The 2009 College World Series gets underway this weekend at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
Let's take a look at the two matchups that will kick off this year's NCAA Div. 1 baseball championship -- Arkansas vs. Cal State Fullerton and Virginia vs. LSU.
Arkansas vs. Cal State Fullerton
Thirty years ago, these two teams met for the championship at the 1979 College World Series. The Titans beat the Razorbacks 2-1, and Arkansas has one just one CWS game in three appearances since, that coming in 1989.
Dave Van Horn is making his fourth appearance in the College World Series as a head coach. He took Nebraska to Rosenblatt Stadium in 2001 and 2002, and brought the Razorbacks to Omaha in 2004, where they went 0-2.
The Razorbacks got hot at just the right time after stumbling home with eight losses in their last nine regular-season games. Arkansas upset ninth-ranked Florida twice in the SEC tournament, then drilled seventh-seeded Oklahoma twice in the regional at Norman, Okla., beating the Sooners 17-6 and 11-0. In regional and super-regional play, Arkansas is averaging almost 11 runs a game, doing a good chunk of their damage in the middle innings.
It was late-inning heroics that got Arkansas' ticket punched to the big dance. Andrew Darr had four hits in the Razorbacks' 9-8 come-from-behind win over Florida State in the super-regional finale, including a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth. his home run in the seventh ignited a five-run rally that helped the Razorbacks keep things close until the end.
Bo Bigham has had a hot bat for Arkansas, hitting .429 against the Seminoles. Freshman Zack Cox batted .310 in the postseason with four homers and 10 RBIs, and also contributed a 5-1 record with a 3.50 ERA on the mound this season.
Dallas Keuchel is Arkansas' top pitcher, but the Razorbacks' pitching staff is prone to giving up runs in bunches. Their team ERA is 4.56, but if their bats stay as hot as they have during the month of June, they could provide some high-scoring affairs in Omaha.
Cal State Fullerton is no stranger to Omaha. The four-time national champions last won it all in 2004, defeating Texas, and seem to be regulars at Rosenblatt Stadium every summer. This is their fourth trip to the College World Series in the last six years, but the first under second-year coach Dave Serrano.
The Titans have a lot of youth on their team, but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security...they have some very talented young players, led by freshman hurlers Noe Ramirez (9-1, 2.86 ERA, 96 K) and Tyler Pill (11-3, 3.95, 73 K) and reliever Nick Ramirez, who leads the team with seven saves.
Sophomore Daniel Renken has had an outstanding year on the mound for CSF, posting an 11-2 record with a 2.36 ERA and 98 strikeouts. Noe Ramirez helped secure the TItans' trip to Omaha with an impressive eight-inning effort against Louisville, striking out 10 and allowing three hits in eight innings.
As dominating as their pitching is, the Titan bats have also been tough to beat. Cal State Fullerton has scored 64 runs in the postseason, with their only real test a 7-4 win over Gonzaga in the regional. Junior outfielder Krist Davis leads the team with 16 homers, while Jared Clark paces the Titans with 81 RBIs. Josh Fellhauer leads the team with a .399 average and is a very solid leadoff batter. He and Gary Brown have combined for 41 stolen bases.
LSU fans are arguably the most hospitable and most fun group of people that make up the College World Series fan experience, and the Tigers are back once again after going 1-2 in last year's tournament.
The Tigers were one of the most dominant programs in college baseball during the 1990's, and are looking to end the first decade of the 21st century the same way they started it. They beat Stanford to win the 2000 title and are gunning for their sixth overall championship.
The Tigers are playing well at the right time, having won the SEC tournament title and sweeping through regionals and super-regionals, beating Rice to earn a trip to Omaha.
LSU has a balanced offensive lineup, led by Ryan Schimpfe (.335 19 HR, 63 RBI) and Blake Dean (.333 15 HR, 65 RBI). Jared Mitchell has 35 stolen bases this year, and DJ Lemahieu leads with a .340 batting average.
On the mound, the Tigers have had some great efforts this year from starters Louis Coleman (13-2, 2.76 ERA, 124 K, 19 BB) and Anthony Ranaudo (10-3, 2.95, 147 K, 41 BB), while Matty Ott has come through with 16 saves, including getting a strikeout with the tying run at bat in the bottom of the ninth of their series-clinching win over Rice.
LSU's tradition will carry this team a long way in the tournament. With four national championships in the last 14 years, they will certainly be in the hunt for a shot at the title coming from this side of the bracket.
Virginia, on the other hand, is one of the Cinderella stories of this year's postseason, and the Cavaliers capped their storybook run to the College World Series by claiming regional and super-regional titles on the road.
The champions of the ACC tournament had to travel to the other side of the country when the regional bids came out, but they didn't seem to mind having to go all the way out to Irvine, Calif., to prove their worth. They beat the host Anteaters twice on their home field, then moved to Oxford, Miss., where they took two of three over the Runnin' Rebels to get their first trip to Rosenblatt Stadium.
It's an interesting reunion of sorts for Virginia coach Brian O'Connor, who was an assistant under current LSU coach paul Mainieri when he was head coach at Notre Dame.
O'Connor brings a talented Cavalier squad to Omaha for the first time, including a great 1-2 punch in Dan Grovatt (.365, 7 HR, 50 RBI, 14 SB) and Jarrett Parker (.364, 16 HR, 65 RBI, 19 SB). The Cavaliers are solid up and down the lineup.
Virginia has some good arms coming to town, including Danny Hultzen (9-1, 2.09 ERA, 95 K) and Tyler Wilson (9-3, 2.73, 60 K). Virginia's bullpen is solid as well, led by Kevin Arico (2.06, 11 saves).
Virginia comes into the CWS playing very solid baseball. They beat fellow CWS competitor North Carolina in their round-robin bracket of the ACC tournament, then polished off Florida State to win the conference title. While they may have stars in their eyes with this being their first trip to the College World Series, they still have a talented team that will make things interesting during the next week.
You can get tickets for Saturday's matchups between Arkansas and Cal State Fullerton at 1 p.m., or LSU and Virginia at 6 p.m., at Ticket Express -- where no College World Series game is ever sold out.
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