2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament: Super Regionals takeaways

The College World Series officially has its full set of teams ready to rack up mileage in hopes of a National Championship.

Eight teams no longer have to shake and look inside their magic 8-ball.

The field of the final teams in the NCAA College Baseball Tournament is set. Complete games, inclement weather delays and history being made were just some of the stories that came out of this weekend’s packed schedule.

Here’s a look at some of the key takeaways from this past weekend’s super regionals. But first, here is the College World Series field that’s now set.

College World Series Participants:

• No. 1 Wake Forest
• No. 2 Florida
• No. 5 LSU
• No. 7 Virginia
• No. 8 Stanford
• TCU
• Oral Roberts
• Tennessee

2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament: Super Regionals takeaways

Weather takes over Saturday’s slate

For at least two of the eight series, the weather had different plans for when the games were played. The Southern Miss and Tennessee series did not begin until Sunday, due to thunderstorms and instead, three games in 36 hours were the consequence

LSU isn’t new to bad weather, as it affected some of its regional games the week before.

Even TCU vs. Indiana State’s game two of the series was pushed back to 7 p.m., due to the weather in the area.

Although games were played, players, coaches and fans were forced to wait to see if their ticket to Omaha was being punched.

TCU advances through timely hitting

The Horned Frogs got to the Super Regionals, behind a red-hot offensive spark. Before the supers, TCU had scored in double-digits in six of the last seven games, including a combined 44 runs in the regionals.

Over the weekend, it was timely hitting that got the job done. In game one, the Horned Frogs scored three of its four runs with two outs and only garnered seven hits.

The following day, TCU did its damage in the fourth inning. After falling behind 2-0, a one-out rally propelled them to five runs and the pitching staff held down the Sycamores offense.

They have already proven a couple of hard-hit balls can become a domino effect and flip the outcome of a game. And the Horned Frogs are all too accustomed to rallies.

They have punched their ticket to the College World Series for the sixth time in program history, all of them since 2010. The Horned Frogs come into this trip with the longest active winning streak in the country and would be a tough matchup for any of the seven left.

Oregon vs. Oral Roberts goes the distance

Teams traded walk-offs on Friday and Saturday, including an 8-0 comeback from the Ducks in Game 1. Oral Roberts put up two runs in the ninth of game two to force a pivotal finale in Eugene.

The Golden Eagles did their damage in bursts, with three runs in the fourth, three runs in the seventh and three more in the ninth for insurance.

Oral Roberts becomes just the third No.4 seed in a region to ever make the College World Series and is the program’s second appearance, the first since 1978.

The team has lost one game since April 22 and it required blowing an 8-0 lead. With its eyes set on Omaha, they will be among the most talked about teams in the entire field come next week.

Cardinal pitcher Quinn Matthews in middle of bizarre Texas/Stanford series 

In a lose-or-go-home game, it was Matthews that kept the Cardinal season alive.

The Cardinal ace went the distance, throwing a complete game and striking out 16 Longhorns batters and throwing 156 pitches. No MLB pitcher has thrown more than 150 pitches a game since 2005.

For Matthews, he is used to going the distance, no matter the score. He has exceeded 110 pitches 14 times this past season. And Sunday marked his fourth game where he has thrown eight innings or more.

The performance led to some backlash, with Matthews pitching over 300 innings in the NCAA Tournament so far and the long-term effects of going the distance often.

Regardless of the formula or how it gets done, the Cardinal flamethrower finished his final game in Palo Alto the best way he could. With a performance that isn’t expected to be topped for a long time.

The series proved the most entertaining, with a game three classic and a unique ending to send the Cardinal to Omaha.