College World Series Championship Preview

6/24/19

By Riley Zayas and Luke White

The 2019 College World Series has been one of the most exciting sporting events in recent years, featuring multiple walk-off wins and outstanding performances by players. In the end, the championship best-of-3 series will be between the Michigan Wolverines and the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Notable games include Mississippi State’s 5-4 comeback win over Auburn on June 16th. The Bulldogs trailed 4-1 entering the bottom of the 9th inning, but following multiple errors by the Auburn defense, came back to win. On June 21st, Vanderbilt scored two runs in the top of the 9th inning to take down Louisville 3-2 and advance to the CWS championship.

Michigan also had an amazing run during their journey to the finals. The underdog Wolverines knocked off Texas Tech twice and Arkansas once, posting a perfect 3-0 record in Omaha and earning the right to a spot in the championship series.

Michigan was thrilled to get another win in Omaha

In addition, one of the more notable storylines of this year’s CWS was that Florida State head coach Mike Martin would retire after 40 seasons as Florida State's coach. Martin’s final game was June 19th, when the Seminoles were eliminated by Texas Tech. He finished his career with 2,029 career wins, the most of any college coach in any sport ever. Martin tallied at least 40 wins in every season as FSU’s head coach, made 17 appearances in the College World Series, and won the ACC eight times.

Martin was a consistent force at FSU for 40 seasons

Heading into this game, there will be a couple key things to watch for and factors which will undoubtedly play into the result of this thrilling series.

First will be the offense of Vanderbilt. Led by Junior J.J Bleday, who was the fourth overall pick in this year’s MLB draft, the bats of Vanderbilt have become well-known. The Commodores are ranked sixth overall in batting average, second in hits, and seventh in scoring.

Aside from Bleday, who leads the NCAA in home runs with 26, keep your eye on Senior Ethan Paul. While he’s not one of the team’s leading hitters, his fielding has been superb. Through 68 games played, he has only committed six errors and comes into the best-of-three series with a .967 fielding percentage. In games that are close like these will be, fielding can play a crucial role, and has the ability to make or break a game.

“I just said, if we’re going to be any good, Ethan Paul needs to be our shortstop,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim Corbin said.

Ethan Paul's fielding has been of golden-glove caliber all season

Secondly, the pitching staff of Michigan will be an important aspect of their chance to take home the title. The Wolverines’ top pitcher, a southpaw named Tommy Henry. He has proven to be an ace, starting game three of the super regional series against UCLA. Not only did he throw well enough to silence the No. 1 ranked Bruins, but followed that up with a 2-0 win over Florida State in their second game in Omaha. He is expected to start game one.

In fact, the Wolverine pitching staff as a whole has been terrific all season. They’ve struck out 591 batters and have a team ERA of 3.40.

The bats of Vanderbilt clashing with the Michigan pitchers will be a storyline worth watching.

Whatever the outcome, fans can be sure that this will be one of the most exciting series of the tournament. Game one will take place on Monday at 6pm followed by game two on Tuesday at 6pm. If the series does go to three games, game three will be on Wednesday at 6pm as well. All games will be live on ESPN with Karl Ravech manning the play by play and Eduardo Perez and Kyle Peterson as the color commentators. Enjoy a thrilling NCAA Championship Series!