How This Works: Breaking Down UNC’s Path Through the College World Series

With UNC set to begin its road through the College World Series in Omaha on Saturday afternoon, this guide will help break down what the Tar Heels are up against on the field–while also explaining the tournament’s confusing setup.

Eight teams will compete for college baseball’s biggest prize over the next couple weeks, with those teams split into two brackets of four.

From there, games will be played under a double-elimination format until one team from each bracket is left standing. The winners of each bracket will then meet in a best two-out-of-three series for all the marbles, with losses from the previous round being erased.

If you’d like to view the entire tournament schedule without all the fluff, click here.

UNC is the No. 6 overall seed, having posted a 43-18 record and claimed both the ACC Coastal Division crown and outright ACC regular season title. The Tar Heels also arrive in Omaha with a 5-0 record in this year’s NCAA Tournament, following a 2-0 series victory over Stetson in the Chapel Hill Super Regional.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the other schools on UNC’s side of the bracket.

Oregon State Beavers (49-10-1, No. 3 Overall Seed)

The Beavers, who were the Pac-12 runner-up this season, represent a familiar foe for the Tar Heels in the College World Series–having defeated UNC in the finals in both 2006 and 2007.

Oregon State is making its second consecutive trip to Omaha, and could be the most dangerous team in the field based on its collective body of work.

Not since early April has head coach Pat Casey’s team lost a series, and the Beavers have outscored their opponents 49-8 while winning all five NCAA Tournament games so far.

Six All-Americans and three first round MLB Draft picks fill out a roster which has compiled an incredible 43-2 record in 2018 when allowing less than five runs.

On top of that, nine Beavers who see significant playing time are hitting at least .300–and the overall team batting average of .320 ranks first among all teams in the field.

UNC is matched up against Oregon State for Saturday’s College World Series opener, which is set to begin at 3 p.m.

Washington Huskies (35-24, unseeded)

This marks the first time Washington has ever qualified for the College World Series, following an inspired NCAA Tournament run.

The Huskies finished third in the Pac-12 in 2018, largely behind the power bat of 6-foot-6-inch, 255-pound behemoth Joe Wainhouse–who’s slugged a team-high 19 home runs in 2018.

Upsets over Coastal Carolina and Cal State Fullerton helped Washington come out on top in the regional and super regional rounds.

Although injuries forced the Huskies into using a wide variety of different position players this year, the team’s pitching staff has been its steadying force.

Washington pitchers led the Pac-12 in 2018 in terms of fewest walks, hit batters and wild pitches–which goes a long way preventing unnecessary runs in the college game.

The Huskies will take on Mississippi State in its first game of the College World Series on Saturday at 7 p.m. The winner will then face the winner between UNC and Oregon State–while the two losing teams of those games will face each other as well.

Mississippi State Bulldogs (37-27, unseeded)

Like UNC, Mississippi State is making its first appearance in Omaha since 2013. Fifth-place finishers in the SEC West, the Bulldogs punched their ticket to the big show after winning five potential elimination games.

Dramatic wins over No. 7 overall seed Florida State in the regional round and over a very talented Vanderbilt team in the super regionals have shown this is a team that can never be counted out.

Elijah MacNamee has five home runs already during the NCAA Tournament, including a pair of walk-off winners–one that eliminated Florida State and another that evened up the Nashville Super Regional at one game apiece.

After head coach Andy Cannizaro resigned following an 0-3 start to the year, this team has rallied around longtime assistant Gary Henderson on its march to Omaha.

Perhaps the most impressive statistic about the Bulldogs, though, is their 10-1 record in 2018 against teams ranked in the top five nationally.

The Other Side of the Bracket

Arkansas Razorbacks (44-18, No. 5 Overall Seed)

Coming off a first-place tie atop the SEC West in the regular season, the sweet-swinging Razorbacks have piled up wins against Oral Roberts, Southern Miss, Dallas Baptist and South Carolina in order to advance to this point.

Second baseman Carson Shaddy came up with a pair of clutch hits–a three-run double in Game One and an early home run in Game Three–in the super regional against South Carolina to help Arkansas prevail in a tight three-game series.

Shaddy has 13 home runs this season, and is one of six players in the Razorback lineup with at least eight home runs in 2018.

As a team, Arkansas is hitting .301, while the team’s ace on the mound–Blaine Knight–has posted a 12-0 record with a 2.84 ERA.

First up for the Razorbacks in Omaha is a game against Texas on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Texas Longhorns (41-21, unseeded)

Led by Kody Clemens, the son of legendary MLB pitcher Roger Clemens, the Longhorns are making their 36th appearance in the College World Series–which is more than any other program in the history of the event.

Clemens is hitting .356 this season with 24 home runs and 72 RBIs, using his incredible performances to propel Texas to the Big 12 championship and through the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

In the Longhorns’ super regional against Tennessee Tech, Clemens went 5-for-8 at the plate with three home runs and four RBIs. Over the course of the tournament to this point, he’s hitting .500 and has hit five homers with 11 RBIs total.

No other Texas batter is hitting above .300, but the Longhorns do boast a trio of relievers out of the bullpen with ERA’s of 2.01 or lower.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (40-17, unseeded)

While it’s certainly possible that folks in Chapel Hill see the Red Raiders as the team that defeated Duke in the super regional round–thus keeping the Blue Devils from joining the Tar Heels in Omaha–this is also a squad capable of making plenty of noise.

It’s the third trip to the College World Series in the last five years for head coach Tim Tadlock’s team, which started off the season 14-0 and spent plenty of time ranked among the top five during the year.

Freshman Gabe Holt played a part in nine of the Red Raiders’ 14 runs in the three-game super regional against Duke, while also being one of six full-time players on the roster batting above .300.

A total of five Texas Tech hitters have compiled at least 10 home runs in 2018, while the team batting average of .311 ranks among the top 10 teams nationally.

Texas Tech begins its run through the College World Series on Sunday when it faces defending national champion Florida at 6 p.m.

Florida Gators (47-19, No. 1 Overall Seed)

The defending national champions represent the toughest challenge UNC could potentially face should it advance through its own bracket into the College World Series finals.

Florida won the SEC regular season crown, while also sweeping the league’s postseason individual awards. Infielder Jonathan India was both the fifth pick of the MLB Draft and the SEC Player of the Year, while pitcher Brady Singer went 18th in the draft and earned the league’s Pitcher of the Year honor.

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan completed the sweep when he was named the SEC Coach of the Year.

The Gators–who have a UNC connection as pitcher Cole Maye is the brother of Tar Heel basketball star Luke Maye–started the year with a red-hot 28-5 record. After that, though, they limped to a 9-9 finish down the stretch before waking back up in the NCAA Tournament.

Power hitting has been the game for Florida this year, with the team’s 96 home runs to this point dwarfing the total of 53 hit by last year’s national championship squad.

 

 

 

Cover Photo via Smith Cameron Photography