1 reason why each College World Series team could win the whole thing

Anything can happen in Omaha

It’s anybody’s guess who will become the 2025 Division I NCAA baseball champion, as none of the eight teams that have qualified for the College World Series made it this far a year ago. That’s the first time an entrant from the previous series hasn’t made a return trip since the tourney expanded in 1999.

The CWS is a double-elimination tournament, which allows for any team to have an off day and have the ability to rebound and take the title. In 2023, LSU lost its second game to Wake Forest and then proceeded to win three games in three days to make the finals where it beat Florida in a best-of-three series.

Each team got to Omaha by overcoming their own set of challenging opponents, winning a regional and a Super Regional, so they all deserve to be here. And while only one can win the whole thing, they’re all capable of doing so.

Here’s one reason why each CWS qualifier can take home the 2025 title:

Arizona: Finishing power

In reaching its 19^th College World Series, one fewer than LSU for most among this year’s field, the Wildcats (44-19) had to rally late to beat North Carolina twice in a row on the road in the Super Regionals. But once they got that lead it was a guarantee they weren’t going to give it back.

Arizona comes to Omaha with a flawless record when holding the lead after 8^th inning, sitting at 38-0 when ahead going to the 9^th. It’s also 32-0 when ahead after six or seven innings, though in the case of one of those wins at UNC it blew the lead in the top of the 7^th before retaking it in the bottom of the frame.

This late-game perfection is due to a stellar back end of the bullpen, led by junior Tony Pluta, who set the single-season school record with 14 saves including one in Sunday’s Omaha-clinching 4-3 win. Pluta hasn’t allowed a run since April 1 and has yet to allow a home run in 59 career appearances.

Arkansas: A program (and a coach) that’s due

The Razorbacks (48-13) are in the College World Series for the 12^th time, the eighth under longtime coach Dave Van Horn, who is in his 23^rd season in Fayetteville and recently became the 23^rd coach in NCAA history with 1,300 wins. As the No. 3 overall seed they’re the top remaining team in the field following the exits of No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 2 Texas in the regionals.

Arkansas has twice been runner-up in Omaha, most recently in 2018 when it beat Oregon State in the first game of the championship series only to drop the next two. In the Razorbacks last trip back in 2022, they won three games and reached the bracket finals but fell to eventual champion Ole Miss, part of a string of five consecutive titles won by other SEC schools.

For Van Horn, a title would cap a storied career that includes a Division II title at Central Missouri State and also a pair of World Series appearances with Nebraska. Rumors of the 64-year-old considering retirement after this season only further the motivation to get him—and the Hogs—that long-coveted ring.

Coastal Carolina: Lights out pitching

The Chanticleers (53-11) bring a 23-game win streak to Omaha, their last loss coming on April 22. Since then, they’ve only allowed 61 runs, yielding more than five on just three occasions, thanks to the best pitching staff in the CWS field.

Coastal Carolina sports a team ERA of 3.21, second-best in the nation and more than half a run better than that of LSU (3.80) or Arkansas (3.91). The starting trio of Riley Eikhoff, Cameron Flukey and Jacob Morrison have combined to go 24-3 with a 2.75 ERA, striking out 264 batters against 53 walks in 268.2 innings. Throw in a deep bullpen, led by closer Ryan Lynch and his 0.59 ERA, and teams will be hard-pressed to score on the Chants.

Coastal is making its first CWS appearance since 2016, when it won the national title by taking the championship series in three games against Arizona. That’s who CCU opens this CWS against, and if it repeats history and wins that first game the team may not lose again.

Louisville: Speed on the bases

The Cardinals (40-22) have 155 steals this season, 7th-most in the country and almost 50 more than anyone else in Omaha. They’ve swiped five or more bags 10 times this season, including 14 in a win over Florida State in April.

Sophomore Lucas Moore is the ringleader of the theft game, with 51 steals in 52 attempts, while sophomores Alex Alicea and Zion Rose each have 30 stolen bases. Each of those Cardinals gets on base more than 40 percent of the time and when they do they don’t stop moving.

Louisville has nine steals in 12 tries in the postseason and will look to test opposing pitchers and catchers at any and every opportunity.

LSU: Championship experience

None of the teams in the 2025 CWS field were here a year ago, but the Tigers (48-15) were in Omaha in 2023 and took home their fifth national title. Most of that team is long gone, with stars Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes already in the big leagues, but a few guys (and the head coach) are still around from that championship run.

Senior Josh Pearson hit a 2-run home run in LSU’s 18-4 win over Florida in Game 3 of the CWS championship series, and then-freshman Jared ‘Bear’ Jones later pinch hit for him and had a single. Pearson is part of the outfield rotation this season, while Jones is the regular at 1^st base and leads the team with 20 homers and 70 RBI.

And coach Jay Johnson was at the helm of that championship, doing so in his second year at LSU after leading Arizona to a pair of World Series trips in six seasons.

Murray State: The underdog role

The Racers (43-15) had not made the NCAA tournament since 2003 before winning the Missouri Valley Conference’s automatic bid and parlaying that into the program’s first College World Series appearance. They did that by taking down Ole Miss in Oxford and then winning a Super Regional at Duke to become just the fourth No. 4 seed to reach Omaha.

Just getting this far is more than enough of an accomplishment for Murray State, a program that plays in a stadium that holds 800 fans and where coach Dan Skirka cuts the grass. But why stop there?

Of the previous three No. 4 seeds to make the CWS, two have won at least one game. The first to get there, Fresno State in 2008 — and that teams messed around and won the natty.

Oregon State: The ability to win away from home

When the Pac-12 broke up last summer, sending most of its schools to the Big Ten, Big 12 and even the Atlantic Coast Conference, Oregon State was one of two left behind along with Washington State. The Beavers (47-14-1) opted not to join a lesser league, instead making the bold but risky choice to play an independent schedule in 2025.

It paid off, as OSU earned the No. 8 overall seed despite not being in a conference, and that allowed the Beavers to host a Regional and Super Regional. But in order to get those home games at Goss Stadium in late May and early June it had to spend quite a bit of the time on the road in February, March and April.

OSU played 31 neutral-site and true road games during the regular season, including the first 10 at tournaments in Arizona and Texas. Later on it played road series at NCAA tournament qualifiers Cal Poly, Nebraska and Oregon as well as four games in Hawaii and three against Iowa at a minor league park about two hours east of Omaha in Des Moines.

UCLA: A second chance to make a first impression

The Bruins (47-16) are making their first appearance in the College World Series since 2013, when they won their lone national title. Since then there have been seven NCAA tournament appearances but also four losing seasons, including in 2024 when UCLA’s 19-33 record was its worst since coach John Savage’s first team in 2005.

While it’s been 12 years since UCLA played in the CWS it’s been less than three weeks since it played at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. That’s where the Big Ten Conference tournament was held last month, and after winning their first three games and making the final the Bruins were shut out 5-0 by Nebraska.

It was a pseudo road game, as nearly all the 15,000-plus in attendance were cheering for the hometown Cornhuskers. UCLA will be hard pressed to have a fan advantage in most games in the series, especially when facing Arkansas or LSU, but given another shot to win with the crowd against them don’t bet against the Bruins.