As you’ve probably realized by now, I am a big fan of college baseball. I was fortunate enough to spend the early part of my life in Omaha, Nebraska, which has been home of the Men’s NCAA College World Series since 1950, and I was even more fortunate to have two parents who are baseball fans. With that combination, the College World Series became a yearly event for me. I remember in the late 1980’s, when my parents would pull me out of school a few minutes early, and we would grab sandwiches from Little King and head down to Rosenblatt Stadium for a double-header. I attended every CWS from 1983-1991, and I have seen at least one game at every series since 1995. I have seen at least 100 CWS games in person, although that number could be closer to 125.
With that in mind, and with the series set to get underway in a few weeks, I thought I would look back and present a list of my top ten College World Series games. This list is made up entirely of games I witnessed in person, so you will not find the Arizona State-Nebraska classic from 2005, which I contend is one of the best games I have ever seen (any sport, in person or on television). You will also not find the 13-inning affair between North Carolina and Cal State Fullerton from 2006 or LSU‘s dramatic walk-off, come-from-behind win over Stanford in the 2000 championship game. It is not because I do not deem these games worthy of making the list, but it is because I watched them on tv. (Perhaps if this goes well, later on I will put together a list of my all-time top CWS games, regardless of whether I watched from Rosenblatt or on television).
What you will find, are names such as Warren Morris, Carl Jernigan, Chris Kolkhorst and Brian Stavisky. None of these gentlemen have had a tremendous amount of success in the majors, but they all stepped onto the national stage in Omaha. You will also find names that are more familiar, such as Khalil Greene, Andrew Miller and Pat Burrell. After I selected the ten games for this list, I went about putting them in some sort of order. I based my decisions based on the quality of the game, the importance of the game, and the drama of the ending, as well as an assorted number of other factors (whether the team I was rooting for won had very little bearing). Beyond the top three, on which there is no debating (in my mind) of the order, the final seven are very interchangeable.
Here are a couple of games that just missed making the list:
Alabama 6, Rice 5 (1999): Rice's Damon Thames hit two home runs in the game, the second of which was a three-run blast that tied the game at 5-5 in the eighth inning. The Tide won the game an inning later on a single by Sam Bozanich.
Clemson 11, Nebraska 10 (2002): Jeff Baker's single in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Tigers to the win. Nebraska jumped out to a 7-2 lead after four innings, but Clemson took a 10-8 lead in the seventh on a three-run homer by Khalil Greene. The Cornhuskers tied the game with two runs in the eighth, which set the stage for Baker's heroics. Greene had 5 RBI, while Jed Morris drove in four for Nebraska.
Texas 2, Rice 1 (2002): The Longhorns had a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, when Eric Arnold hit a solo home run to get the Owls within one. Later in the inning, Rice had runners on first and second with two outs, when Texas third baseman Omar Quintanilla bobbled a ground ball. Vincent Sinisi tried to score on the error, but Quintanilla recovered to make a good throw and nail Sinisi at home to preserve the lead and the win.
Baylor 8, Tulane 7 (2005): The Bears trailed 7-0 after six innings, but scored all their runs in the final three innings to rally for the win. Baylor scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth, with the tying and winning runs scoring on a throwing error by Tulane second baseman Joe Holland. Holland was trying to turn a game-ending double-play, but his throw to first was wide and allowed both runs to score.
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