The annual College World Series, which takes place each spring in Omaha, Nebraska, got started off with some great baseball action over the weekend. All year long the baseball teams at universities across the country have been talking about… and dreaming about… playing some baseball at Omaha.
Handicappers in Las Vegas and elsewhere have a harder time trying to predict the outcome of college level games where so much emotion and spirit is involved. Did they take into consideration the long standing rivalry between North Carolina and North Carolina State? There was obviously more there than meets the eye because North Carolina was picked to beat North Carolina State in their game on Sunday. Several books had the Tar Heels favored to win the whole tournament.
North Carolina went into the tournament as the number one seed this year. William Hill had them listed as -190 favorites. They were simply not prepared for ace pitcher Carlos Rodon and the Wolfpack. In fact, North Carolina was shut out until the bottom of the 9th when they finally scored one run… too little… too late.
The Indiana University Hoosiers made it to Omaha in 2013 for the first time in the history of the school. No team in the Big Ten conference has been to Omaha since Michigan made it in 1984. No one gave them much of a chance of beating a powerful Louisville club, but they did. LVH SuperBook gave Indiana the longest odds to win the tournament at 25-to-1. The Hoosiers shut out Louisville for only the second time all season and won the game 2-0. Don’t mess with Joey DeNato.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are not exactly big names in college baseball but here they are representing the SEC, along with LSU, in Omaha. They took on mighty Oregon State on Saturday which many had given the nod to take the tournament. The Beavers were favored -215 to +185 for the Bulldogs. It was an epic battle but Mississippi State won the day by a final score of 5-4.
Going into the final game of the weekend between number four seed LSU and the UCLA Bruins, each of the three previous games were won by the underdogs. LSU went in as -220 / +190 favorites over the Bruins, but the underdogs continued to triumph at Omaha as UCLA defeated a lack-luster LSU team that committed 2 very rare infield errors and gave the game away.
