The No.2 Florida Gators are set to compete for a National Championship in an eight-team double elimination tournament from June 14-26 (if necessary) on Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.
Eight teams are split up into two brackets of four, with the winning team from each bracket meeting in the finals for a best of three series for the title.
2023 College World Series Bracket
Bracket 1
- No.2 Florida
- No.7 Virginia
- TCU
- Oral Roberts
Bracket 2
- No.1 Wake Forest
- No.5 LSU
- No.8 Stanford
- Tennessee
SCHEDULE
Friday, June 16
- TCU vs. Oral Roberts, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN
- Florida vs. Virginia, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
Saturday, June 17
- Wake Forest vs. Stanford, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN
- LSU vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m., ESPN
All games are scheduled to be televised on ESPN. Gator Country will update the schedule at the end of every day.
BREAKING DOWN THE FIELD
It’s safe to say that Florida got the easier side of the eight-team bracket as Oral Roberts and TCU are two of the weaker teams in the field.
Bracket two consists of Wake Forest, who has been the consensus No.1 team in the country for the majority of the 2023 season and cruised through their Regional and Super Regionals. Competing with the Demon Deacons is No.5 LSU, who is one of two other teams in the field to go undefeated throughout the first two stages of the NCAA Tournament (TCU). We won’t spend too much time discussing bracket two, as Florida won’t play any of the four teams until the three-game championship series, shall the Gators make it that far. Gator Country will provide a full preview of their bracket one opponent if Florida reaches the championship.
Florida’s toughest competition in bracket one is Virginia, who the Gators are set to open the College World Series with at 7:00 PM on Friday night. The Cavaliers lead the entire country with a .335 batting average while ranking seventh in runs scored with 574.
Virginia also ranks fifth in division one baseball with a 3.77 team ERA, allowing just 233 earned runs this season. Brian O’Connor’s squad is one of just four teams in the CWS to pass the 50-win mark to this point in the season (Florida, Wake Forest, Oral Roberts).
The Cavaliers are set to face their toughest opponent of the season in game two of the CWS against the Gators. Virginia did not play Wake Forest this season, but they did sweep Miami, while Florida took 2/3 from the Canes.
TCU is the next team to watch in Florida’s bracket. The Horned Frogs weren’t all that great in the regular season, posting a 33-22 (13-11 Big 12) record after starting the season ranked in the top 10. However, Kirk Saarloos ballclub is as hot as any team in the country right now, posting a 9-0 postseason record including a 4-0 run in the Big 12 Tournament. TCU dominated the Fayetteville Regional, outscoring opponents 44-13 in three games. TCU would go on to take care of Indiana State in two games in the Super Regionals.
Statistically, TCU doesn’t jump out at you in any category, but they are sound across the board. They’ve worked to a .299 batting average while blasting 88 home runs in 2023. TCU has pitched to a 4.73 ERA, good enough for 51st in the country.
Oral Roberts has been dominant all year in the Summit league, posting a 23-1 conference record while working to a 51-12 record in 2023. The biggest knock on Oral Roberts is their strength of schedule, however, that didn’t stop the Eagles from cruising through the Stillwater Regional and taking care of Oregon in the third and final game of the Super Regionals.
The Eagles hold an impressive .323 batting average, which ranks T-4th in the country. Oral Roberts is one of just seven college baseball teams with an earned run average under 4.0, posting a 3.97 ERA across 555.1 innings.
This is how I would rank the teams in each bracket.
POWER RANKINGS IN BRACKET 1
- Wake Forest
- LSU
- Tennessee
- Stanford
POWER RANKINGS IN BRACKET 2
- Florida
- Virginia
- TCU
- Oral Roberts
DIMENSIONS OF CHARLES SCHWAB FIELD
Left field line—335 feet
Left field alley—375 feet
Center field—408 feet
Right field alley—375 feet
Right field line—335 feet
Height of left field wall—8 feet
Height of center field wall/batter’s eye—8 feet/42 feet overall
Height of right field wall—8 feet