UCSB will play the opening game of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., on Saturday against Oklahoma State.
The Gauchos (42-18-1) and Cowboys (41-20) are scheduled to play at noon (PDT) at TD Ameritrade Park. The game is being televised on ESPN2.
UCSB is making its first-ever appearance in the College World Series. Oklahoma State has been to Omaha 20 times, the last time coming in 1999.
The CWS is comprised of eight teams that won best-of-three NCAA Super Regional series. The teams are divided into two four-team brackets and play a double-elimination format within their respective bracket. The bracket winners play a best-of-three series for the national championship.
UCSB, Oklahoma State, Miami (50-12) and Arizona (44-21) make up one bracket while the other bracket includes top-seeded Florida (52-14), Coastal Carolina (49-16), Texas Tech (47-18) and TCU (47-16). Like UCSB, Coastal Carolina is playing in its first CWS.
After the Gauchos and Oklahoma State play on Saturday, No. 3 national seed Miami faces Arizona at 5 p.m. (PDT). The losers of Saturday’s games will play one another at 11 a.m. (PDT) Monday, June 20, while Saturday’s winners face off at 4 p.m.
On Sunday, June 19, No. 5 seed Texas Tech meets Big 12 rival TCU followed by Florida against Coastal Carolina. Sunday’s losing teams will play each other at 2 p.m., Tuesday, June 21, and Sunday’s winners will meet at 6 p.m.
UCSB has been the talk of the college baseball world after eliminating national No. 2 seed Louisville in the Super Regionals, 4-3, on Sam Cohen’s pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning. The unbelievable moment was No. 1 in ESPN SportsCenter’s Top Plays on Sunday.
The Gauchos traveled from Louisville to Omaha on Monday night. They’ve been away from Santa Barbara for two weeks. Their road to the College World Series started on June 4 at the Vanderbilt Regional in Nashville and continued the following weekend at the Super Regionals in Louisville.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.