Which NCAA baseball teams could blow up the bracket
The Montgomery Advertiser’s Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record’s Jackson Fuller break down who could wreck the tournament bracket.
OMAMA, NE ― Day 3 of the 2024 College World Series saw Coastal Carolina become the first team to punch its ticket to the semifinals. The Chanticleers rode a strong start from Jacob Morrison to a 6-2 win over Oregon State.
Meanwhile, Louisville stayed alive with an 8-3 win over Arizona in a game that was closer than it seemed, as the Cardinals scored six runs in the eighth inning after facing a 3-2 deficit.
Louisville will face the Beavers in an elimination game June 17 (2 p.m. ET), with the winner advancing to the semifinals and needing to beat Coastal Carolina twice.
Here were the winners and losers from Day 3 at Charles Schwab Field:
WINNERS
Small ball
There were three home runs hit during Day 3 in Omaha: one by Arizona and two for Oregon State. Both of those teams lost.
Louisville, which won the first game, had just one extra-base hit, a double. Coastal Carolina, the winner of the second game, had two doubles. The Chanticleers had two sacrifice bunts; Louisville had one sac and a bunt hit. The Cardinals also stole three bases and took advantage of errors.
Mid-majors
Unlike in basketball, where mid-major powerhouses often make the Final Four or even win titles, it’s become increasingly difficult for mid-majors to do well in the College World Series.
Before Coastal Carolina’s run, the last mid-major to compete in the semifinals in Omaha was also the Chanticleers in 2016, when they won the national title. Before that, the last teams to do it were Fresno State and San Diego in 2008, the former of which won the national title.
Paul Skenes
For a player who is notably playing in MLB currently and whose former team didn’t play, Paul Skenes got some airtime on Day 3. First came the reports that Skenes, the former LSU pitcher and 2023 College World Series Most Outstanding Player, would be attending the Tigers’ winners bracket game on June 16. Then, a graphic on the ESPN broadcast compared Coastal Carolina pitcher Jacob Morrison to Skenes. According to the graphic, those two pitchers had the most starts with six or more innings pitched and one or fewer runs allowed in the last five seasons.
Morrison pitched 7⅔ innings of one-run ball against Oregon State.
LOSERS
Defense
In the pitcher-friendly Charles Schwab Field, the impact of any defensive mistake is magnified. Oregon State and Arizona learned that lesson the hard way.
The Wildcats committed two errors and allowed four unearned runs amid a six-run eighth inning for Louisville. That included a throwing error by the shortstop on a routine play and the pitcher dropping the ball on a rundown at home plate.
The Beavers also allowed four unearned runs thanks to two different errors, one that allowed Caden Bodine to reach to lead off the game and a second when Bodine hit what should’ve been an inning-ending double play in the fourth inning, but the second baseman booted the ball, leading to one run, and another run scored on a wild pitch afterwards.
Hot mics
During the College World Series, umpires are mic’d up. That helps make calls more clear, but several players didn’t realize the mics were on and were audibly heard shouting expletives after at-bats that didn’t go their way.
The (former) Pac-12
The league formerly known as the Pac-12 made waves by getting three teams into Omaha, now in two different conferences and one independent, something that the actual Pac-12 hadn’t done in decades. But one of those teams, Arizona, has already been eliminated, and Oregon State will face elimination after falling to Coastal Carolina. UCLA is in the winner’s bracket, but will be a heavy underdog to LSU.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
