This is the best time of the year for all college baseball fans. The season is coming to a close in the next few days, and all eyes will be focused on Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. The season began in February with 299 teams having the same common goal, to win the National Championship.
The 2022 NCAA tournament began June 17, with 64 teams selected to play at 16 different regional sites for the opportunity to win a national title. Fast forward three weeks, and we now have two universities left standing. At the beginning of the tournament, no one besides the Oklahoma and Ole Miss fan bases would have given either school much of a chance to make it to Omaha, let alone the opportunity to be playing in the Championship series. This championship series sets up to be one of the better series in the past few years.
Oklahoma:
Boomer Sooner entered Omaha with a record of 42-22 (15-9) and possibly has the hottest bats in the country. The Sooners entered the NCAA tournament, having not lost a weekend series since early April. Oklahoma was placed in the Gainesville regional as the two-seed coming off the Big 12 tournament championship. Oklahoma was able to win the Gainesville regional by beating the Gators twice on their home field.
The Sooners then headed to Blacksburg, Va, for a Super-Regional matchup with the Virginia Tech Hokies. Splitting the first two games of the Super-Regional, Oklahoma was able to have their way with the Hokies in game three, winning 11-2. The Sooners made their first trip to Omaha since the 2010 season. Oklahoma swept through bracket one beating Notre Dame once and Texas A&M twice.
Ole Miss:
The Rebels entered Omaha with a record of 37-23 (14-16) as one of the last four teams in the field. Three weeks into the season Ole Miss climbed as high number 1 in the country in the polls. They were hot until they ran into Tennessee during the second weekend of conference play. After being swept by Tennesse, Ole Miss would go on to lose five out of their next six weekend series, leaving them with a 7-14 record.
The Rebels found themselves and went 8-2 in their last ten games of the regular season to finish the regular season 32-21. They gathered together on selection Monday, hoping for the opportunity to make the field of 64. Once they saw their name called as the three seed in Coral Gables regional, they have yet to take their foot off the gas. The Rebels swept through the Coral Gables regional and the Hattiesburg Super Regional to make their first trip to the College World Series since 2014. Ole Miss won Bracker two by beating Auburn once and beating Arkansas twice. The Razorbacks defeated the Rebels on Wednesday, forcing a winner to take all game on Thursday, which the Rebels were able to pick up the victory.
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