The No. 1 seed and heavily favored Texas Longhorns unsurprisingly advanced in first-round action of the College World Series. Their opponent in the Austin Super Regional, however, is a bit of a surprise: the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles were the No. 2 seed in their bracket. They advanced after getting past Ole Miss, Missouri State, and St. Louis.
Texas got past Indiana, Texas Southern, and Texas A&M.
Austin’s squad, which finished its season a dominant 30-7 at home, cruised in the opening weekend. The Longhorns first defeated Texas Southern 10-0. Then, in a highly anticipated showdown, Texas defeated Texas A&M 8-3. Finally, the Longhorns squeaked by Indiana, 3-2.
Tennessee Tech finished its season an impressive 52-10 with a 22-3 mark on the road. The Golden Eagles had a tougher road in the opening weekend. They defeated Missouri State twice, but both games were close (6-4 and 2-1).
Tech fell in its first matchup with No. 1 seed Ole Miss, 9-8. On Monday, however, the Golden Eagles won two straight, 15-5 and 3-2, on Ole Miss’s home field in Oxford. Ole Miss, the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament, had lost only four times there all season.
Texas holds the No. 22 RPI in the country. Next on that list? Tennessee Tech at No. 23.
Texas will have home-field advantage in this showdown, as the weekend’s games will take place at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns have been dominant on their home field all season, but they’ll been especially protective of their home turf of late. Texas hasn’t lost at home in two months.
Team Leaders
Keep an eye on Texas’ all-world junior infielder, Kody Clemens, son of all-time MLB great Roger. Cody is hitting .346 this year. He has drilled 21 home runs and 68 RBIs in addition to 80 hits in 231 at-bats. The Detroit Tigers recently selected Clemens in the third round of the MLB draft.
"This is the game and this is the series, where you cement your legacy if you're a Longhorn or an Aggie."
Kody Clemens. Legendary. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/tlUbC0eky8
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 2, 2018
Texas also gets a boost from redshirt freshman infielder Zach Zubia. Zubia is hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 43 RBIs. Zubia was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American.
GOODBYE, BASEBALL! @zachzubia's 11th 💣 of the season ties this one up! #HookEm 🤘 pic.twitter.com/sAlzn13brW
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) June 4, 2018
For Tennessee Tech, look for a big performance from Mr. Reliable, Chase Chambers, who hit .404 this season. He started all 62 of the team’s games. Chambers added 17 home runs and 82 RBIs. The New York Mets recently drafted Chambers in the 18th round.
Prediction
Unsurprisingly, we are going with the Longhorns. Texas looks like arguably the most dominant team in the entire College World Series. Though Tennessee Tech has a solid squad and played impressively in the opening weekend, the Longhorns should cruise to advance to the tournament’s round of eight.
Game Information
These two teams are slated to play 2-3 games. The series will kick off Saturday at 2 p.m. EST. Next, they’ll match up Sunday at the same time. Finally, if necessary, Game 3 will take place Monday at 12 p.m. EST. All games will air on ESPN2.
Check out the full bracket here.
