It’s down to College Baseball’s Final Four…
All four remaining teams were selected to the tournament as national seeds– Oregon State #1 / Florida #3 / LSU #4 / TCU #6
In fact, heading into Friday’s semi-finals the higher seed (favorite) has won EVERY game in this year’s College World Series. Four further observations…
- Oregon State and Florida are in the driver’s seat of their respective brackets. LSU must hand the Beavers half as many losses as the club has experienced all season in order to reach the finals, while TCU will also need to beat Florida on back to back days in order to punch a ticket to the National Championship Series.
- Both semi-final contests are rematches of earlier games in the tournament. Florida shutout TCU in both clubs’ College World Series opener, while Oregon State handled LSU to the tune of a 13-1 thrashing on Monday night.
- The home run ball is king this season. Much of this year’s offense at the College World Series has come via the long ball. By now fans are well aware that new high water marks have been set in home runs (in the new bat era) for both the tournament as a whole and the activities at Omaha’s TD Ameritrade Park. The 2017 edition of the College World Series has also seen the park’s first Grand Slam and back to back home runs. Not to mention memorable home runs by National Player of the Year Brendan McKay and hometown product Ryan Merrill have also dotted the landscape. What milestone is next?
- Attendance and ratings are up in a major way, with ESPN perhaps on pace to set new records for viewership. A great deal of credit belongs to the makeup of the field, easily the largest collection of blue bloods the tournament has seen in some time. The college game is in an amazing place.
A handful of notes about the symmetry of the semi-final matchups…
-One side of the bracket boasts former champions, LSU (6) vs Oregon State (2); the other side has a pair of title hungry programs (Florida, TCU). Fans are guaranteed an engaging “have” versus “have not” finals battle.
-The Beavers remain the favorite. Oregon State last won the title ten years ago. They are looking to celebrate the tenth anniversary of back to back championship with a return to the title series.
-Though six-time champions, LSU, like Oregon State, is in search of its initial title in this ballpark. The Tigers last won the championship in 2009, two seasons before the move downtown.
-TCU has reached Omaha four straight years (longest active streak) and the semi-finals for a second straight season. It’s a bit of role reversal for the Frogs. They were beaten twice by Coastal Carolina on the way to the Chanticleers crown last year. They now need to accomplish the same feat this time around versus the Gators.
-Florida and TCU have experienced more success than anyone in the country since Omaha’s new ballpark opened in 2011 in terms of getting here and staying here, but both are still in search of their respective program’s first national titles.
-TCU has never played in the National Championship Series. Florida last did so in 2011, losing to SEC rival South Carolina.
-Speaking of the SEC, there exists the potential for another All-SEC Championship Series showdown. The Southeastern Conference is the only conference with two clubs still alive (Florida and LSU).
-If two games are played on Saturday they will begin at 3PM & 8PM ET. If only one game is required it will start at 8PM. Oregon State and Florida will be the designated home teams for Friday with those roles reversing on Saturday if necessary.