Kentucky baseball defeats Oregon State to reach College World Series
The Kentucky baseball team defeated Oregon State 3-2 in the NCAA Tournament Super Regional on June 9, 2024, in Lexington, Ky.
McClatchy – Lexington Herald-Leader
And then there were eight. The 2024 Men’s College World Series is down to eight schools vying for this year’s NCAA baseball championship. The Super Regionals round saw mostly chalk with seven higher seeds making it through to the final two brackets.
It’s now a battle of two conferences – the SEC and ACC – evenly split across the final eight teams. From the SEC, the Tennessee Volunteers, Kentucky Wildcats, Texas A&M Aggies, and Florida Gators are still in the tournament. The North Carolina Tar Heels, Virginia Cavaliers, Florida State Seminoles, and NC State Wolfpack are the ACC programs with a chance to win the title.
2024 CWS format, bracket, teams: How does Men’s College World Series work?
Five of the top eight national seeds make up the College World Series this year: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 North Carolina, and No. 8 Florida State. All were top seeds in their region, as were NC State and Virginia. Florida is the only team in the final group that wasn’t a No. 1 seed in the regionals round. The Gators were the No. 3 seed in the Stillwater Regional round hosted by Oklahoma State.
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These eight teams are some of the best in the country but only two of them have won the men’s College World Series before: Florida (2017) and Virginia (2015). Will there be a new winner? Can the SEC make it five titles in a row? Here’s what the experts think:
Who will win the College World Series? Power ranking final eight headed to Omaha by odds
2024 NCAA College World Series predictions roundup
Teddy Cahill, Baseball America: Florida over Virginia
Cahill writes: “The Gators have been as impressive as any team in the NCAA Tournament, have Omaha experience and have the best player in the field in Jac Caglianone… there’s never been a question about their talent and their ability to beat top competition, it was just about consistency. Now, Florida looks like it has figured out a formula that works and won’t be overwhelmed by the big stage.”
On3: Tennessee over Kentucky
Jonathan Wagner says: “Kentucky and Tennessee met in Lexington back in April, with the Wildcats winning the opener 5-3 before the Vols came back with 9-4 and 13-11 victories to take the series. If they match up in Omaha with a national championship on the line, it’s going to be a fun one… Tennessee has eight players with double digit home runs, including five with 18 or more. In the end, we just believe too much in Tennessee.”
Sports Illustrated: Texas A&M over Tennessee
Brett Gibbons writes: “Both teams are susceptible to giving up power hitting. Not all that often, but they do. Look no further than the Super Regionals for both – Tennessee flat out dropped a game to Evansville because they gave up some batting practice. Texas A&M gave up a bunch of runs to Oregon and many of those game early in Game 2 via home runs… The Vols eliminated the Aggies from the SEC Tournament, and A&M gets its ultimate revenge. We do, in fact, get a first-time CWS champion.”
Sporting News: North Carolina over Texas A&M
Edward Sutelan writes: “A College World Series final between North Carolina and Texas A&M should provide plenty of fireworks and some late-game dramatics between two stellar bullpens and lineups that each feature stars. But in Game 3, Vance Honeycutt makes one more statement with a later homer as a Tar Heel to end his collegiate career with a title and give another boost to his draft stock.”
2024 College World Series odds
According to the latest college baseball odds from BetMGM, top-ranked Tennessee is the favorite in Omaha. Here’s how the full field looks:
- Tennessee Volunteers (+250)
- Texas A&M Aggies (+300)
- Kentucky Wildcats (+550)
- North Carolina Tar Heels (+750)
- Florida State Seminoles (+800)
- Virginia Cavaliers (+1000)
- N.C. State Wolfpack (+1100)
- Florida Gators (+1500)
2024 College World Series bracket results recap
Regionals winners
- Knoxville: No. 1 Tennessee
- Greenville: No. 4 Evansville
- Norman: No. 3 UConn
- Tallahassee: No. 1 Florida State
- Fayetteville: No. 3 Kansas State
- Charlottesville: No. 1 Virginia
- Tucson: No. 3 West Virginia
- Chapel Hill: No. 1 North Carolina
- Lexington: No. 1 Kentucky
- Corvallis: No. 1 Oregon State
- Raleigh: No. 1 NC State
- Athens: No. 1 Georgia
- Clemson: No. 1 Clemson
- Stillwater: No. 3 Florida
- Santa Barbara: No. 3 Oregon
- Bryan-College Station: No. 1 Texas A&M
Super Regionals results
- Knoxville: No. 1 Tennessee (2-1) over No. 4 Evansville
- Tallahassee: No. 1 Florida State (2-0) over No. 3 UConn
- Charlottesville: No. 1 Virginia (2-0) over No. 3 Kansas State
- Chapel Hill: No. 1 North Carolina (2-0) over No. 3 West Virginia
- Lexington: No. 1 Kentucky (2-0) over No. 1 Oregon State
- Athens: No. 1 NC State (2-1) over No. 1 Georgia
- Clemson: No. 3 Florida (2-0) over No. 1 Clemson
- Bryan-College Station: No. 1 Texas A&M (2-0) over No. 3 Oregon
How to watch 2024 College World Series
ESPN will provide live broadcast and streaming coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 throughout the Men’s College World Series.
Streaming coverage is available on ESPN+.
HOW TO WATCH: Catch the men’s College World Series with a subscription to ESPN+
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