In 2024, the SEC and ACC had four teams apiece in the CWS and all the talk was that college baseball would forevermore be dominated by the schools in those conferences that invest the most in the sport in scholarships, NIL and, starting soon, direct payments to players.
Someone forgot to tell that to Murray State and Coastal Carolina.
The CWS opens Friday with the Sun Belt Conference’s Coastal Carolina (53-11) playing the Big 12’s Arizona (44-19) in a rematch of the 2016 finals won by the Chanticleers. No. 8 national seed Oregon State (47-14-1), an independent until the Pac-12 ramps up again in 2026-27, meets the ACC’s Louisville (40-22) in the second game.
Saturday’s games match the Big Ten’s UCLA (47-16) against Missouri Valley Conference upstart Murray State (44-15) and an all-SEC battle between No. 3 Arkansas (48-13) and LSU (48-15).
Coastal Carolina's 23-game win streak is the longest in history by a team entering a CWS.
Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said he thought at least one more ACC team would join his in Omaha, but he can’t help but be happy for Murray State to make it considering he played second base on the Citadel’s 1990 CWS team. It was his greatest baseball experience, he said, and as far as he’s concerned the more players who can experience the CWS, the better.
The upstart Racers toppled some major baseball programs to punch their ticket to Omaha in Ole Miss, Georgia Tech and Duke. Their 44 wins this year is a school record.
Four projected first-round picks in the Major League Baseball amateur draft will be playing in Omaha: LSU left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson (1), Oregon State shortstop Aiva Arquette (3), Arizona outfielder Brendan Summerhill (16) and Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy (23).
The CWS is celebrating its 75th anniversary in Omaha, which landed what then was a lightly attended tournament in 1950 partly because city leaders promised to cover any cost overruns.
The CWS blossomed in the 1980s with the start of ESPN’s national coverage and moved from a dilapidated Rosenblatt Stadium to the 24,000-seat Charles Schwab Field in 2011. “Omaha” long has been a rallying cry for teams hoping to play for the national championship.
The ESPN networks will carry the entire tourney through June 23.
(AP Photo Stew Milne)
On the Net:
CWS broadcast schedule
