Norman, Ok June, 17 (The Oklahoma Post) –
Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, will host one of the most prestigious events in college sports this weekend as eight teams will fight to become the national champions and kings of college baseball.
The eight teams battling it out this weekend will be Arkansas, Auburn, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas, Texas A&M, and Stanford.
Oklahoma
The Sooners are looking to make history and become the first D1 program to win the World Series in baseball and softball in the same season. The Softball team won the title last week.
The Sooners (42-22) are making their first appearance in Omaha since 2010 and are one of if not the hottest team in all of college baseball right now.
The Sooners have been a completely different team since John Spikerman returned from injury with a 23-7 record when he is in the lineup.
On May 16, OU played the worst game of their season when they were blown out by Wichita State 18-0.
Since that game, the Sooners have gone 11-3, ran through the Big 12 tournament, won a regional, and won a super-regional to punch their ticket to Omaha.
The Sooners won the Gainesville regional against Florida and the Blacksburg super regional hosted by Virginia Tech.
Oklahoma is led by superstar Peyton Graham and John Spikerman on offense, while Jake Bennett and Trevin Michael lead the charge on the mound.
Arkansas
Like the Sooners, the Razorbacks (43-19) were unseeded going into the postseason and had to win both the regional and super-regional on the road.
Arkansas is one of four teams from the SEC in the field and is making its 11th trip to Omaha.
They got here by winning one of the craziest regionals ever in Stillwater hosted by Oklahoma State, which set NCAA records for most runs (148) and most home runs (41) at a postseason site.
Arkansas then had to travel to Chapel Hill, where they swept ten-seed North Carolina and punched their ticket to the College World Series.
The Hogs are looking to rebound from last year, where they had one of the best teams in the history of college baseball but had a disappointing end to the season when they were upset by sixteen-seed NC State in the Super Regionals.
Arkansas is led by their senior leader and Mr. clutch Jalen Battles. I watched that regional against Oklahoma State, and it was like every time he came up to bat in a clutch situation, he found a way to get on base.
If they want to make a deep run, they will need Battles to be Mr. clutch as they play the two-seed Stanford to start their run.
Auburn
The Tigers (42-20) are the second SEC team in the field and are making their second appearance in three years in Omaha.
Auburn earned the fourteen overall seed in the postseason and got to host their own regional where they hosted Florida State, Southeastern Louisiana, and UCLA.
They won the regional with ease outsourcing their opponents 51-17 in three games.
That locked up a date with Oregon State in the super regional, where they went on the road and took down one of the most dominant college baseball teams of this decade.
The Tigers are led by Sonny DiChiara, one of the country’s best home run hitters, who has become an internet sensation.
The last time Auburn was in the World Series, they lost their first two games and were eliminated immediately. They will look to rebound this year as they take on Ole Miss to start their World Series.
Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish (40-15) are the lone team from the ACC and are the third unseeded team in the field.
Notre Dame got here by going undefeated in the Georgia Southern regional against Texas Tech and Georgia Southern and then pulling off one of if not the biggest upsets in college baseball history in the super regional.
The Irish had to go on the road against Tennessee, who some called the best college baseball team they had ever seen.
Tennessee had only lost seven games all year coming into the series and had MLB draft prospects everywhere, but Notre Dame didn’t blink an eye and pulled off one of the biggest upsets college baseball has ever seen.
The Irish are led by Carter Putz, who leads the team in RBI, and Jack Zyska, who leads the team in home runs. John Bertrand will be Notre Dame’s x-factor as he has been their ace all year with a 2.69 ERA.
Notre Dame will take on Texas in the first round of the College World Series.
Ole Miss
The Rebels (37-22) are the third unseeded team and SEC team in the field for the first time since 2014. It will be the Rebels’ sixth appearance in Omaha.
Ole Miss got here by winning the Miami regional, where they beat Arizona twice and Miami once to secure their spot in the super regionals.
They met the ten-seed Southern Miss in the super regional, where they dominated by a combined score of 15-0.
Tim Elko’s performance will determine how far the Rebels go as he leads the team in home runs, RBIs, and OPS.
The rebels have the worst record of any team in the field but appear to have gotten hot at the right time, and if they can continue that hot streak, they can beat anyone.
Ole Miss will open up play against conference rival Auburn who they took two out of three against earlier in the season.
Texas
The Longhorns (47-20) got the nine seed in the tournament and are the only other Big 12 team in the World Series along with Oklahoma.
This is the Longhorn’s 38th appearance in the College World Series, an NCAA record, and their second in a row.
Texas wants revenge as they were one game away from being in the title game last year but were eliminated by eventual champions Mississippi State.
Texas got to host a regional where they dominated their opponents by a combined score of 26-6.
The super-regional was not as easy when they traveled to East Carolina and lost the first game of the series, but with their backs against the wall and a lot of delays, they pulled through and won the last two games to clinch their spot in Omaha.
Texas will be fueled by the nation’s home run leader and player of the year Ivan Melendez who has thirty-two bombs on the year.
The Longhorns lead the nation in fielding percentage and hits and will open up their tournament against Notre Dame.
Texas A&M
The Aggies (42-18) are the fourth and final team from the SEC in the field and are the number five overall seed.
Texas A&M is one of the hottest teams in the country right now, going 26-7 since April 5. They are the only other team besides Ole Miss to go 5-0 through the regionals and super regionals.
The Aggies took care of Oral Roberts, TCU, and Louisiana in their regional and then took both games from Louisville in the super regional to get to Omaha.
Sophomore Jack Moss leads Texas A&M on offense with a .391 batting average which is good for 23rd in the country, and has twenty more hits than anyone on the team with ninety-nine which puts him in a tie for 6th in the country.
The Aggies are making their first trip to Omaha since 2017 and will play the Oklahoma Sooners in the tournament’s first game.
Stanford
The Cardinals (47-16) are the only team from the Pac-12 remaining and are the highest-ranked team left in the field as the two seed.
Stanford was the hottest team in the country coming into the postseason as they came in on a sixteen-game winning streak.
The road to get here has not been easy, though. The Cardinals dropped their second game in the regional to Texas State and had to come back and beat them twice. They then lost the first game of their super regional to Uconn and had to come back again and win two in a row to clinch their spot in the CWS.
The Cardinals are led by Brock Jones and Carter Graham at the plate, who both have over twenty home runs on the season.
Quinn Mathews is the cardinal ace with a 9-1 record on the year while holding opponents to a .204 batting average.
Stanford will open up play against Arkansas.
The action kicks off today, June 17, as Oklahoma takes on Texas A&M in the opening game at noon central.
For more information on the Men’s College World Series, you can visit the NCAA website.
2022 Men’s College World Series schedule, TV networks, scores
Click or tap on the links below to open live scores in a new window or tab.
All times are Eastern. Times and TV networks are subject to change.
Here is the updated schedule, TV networks and livestream links for the games Friday and Saturday (click or tap on each to be taken to live scoring):
- Oklahoma vs. No. 5 Texas A&M | 2 p.m. ET on Friday | TV: ESPN | Live Stream
- Notre Dame vs. No. 9 Texas | 7 p.m. ET on Friday | TV: ESPN | Live Stream
- Arkansas vs. No. 2 Stanford | 2 p.m. ET on Saturday | TV: ESPN | Live Stream
- Ole Miss vs. No. 14 Auburn | 7 p.m. ET on Saturday | TV: ESPN2 | Live Stream
(Writing by Austin DeSpain; Editing by Robbie Robertson)
Copyright 2022 The Oklahoma Post
