Grab a chair. It’s time for The Greatest Show on Dirt.
The field is set for the 2025 College World Series, and for the first time in more than half a decade variety is the theme. In a sport, baseball, that favors Cinderella more so than most others, the Southeastern Conference has bullied the rest of the country and turned Omaha into Hoover North for five years.
That’s not the case this year.
What was the PAC 12 has three representatives—Oregon State, Arizona and UCLA. All three are packing compelling storylines with them for the Midwest.
Oregon State was left behind by its conference brethren last year. The Beavers have not been to Omaha since legendary and two-time national champion Pat Casey retired in 2019. They cobbled a schedule together and hit the road a ton to overcome its newly adverse conditions in the world of college baseball. The Beavers still have some star power with freshman fieballer Dax Whitney, all-time home run leader Gavin Turley and projected top 10 pick Aria Arquette.
John Savage’s last trip to the College World Series with UCLA came 12 years ago. His Bruins won it all in 2013 but have only won one regional since. These Bruins have only lost two series all year and held UTSA to two total runs in 18 innings in the super regional.
Arizona has been to Omaha twice in the last decade. The coach to engineer those trips will be there this year, but he’ll be in purple and gold. The Wildcats were on the doorstep of a title in 2016 with the tying run on third base as their season ended at the hands of Coastal Carolina, the most improbable champions since Fresno State in 2008. Who does Arizona draw in game one? Coastal Carolina.
Speaking of the Chanticleers, this is no Cinderella. Coastal Carolina has won four regionals in the last 17 years and has a more recent national title than everyone in the field except LSU and Oregon State. Gary Gilmore coached the title team and stepped away last summer, and Kevin Schnall has taken the reins and kept the wagon moving. This club has won 53 games to lead the country and swept No. 4 national seed Auburn right out of Plainsmen Park over the weekend to win their 22nd and 23rd games in a row. Coastal’s last loss came on April 22.
Want a Cinderella? Enter Murray State.
The Racers, who hit a pedestrian .279 as a team entering NCAA Tournament play, have scored 70 runs in seven games to eliminate No. 10 national seed Ole Miss and Duke on their own fields.
Speaking of home fields, Racer head coach Dan Skirka literally mows his. Johnny Reagan Field was built in 1987 in Murray, Kent. Lights weren’t installed until 2014. Neither was a grandstand. And it’s anything but “grand”. Capacity is 800, and this year the Racers drew 120 on Opening Day.
There will be more peanut venders in Charles Schwab Field than that for the Racers’ game on Saturday.
Omaha is more familiar to Dan McDonnell and Louisville, but it’s been a while. The Cardinals went four times in seven years between 2013 and 2019, but those four trips produced a 3-8 record. McDonnell is in his 19th season with the Cardinals. He’s coached 41 All-Americans and 105 MLB Draft picks. He’s never won a title.
Those marks would be the most impressive in the field if it weren’t for Dave Van Horn making his eighth trip to the College World Series as the Head Hog in Fayetteville. Van Horn is this generation’s Mike Martin who reached Omaha 17 times and never hoisted the hardware at the end.
Van Horn’s best chance came in 2018 when a two-out, ninth inning pop up fell between three Arkansas defenders in foul territory. A catch would have clinched the title. Three pitches later a two-strike RBI single knotted the game, and a two-run home run followed to win it for Oregon State. Deflated beyond words, Arkansas didn’t score in the decisive game three the next day, and Oregon State won the title.
Only two top eight seeds stand in Van Horn’s way in 2025. Those same Oregon State Beavers on the other side of the bracket, and conference rival LSU who the Hogs will see Saturday night.
Jay Johnson earned his elusive national title in 2023, avenging that 2016 heartbreaker while at Arizona.
The Tigers are chasing some history. That’s generally what LSU does in June. Only Vanderbilt has won multiple titles at Charles Schwab Field. LSU, like UCLA and Coastal Carolina, could join the Commodores while creating some separation for second most national championships in the sport. Currently LSU has seven, one more than third place Texas. Southern Cal still leads the way with 12 thanks to Rod Dedeaux’s 11, the last coming in 1978.
LSU and Arkansas will draw the brightest lights on Saturday night, but the truth is that the field is wide open and diverse.
That’s a wonderful thing.
In the last four finals, current SEC programs have occupied all eight slots. That’s an impossibility this year as no SEC teams reside on one side of the bracket.
The star power for LSU’s last trip was impressive. In less than two years, Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, Jac Caglianone, Rhett Lowder, Nick Kurtz and Chase Dollander have already reached the big leagues from that field.
What this field may lack in top 15 picks, it makes up for in storylines and unpredictability. It’s an 11-day sprint.
The Jell-O Shot board is wiped clean. The beach balls will be bouncing. Eight programs are left.
We’re back home in Omaha.
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