If I'm not mistaken, we may be looking at 7 teams that have never won a CWS and then LSU as the 8th team. North Carolina, North Carolina State, Kansas State, (Mississippi State or Virginia) + the three teams already penciled in There will not be a lot of experience in the CWS outside LSU, that's for sure, unless South Carolina and Rice can make it.
I totally agree. In the dead bat era, there's a fine line between winning/losing. The team we play next, UCLA, will be extremely tough because of their pitching. Cal State Fullerton was a 50 win single digit loss team and they got shut down at home. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried about that game.
I don't think that's really going to matter much. Besides, I don't think there's anyone on left from our team since we were there last either, so I'm not sure how big of an advantage that's going to be.
Of the teams not in the SEC-ACC-Pac, Louisville and Cal State Fullerton have been the top two all season. Baseball America had Louisville preseason #4, pointing out they are great all around...offense, defense, starting pitching, bullpen, and writing: " anything short of their first trip to Omaha since 2007 will be a disappointment this spring. This team is a legitimate championship contender."
UCLA finished the season ranked higher in the polls than any team we've faced yet this season other than Vandy, and when we played Vandy, the two teams weren't using their frontline pitching
They finished the season ranked higher in the polls than even UCLA. NC State features a starting pitcher named Rodon, who has been considered the top pitcher in the nation all year along with OU's Gray and Stanford's Appel...and many think he's the best of the three. He's a freak of nature. They also feature a Bregman-caliber sophomore in Trea Turner
