2008 College World Series

The 2008 College World Series was held June 14th through June 25th, by|2008 in Omaha, Nebraska. Eight NCAA Division I college baseball teams met after having played their way through a 64-team bracket to play at historic Rosenblatt Stadium. The Series was won by Fresno State, who became the lowest ranked team ever to win an NCAA Baseball Championship (or any NCAA Championship in any sport ever), and the fifth consecutive baseball team to win the title that was not one of the eight national seeds.

Fresno State sophomore third baseman Tommy Mendonca won the Most Outstanding Player Award. Tommy hit four home runs and had 11 RBIs and also made a number of spectacular plays in the field.

See also: College World Series for series history and past champions.

Changes for 2008

The first day of the 2008 CWS has been moved to Saturday (June 14) from the traditional Friday. Also, if all games are needed in the first double-elimination round, it will take eight days to complete rather than seven.

The NCAA cited the need to be more flexible in the super-regional round in case of inclement weather. It also allows for greater potential ticket revenue, in part because the extra "if-necessary" day will now be ticketed separately if both games are played. [http://www.ncaa.com/baseball/article.aspx?id=91408]

Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series is scheduled for Monday, June 23, game 2 for Tuesday, June 24 and game 3 if necessary for Wednesday, June 25.

Participants

Notable Players

CWS records tied or broken

* Most runs scored in an inning: 11 (tied)(Stanford, 9th inning, Game 1 against Florida State)
*Most runners left on base in a nine-inning game: 17 (tied) (Florida State, Game 5 against Miami)
* Most doubles hit by a player: 3 (tied) by Rich Poythress Georgia against Stanford, Game 11.
* Most losses by a team who won the College World Series: 31 (Fresno State)
* Lowest seed to win the College World Series: #4 regional seed, #89 RPI (Fresno State)

CWS Leaders

Team

Individual

Post-Series Notes

Television and radio

ESPN and ESPN2 showed every game of the tournament on television, except on Sunday June 22 due to the postponement of game 10 which forced the networks to utilize ESPN Classic. They were also streamed online at ESPN360.com. Westwood One had live radio coverage of the championship series.

ee also

*2008 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament
*NCAA Division I Baseball Championship
*2008 LSU Tigers baseball team
*2008 Fresno State Bulldogs baseball team

External links

* [http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/brackets/doubleelim44/2007/DI_cws NCAA baseball Official Site]
* [http://www.cwsomaha.com/ CWSOmaha.com]

References