After one year of being closed and covered with orange detour barrels, the Road to Omaha is back open for business.
The Horns boast the nation’s lowest team ERA was also first-team All-Big 12, and redshirt freshman Pete Hansen is 9-1 with a 1.94 ERA that’s ninth-lowest in the nation.
The job head coach Tony Vitello has done in kick-starting this program in only four seasons has generated a lot of buzz in the college baseball world — a little too much for Vols fans, as his name has been attached to every big-time job opening this season.
He and Jack Leiter are college baseball’s odd couple, but all Omaha eyes will be on them, while all Omaha TV cameras will be pointed at their famous fathers.
Storylines: Arizona was a CWS powerhouse back in the day, and after taking a long back seat to the teams of the Southeast, the Wildcats have once again become Omaha regulars.
It was legendary Mississippi State coach Ron Polk who once said to me, “You give me one slugger, one ace and one closer and I like my chances.” Well, this roster includes SEC Player of the Year Tanner Allen and his .392/10/62 numbers, Will Bednar and his 7-1 record and Golden Spikes finalist Landon Sims and his 4-0 record with 10 saves.
Storylines: The Cardinal used to be an Omaha regular, winning back-to-back titles in 1987 and ’88 and making five appearances in the ’80s, four in the ’90s and five in the first decade of this millennium.
Storylines: Remember all that stuff we told you about, how it’s so hard to believe that Tennessee hasn’t been to Omaha more than it has? Well, multiply that disbelief by five when it comes to NC State.
Storylines: UVa made it back to Omaha for the first time since making back-to-back finals in 2014-15, and the Cavaliers did it the hard way, dropping their opener in both the regional and super regional but fighting their way back, even when COVID protocols forced them to play their super 5½ hours away from home in Columbia, South Carolina.