on Sunday and then winning 5-4 in Monday's decider. The loss continues Duke's World Series drought, which dates to 1961. Murray State simply wasn't expected to get here: Underdogs in the Oxford regional against Mississippi, the Racers beat the Rebels 12-11 to reach the program's first super regional and then rallied out of another hole to become just the fourth regional No. 4 seed to reach Omaha.
Coastal Carolina
The Chanticleers will make the second World Series appearance in program history after sweeping Auburn out of the tournament, winning 7-6 in the first game and 4-1 in the second. In the opener, Coastal coughed up a 6-1 lead but went back ahead in the top of the 10th inning on a solo homer from junior catcher Caden Bodine, one of the top backstops in the country. Tied 1-1 in the seventh inning in the second matchup, the Chanticleers got an RBI single from Walker Mitchell to take the lead and then scored another pair on a fielding error and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. Keep an eye on these guys: CCU has now won 23 games in a row. The last time Coastal was here it won the whole thing in 2016.
Arizona
Reaching this point is a surprisingly rare achievement for one of the nation's more notable programs. Beating North Carolina in Chapel Hill sends Arizona to the College World Series for the 19th time but the programs hasn't won a title since 2012. And this year's team was not expected to advance this far after scuffling through the end of the regular season, dropping five of six in May against some middling competition, including two of three in a series against Utah, the last-place team in the Big 12. But Arizona is now 8-1 in postseason play after capturing the Big 12 tournament, sweeping through the regional hosted by Oregon and taking two of three against the Tar Heels.
Variety
There are some heavyweights in the field: LSU won the seventh championship in program history in 2023; Oregon State has won three, most recently in 2018; Coastal won in 2016; UCLA won in 2013; and Arizona has won four times. Arkansas is still seeking its elusive first title after reaching the finals twice, in 1979 and 2018. But none of the teams in Omaha made the World Series last year, bringing a fresh new feel to college baseball's biggest stage.
Losers
The ACC
Let's start with the good news: Louisville outlasted Miami in three games to make the sixth cws in program history. But the ACC had another two teams join Duke in losing in super regional play. North Carolina walloped Arizona 18-2 in the opener of this past weekend's set in Chapel Hill but then dropped back-to-back games for the first time since March. Florida State also pushed Oregon State to the distance but dropped the opener 5-4 in extra innings and then fell behind 13-3 in the deciding matchup before fighting back to lose 14-10.
North Carolina
The second loss to the Wildcats was absolutely brutal. UNC led 3-1 heading into the eighth inning thanks to a three-run homer from senior Jackson Van De Brake only to give the game away with a pair of errors on the infield. The first, on a grounder booted by Van De Brake, cost the Tar Heels a possible double play. UNC then swapped out starter Ryan Lynch for freshman Walker McDuffie only to commit a throwing error on Arizona's bunt attempt to move runners over, allowing a run to score. Another pitching change to Aidan Haugh, working on back-to-back days for the first time this year, resulted in a two-run single that gave Arizona the lead and eventually the College World Series berth.
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