College World Series Preview
OMAHA, Nebraska (PSF) - After two rounds of the NCAA tournament, eight teams remain standing. There are plenty of exciting teams in the field. The five national seeds that made it are Wake Forest, Florida, LSU, UVA, and Stanford. They are joined by one of, if not the hottest team in the country the TCU Horned Frogs. Rounding out the field is mid-major powerhouse Oral Roberts and a third SEC team in Tennessee. The first-round matchups are great too. We get to see two of the hottest teams in the country square off to start the College World Series (CWS) in TCU and Oral Roberts. Following that, Virginia, one of the best offenses in the country plays the #2 Florida Gators under the lights. On Saturday the top seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons battle the Stanford Cardinal. The last first-round matchup is an SEC clash between LSU and Tennessee. I’ll be previewing these matchups below as well as picking my CWS winner and runner-up from this exciting group of eight.
Photo Credit: Collinulness
TCU vs. Oral Roberts:
At one point in this season, TCU was 24-20. They have completely turned it around by going 18-2 over their last 20 games and winning the Big 12 conference tournament. Currently they are on an 11-game winning streak after running through the Fayetteville regional and dispatching of #14 Indiana State in the super regionals. Brayden Taylor is the name to know on this TCU roster and should end up being a first-round pick in July. However, this is a well-rounded team that pitched extremely well in the super regionals and got a big performance at the plate from Cole Fontenelle. They are also aggressive on the bases and ranked sixth in the nation in stolen bases.
It has been 11 years since a four seed made it to the CWS. After dropping the first game of their super regional versus Oregon and breaking a 21-game win streak, Oral Roberts rebounded by stealing the last two games in Eugene. Their offense has been very good since the start of the tournament, and they have the Summit League pitcher of the year and an All-American in Cade Denton lurking in the bullpen with 1.85 earned run average this season.
Virginia vs. Florida:
In the last 15 years, UVA has been to six CWS under Brian O’Connor. They got through their regional quickly before running into a little trouble versus Duke in game one of the super regionals. Big offensive performances allowed them to bounce back and win games two and three by ten runs each. This lineup is stacked from top to bottom, but it seems like everyone is overlooking their pitching staff who got amazing starts from Connelly Early, Nick Parker, and Brian Edgington against Duke in the super regionals. UVA ranks fourth in the nation in earned run average at 3.77.
On the other side, the Florida Gators are loaded with talent as well. They had to battle back in their own regional after dropping the second game to Texas Tech and were able to beat South Carolina twice after getting swept earlier in the year. On offense they are led by projected top five draft pick Wyatt Langford as well as NCAA home run leader Jac Caglianone. Caglianone is also one of the Gator’s starting pitchers and rounds out a talented rotation including Hurston Waldrep and Brandon Sproat.
Photo Credit: Aaron Fitt
Wake Forest vs. Stanford:
Wake Forest is back in the CWS for the first time since 1955 when they won the tournament. They have yet to lose this postseason and have looked every part of the #1 seed. They capped off their run to the CWS by closing out Alabama with nine home runs in their super regional matchup. They have a stellar rotation led by Rhett Lowder and offensively they are led by the all-time ACC home run leader in Brock Wilken. Both should here their names called in the first-round of the MLB draft next month.
Stanford has not made it easy on themselves this postseason. They had to win three in a row to get out of their own regional. Then in the super regionals, they blew a lead in game one before winning game two and using a walk-off to win game three. Quinn Matthews has given Stanford everything he has so far, we’ll see how much gas he has left in the tank after a 156-pitch outing versus Texas in the super regionals. On offense, two names that stand out are projected first-round pick Tommy Troy and Pac-12 freshman of the year Malcolm Moore.
LSU vs. Tennessee:
In the super regionals, LSU had zero problems with SEC foe Kentucky. They look to continue this success versus Tennessee in the opening round of the CWS. Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews have lived up to the hype all year long and seem poised to go one and two in the upcoming MLB draft. This is one of if not the most talented team in the field, we’ll see if they can get the job done in Omaha.
Tennessee will look to avenge an early season series loss to the Tigers. They were able to steal one win in Baton Rouge. Now, we will see if the Volunteers can get another huge win versus LSU to start off their CWS run. They have a very well-balanced lineup. Five players have double digit home runs and nobody in their starting lineup has a batting average below .270. On the mound they have plenty of talent as well with Chase Dollander, Chase Burns, Drew Beam, and Andrew Lindsey. They are more than capable of making a deep run in this CWS.
For the first round matchups, I am going with TCU over Oral Roberts, UVA over Florida, Stanford to surprise Wake Forest, and lastly LSU to beat Tennessee. I like Stanford to get out of their side of the bracket, so I’ll take them as my runner-up. With that being said, my pick to win the 2023 College World Series is the Virginia Cavaliers and I suspect it will take all three games for whoever ultimately wins.
