Texas Colleges Well Represented in College World Series Tournament

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Created on Thursday, 31 May 2012 23:42

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 May 2013 07:51

Written by Travis Pulver

On Friday the process will begin to see who gets a chance to travel to Omaha later this month to play in the part of the tournament known as the College World Series. It appears as if the State of Texas stands to be well represented when that time comes.

Three of the 16 regional competitions are set to be played in Texas, one in Houston, Waco, and College Station. Of the twelve teams in those regional competitions, eight of them are from Texas. Rice, Sam Houston State, and Prairie View A&M are playing in the Houston regional; Baylor, Dallas Baptist, and UT-Arlington in the Waco regional; Texas A&M and TCU are in the College Station regional.

Of those teams the two most likely to make it to Omaha are Baylor, Texas A&M, and Rice.

Baylor was selected as one of the eight national seeds (No 4) and has been a top ranked team all season. With a record of 44-14, a No 2 ranking in the Coaches Poll, and No 4 on the RPI the Bears were an easy choice for one of the national seeds. The Bears won the Big 12 this season and tied No 1 seed Florida with the most All-American players.

"I've been around long enough to remember the [Jim] Romes of the world questioning Baylor's existence in the Big 12," said Steve Smith, who is in his 18th season coaching the Bears. “…it's pretty special to see what's happening right now.

According to the selection committee there was a lot of debate over who should the final nation seed (which two-time defending champion South Carolina was named). Both Rice and Texas A&M were likely in the conversation since both are in the top 10 of the Coaches Poll and top 15 of the RPI.

Of the three, Texas A&M has more of a history in the tournament, but the Rice Owls have more history in the CWS having played in it seven times since 1999 winning the title in 2003. However, the favorite amongst the three has to be the Baylor Bears.

Baylor heads into the tournament with a 22 home game winning streak, something that should be beneficial when they start regional completion at home Friday.

The road to Omaha will not be an easy one though, assuming they make it to the Super Regional Round. Chances are they will have to meet the Rice Owls there. The Owls have the ninth best ERA in the nation this season with 2.91.