NCAA baseball tournament: Tracking the MCWS teams

Update: All eight spots have now been filled for the Men’s College World Series, as the Oklahoma Sooners claimed the last spot with their two-game sweep of Kansas.

16 teams advanced to the Super Regionals, but only eight will continue on to Omaha and the Men’s College World Series.

And for the second year in a row, the eight teams that move on to the Men’s College World Series will be completely different than the eight teams that advanced last season. Coastal Carolina, Arizona, Oregon State, Louisville, UCLA, Murray State, Arkansas, and LSU were the eight teams that advanced last year, but none of those teams will be headed to Omaha.

That means a completely new field, and a new national champion.

We’ll be tracking the teams that advance all weekend long.

The Mountaineers became the first team to punch their ticket to Omaha, dispatching Cal Poly in a two-game sweep at home in Morgantown. The West Virginia bats were red-hot in those two games, as they pushed 12 runs across the plate in Game 1 and followed that with a 17-run outburst against Cal Poly on Saturday, taking Game 2 by a final of 17-1 to punch their ticket to the Men’s College World Series.

And while the bats were part of the story, they did not tell the complete tale. After getting a career-high 11 strikeouts from Friday starter Chasen Cole, West Virginia coach Steve Sabins handed the ball to Maxx Yehl, the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, for the start on Saturday.

All he did was pitch five near-perfect innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out four.

West Virginia and its fans had to wait a little to celebrate, due to a lightning delay in the eighth inning. But eventually the sky cleared, and the Mountaineers closed out Cal Poly.

And now, the Mountaineers are headed to Omaha for the first time in program history.

Troy began the year with a pair of losses to Mercer and hovered around .500 for most of the season. Its year included both a four-game losing streak and a three-game losing streak in March alone. And when Troy finished the year with 29 losses, yet were named an at-large team to the NCAA tournament, many wondered if they belonged.

Yet all they did was win the Gainesville regional – despite dropping their opener against Miami – and now thanks to a sweep against fellow Cinderella Little Rock, the Trojans are heading to Omaha for the first time in program history.

The Trojans’ 32-29 regular season record does merit some context, as Troy faced one of the toughest schedules in the nation. That paid off once they arrived in Gainesville, as Troy beat Florida, the top seed in the regional and the No. 8 overall seed in the nation, twice to advance to the Super Regionals for the first time in school history.

And now they are headed to the Men’s College World Series for the first time.

Something else that paid off for the Trojans? The bat of designated hitter Jabe Boroff. The slugger caught fire as Troy closed out the regional, hitting four home runs in the final three games in Gainesville. And he blasted a pair of home runs in Game 1 against Little Rock, helping the Trojans take the first game of the series.

To put his recent form in perspective, he had five home runs and 14 RBI over 27 regular season and Ohio Valley Conference games.

So far over six NCAA tournament games, he has six home runs and 18 RBI.

Now we get to see what he, and the rest of the Trojans, do in Omaha.

The third team to book a trip to Omaha? That would be Ole Miss. After knocking off Auburn 6-4 on Friday, Ole Miss punched their ticket to the Men’s College World Series with a 5-3 win over the Tigers on Saturday.

And what a thrilling win it was.

With the game tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Ole Miss pushed three runs across the plate to take a 5-2 lead, with the damage coming via back-to-back jacks.

Will Furniss got the homer party started with this two-run shot to stake Ole Miss to a 5-3 lead:

Then before the celebration quieted down, Tristan Bissetta did this:

Auburn tacked on a run in the ninth and even got the tying run to the plate in the inning, but Ole Miss closed it out to move on to Omaha.

After two incredible days of baseball in Athens, the Georgia Bulldogs are heading to Omaha.

Georgia outlasted Mississippi State 13-12 on Saturday, with Michael O’Shaughnessy delivering a three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Bulldogs the go-ahead run. Then on Sunday, after seeing an early 7-2 lead slip away, Georgia got a clutch single from Brennan Hudson in the top of the ninth to bring Kenny Ishikawa around to score, tying the game at 9-9 and setting the stage for extra innings.

Enter Daniel Jackson.

The favorite for the Golden Spikes Award blasted a two-run home run in the top of the tenth, staking Georgia to an 11-9 lead and putting the Bulldogs three outs away from Omaha:

Georgia closed it out in the bottom of the tenth, touching off a massive celebration at Foley Field and sending the Bulldogs to Omaha.

The Tar Heels are headed to Omaha for the second time in the last three seasons.

After dropping Game 1 on Friday, UNC got a gem of a start from Jason DeCaro on Saturday to force a decisive Game 3. After falling down 3-1 on Sunday, the Tar Heels pushed a run across the plate in the bottom of the eighth, and completed a dramatic comeback in the bottom of the ninth when Owen Hull hit his fourth double of the game to center field, bringing home the winning run in walkoff-fashion:

“Oh it means the world,” said Hull to ESPN after the game. “This is one special team and we’re looking forward to playing in Omaha.”

For the 39th time in program history, the Texas Longhorns are headed to the Men’s College World Series.

After beating Oregon 11-3 on Saturday, Texas punched its ticket to Omaha by winning a thriller on Sunday night, topping the Ducks by a final score of 6-5. Texas trailed 5-4 in the top of the eighth inning, but pushed two runs across the dish to take a 6-5 lead.

The big hit came on this two-out, bases-loaded double from Adrian Rodriguez down the left-field line:

Ruger Riojas got the start for Texas, and went 5.2 innings. He turned the game over to the trio of Ethan Walker, Thomas Burns, and starter Sam Cozart, who pitched the final two innings and did not allow a hit while striking out four.

It took a little longer because of the weather, but the Crimson Tide are headed to Omaha for the first time since 1999.

Alabama took Game 1 of its Super Regional against St. John’s on Saturday, 8-0 behind a strong outing from starting pitcher Tyler Fay. Fay went 7.1 innings on Saturday, striking out nine while not allowing a run.

Then on Sunday the Crimson Tide built a 7-2 lead until the game was suspended due to weather. The teams returned to the field on Monday afternoon and the Crimson Tide closed things out, booking its spot in the Men’s College World Series for the first time in 27 years.

The Sooners clinched the final spot on Monday, completing their two-game sweep of Kansas.

Oklahoma closed out the Jayhawks by a final score of 13-2 on Monday, in a game that was suspended Sunday due to weather. Dayton Tockey, who sent the Sooners to the Super Regionals with a walk-off home run against Georgia Tech in the regionals, was one of four Sooners to go deep in Game 2, along with Deiten Lachance, Dasan Harris, and Trey Gambill.

Over two games in the Super Regionals, Oklahoma held Kansas to just three runs, outscoring the Big 12 champs 21-3 in the two-game sweep.

Oklahoma joins three other SEC teams — Georgia, Alabama, and Texas — in one half of the bracket in Omaha. That means the SEC is guaranteed to have one team reach the MCWS Finals. In total the SEC has five teams headed to Omaha, as Ole Miss will be in the other bracket along with Troy, North Carolina, and West Virginia.