Eight teams will compete for the NCAA championship when the College World Series commences Friday.
A stacked group featuring five teams ranked No. 8 or higher punched a ticket to Omaha. Two teams will survive a double-elimination bracket to collide in the best-of-three series to determine the national champion.
Robbie Weinstein of 247Sports predicted the winners of each College World Series matchup. The analyst sees Wake Forest continuing its dominant run by beating Stanford, LSU, and Tennessee en route to the finals.
TCU hasn’t lost during the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments, and Weinstein doesn’t anticipate that changing in its quadrant. He forecasted the Horned Frogs besting Oral Roberts, Florida, and Virginia.
With two of the nation’s hottest teams meeting in the finals, Weinstein believes the top-ranked Demon Deacons will finish the job.
“This series could go the distance,” Weinstein wrote. “TCU’s lineup can hang with Wake’s, especially given how hot the Frogs’ bats have been over the past few weeks. The difference here will be that the Demon Deacons have four quality starting pitchers whereas the Frogs have just two. Wake wins the national title, cementing its status as one of the greatest teams in college baseball history.”
Weinstein noted that either Wake Forest or TCU would become the first team outside the SEC to win the College World Series since Oregon State triumphed in 2018. LSU, Florida, or Tennesee could maintain the conference’s stranglehold.
After advancing to Nebraska with a 22-5 win over Alabama, Wake Forest has scored 75 runs in five tournament victories. The Deamon Deacons are 52-10 this season with a .988 team OPS and 2.84 ERA.
They enter Saturday’s matchup against Stanford as favorites to run the table for their first NCAA title since 1955.