The city of Omaha will become the center of the baseball world on Friday. No, there won’t be major league games being played—it’s time for the Men’s College World Series to begin at its annual home.
This year’s eight-team field is unique. All eight of the teams advancing to the championship round of the bracket are from either the Southeastern Conference (SEC) or the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The teams will play in a double-elimination series of games, with the first rounds coming Friday and Saturday of this week.
The schedule begins at 2 p.m. ET on June 14 when North Carolina plays Virginia, followed by Tennessee against Florida State at 7 p.m. ET. Saturday’s action will see Kentucky against North Carolina State at 2 p.m. ET, followed by Texas A&M against Florida at 7 p.m. ET. All games will air on ESPN.
If those teams sound like a college basketball Elite Eight, you aren’t crazy. Most of these programs have advanced further on the hardwood historically than they have on the diamond, which should make for an electric atmosphere at Charles Schwab Stadium.
The No. 1 overall seed is the University of Tennessee (46-10), who defeated Evansville in the Knoxville Super Regional to advance to Omaha. The Volunteers come in loaded with talent, which you might assume with them holding the top ranking in the country. But they needed three games to send Evansville home for the summer.
Tennessee features six of MLB.com’s top 200 eligible prospects for the 2024 MLB Entry Draft: Christian Moore, Billy Amick Jr., Drew Beam, Blake Burke, Kavares Tears, and Dylan Dreiling. Moore, a junior infielder, arrives in Omaha ranked fourth in the nation with 32 home runs.
The No. 2 overall seed is Kentucky (39-12), who advanced out of the Lexington Super Regional with wins in both games against Oregon State. The Wildcats boast three players ranked among the top 200 prospects for this summer’s MLB entry draft in Ryan Waldschmidt, Travis Smith, and Émilien Pitre.
The No. 4 overall seed is also from the SEC. Texas A&M (44-11) defeated Oregon in the Bryan-College Station Super Regional with two dominant victories; they outscored the Ducks 25-16 in the two games. The Aggies bring three of the top 200 draft-eligible prospects to Omaha in Braden Montgomery, Ryan Prager, and Christopher Cortez. Unfortunately, Montgomery won’t be able to play after breaking his right ankle in game one of the Super Regional. Jace Laviolette leads the Aggies with 28 home runs.
The North Carolina Tar Heels (41-12) come to Omaha as the No. 7 seed. They defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Chapel Hill Super Regional, needing only two games. They have two players—Vance Honeycutt IV and Casey Cook—ranked among MLB.com’s top 200 draft-eligible prospects.
The Florida State Seminoles (39-14) arrive in Omaha as the No. 10 seed after defeating UConn in two dramatic games in their Tallahassee Super Regional. After scoring 24 runs in the first game, FSU needed 12 innings to clinch their spot in the College World Series. Their roster includes two of the top 200 draft-eligible prospects for this summer in Cam Smith and James Tibbs III. Tibbs leads the Seminoles with 28 home runs.
The third team from the ACC is the North Carolina State Wolfpack (32-19), who are the No. 12 seed in the country. They upset Georgia in the Athens Super Regional with a dramatic win in the third and deciding game after two blowouts. The Wolfpack have just one top 200 draft prospect in Jacob Cozart. Senior infielder Alec Makarewicz leads NC State with 22 home runs.
Virginia (40-14) is the fourth team from the ACC in the field and the No. 16 overall seed. They defeated Kansas State in the Charlottesville Super Regional. UVA most recently won a national championship in 2015. The Cavaliers are led by Harrison Didawick’s 22 home runs. Virginia boasts four of the top 200 draft-eligible prospects in Didawick, Griff O'Ferrall, Ethan Anderson, and Casey Saucke II.
The eighth and final team in the field is the fourth from the SEC. The only unranked team to advance to this year’s College World Series is the Florida Gators (31-28), and they have probably the biggest name-brand prospect in the field. Jac Caglianone is one of the Gators’ top pitchers. He also arrives in Omaha ranked second in the nation with 33 home runs. He hits mammoth home runs and can also get it done on the mound. “Cags” was the starting pitcher for Florida in the clinching game against No. 3 seed Clemson in the Clemson Super Regional and also hit a home run over the batter’s eye in center field.
Florida has three of the top 200 draft-eligible prospects: Caglianone, Colby Shelton, and Brandon Neely. The Gators are the most recent team in the remaining field to win a national championship (2017).
