The Road to Omaha: 2014 CWS
The field of 8 is set in Omaha for the 2014 College World Series. This years field features three teams from the state of Texas, all three from the Big 12. The SEC has two participants while no other conference has more than one.
Kennesaw St came into the Super Regional at Louisville as one of the hottest teams in the country. They played their Regional at Florida St and beat Alabama twice. Since the Louisville Cardinals were the higher Regional seed they got to host the Super Regional.
The first game last Friday saw the Cardinals strand nine base runners in the first seven innings as Kennesaw St held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the eighth. Against the relief pitchers the Cardinals were finally able to get the key hits with runners on and plated three runs in the inning sparked by a perfect suicide squeez. The Cards closer Nick Burdi came on in the ninth and closed out the game giving the Cards a 1-0 lead in the best of three series.
Game two at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville had Kennesaw St playing as the home team on Saturday evening. They jumped ahead 1-0 in the first as the two teams exchanged leads in the first three innings. The Cardinals regained the lead in the top of the 5th to take a 5-4 advantage. Needing just one more win to make it back to Omaha the Cards added two more insurance runs in the 8th and claimed the 7-4 victory.
This is the Cardinals third CWS and their second straight. Louisville is the only team from the 2013 CWS to make it back to Omaha this year. Closer Burdi also became the Cards highest basball draft pick this week as he was selected in the second round by the Minnesota Twins. Minnesota seems to be becoming a home away from home for a lot of Cardinals lately.
The eight teams in Omaha are broken down into two groups with each group of four playing a double elimination round. The two group winners meet in a best of three series. The games start this Saturday and the CWS runs through game three of the final round on June 25 if necessary. All games will be on one of the ESPN network channels (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU).
The first games on Saturday will have UC Irvine (40-23) vs Texas (43-19) at 3. Louisville (50-15) will play Vanderbilt (46-19) at 8. Louisville upset Vanderbilt in the Super Regional at Vandy last year to claim their CWS spot.
Virginia (49-14) defeated Maryland in their Super Regional in three games. Virginia came into the post season as one of the eight national seeds. They will play on Sunday vs Ole Miss (46-19) at 8. The first game on Sunday will have Texas Tech (45-19) taking on conference foe TCU (47-18) at 3.
Lets all pull for a Louisville and Virginia championship!
The Confidential 