The Rice Owls are off to a good start in the 2006 College World Series, winning their first two games over Georgia (6-4) and yesterday over Miami (3-2). In so doing, the Owls avoided the dreaded loser bracket task of having to win three games in three straight days just to have the opportunity to play in the best-of-three championship series that begins on Saturday evening. North Carolina is the only other team in the CWS with two wins and no losses, so the Owls and Carolina are currently the favorites to proceed to the championship series.
The Owls’ next game is on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (television by ESPN2) against the winner of today’s Miami-Oregon State game and, if the Owls win that one, then they proceed to the first game of the championship series on Saturday evening. If the Owls lose tomorrow’s game, then they play the winner of that game again on Thursday night at 7 p.m. for the right to play in the championship series. Consequently, a win in tomorrow’s game would be huge for the Owls, who would then be able to preserve key pitching depth for the championship series while avoiding another pre-championship series game on Thursday. Baseball America’s continually updated bracket is here and Baseball America’s excellent CWS page is here, along with Aaron Fitt and Will Kimmey’s blog on the CWS.
By the way, this NY Times article from over the weekend will be of interest to those who follow the Rice baseball program. The article chronicles the surgeries that each of the three top pitchers from Rice’s 2003 NCAA Championship Baseball team have undergone during the initial stages of their professional careers.