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Bentornate “College World Series”! » Baseball.it

The official logo of the College World Series to be held in Omaha, Nebraska

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At the start on Saturday on the diamond of TD Ameritrade Park (for the occasion open to 100% capacity) ad Omaha, in Nebraska, le College World Series 2021, awaited with great trepidation by the public and insiders especially after the lack of dispute last year due to Covid-19.

The two qualifying rounds in the last weekend were characterized not only by great emotions and defensive plays, but also by a real rain of home runs (over 300), a record for NCAA baseball. And as tradition has it, there was no shortage of surprises, such as the elimination of Florida, one of the pre-season favorites by the “neighbors” of South Florida, but above all that of Arkansas, dominator of the regular season and main candidate for the final victory. was surprisingly defeated at the Super Regional level by North Carolina State returning to the College World Series for the first time since 2013.

The role of favorite now belongs by right to the couple formed by Vanderbilt (who will try to repeat the success of 2019) and Texas. Behind them, ready and fierce as never before, we find first and foremost Arizona and Tennessee dragged by the powerful lines of their lineup capable of inflicting heavy defeats in the decisive games to two opponents of all respect such as Ole Miss and Lsu. Mississippi State is also not to be underestimated, which could be the big surprise of these College World Series.

Among the magnificent 8 there is also the presence of Virginia, national champion in 2015 but in difficulty in this 2021 at least until the beginning of the NCAA tournament when she was on the verge of elimination several times: however she has always managed to conquer the decisive victories first with Old Dominion and then with the surprising Dallas Baptist, thanks also to the depth of his mound with the left-handed starter Andrew Abbott in evidence, certainly one of the best pitchers at NCAA level with a fastball stably over 90 miles and one of the deadliest curved balls in America. On the shields also the closer Stephen Schoch, Mike Vasil and Matt Wyatt, winner of the decisive match against Dallas Baptist.

The 8 participants, who will face each other with the traditional double elimination system (no direct exclusion but only at the second defeat) have been divided into 2 groups of 4 teams each: the winners will then clash in the final proper to the best of 3 matches between next 28 and 30 June to win the national title.

Analyzing in detail the pairings, on one side of the board the certainly more interesting challenge between Vanderbilt, with his talented mound led by the stars and certain first choices in the next MLB draft Kuman Rocker and Jack Leiter, and Arizona with his powerful line-up led by the very young Jacob Berry (.359 batting average with 17 home runs and 70 points beaten at home). Another very balanced challenge between Stanford, center winger Brock Jones protagonist of the decisive successes on Texas Tech, and the surprise North Carolina State.

On the other hand, it will begin with the clash between Tennessee and Virginia who is certainly playing the best baseball at this decisive moment of the season and was able to grit his teeth in the series won in Game-3 against Dallas Baptist thanks to the grand slam of the right fielder Kyle Teel in the seventh inning, after being behind for most of the game. To close the challenge between Mississippi State and Texas which present two high level pitching staff with Will Bednar, Christian MacLeod and the formidable closer Landon Sims on one side, opposed to Ty Madden and Tristan Stevens.

In closing, we unbalance in a prediction and go against the tide by predicting an Arizona vs Mississippi State final with final success by the Arizona Wildcats.

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