Elizabeth MerrillJun 15, 2025, 09:00 AM ET
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Elizabeth Merrill is a senior author for ESPN. She beforehand wrote for The Kansas Metropolis Star and The Omaha World-Herald.
OMAHA, Neb. — Each time a brand new group makes it to Omaha, Shane Hughes will get a hat.
The Nebraska native has seen tons of of video games on the Males’s School World Sequence, many involving faculties resembling LSU and Stanford. However Hughes loves it when a first-time group prompts him and his buddies to google the varsity to seek out out the place it’s situated, like they did final week when Murray State, which is in western Kentucky, was beating Duke in an excellent regional. Hughes likes to commemorate these uncommon years when upsets convey new blood to Omaha by shopping for the first-time qualifier’s hat.
On Saturday morning, he walked previous the farmers market and stopped contained in the Hyatt Place in downtown Omaha, Murray State’s group resort, and purchased a Racers’ hat at a merchandise stand. Hughes figured the distinctive brand — a horseshoe wrapped round a jockey and a horse — would in all probability make for a superb dialog piece, very similar to his 2012 Stony Brook lid.
“I think Omaha old-school fans that go every year like to root for that newbie, that underdog,” Hughes stated, “as a result of baseball is a romantic sport, man. … We at all times wish to see the little man on the large stage do effectively.
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“We like seeing the look on the peoples’ faces when they think Omaha is nothing but a cornfield, and they get here and they realize it really is baseball’s Disneyland.”
The faculty baseball postseason was a bumpy experience for blue bloods in 2025. No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 2 Texas had been gone within the first weekend. Solely three of the highest 10 seeds survived tremendous regionals, making this one of the vital various Males’s School World Sequence in latest reminiscence. Quickly, it may not be an anomaly.
A yr after the SEC and ACC accounted for the entire MCWS berths (4 every), six conferences are represented this yr, in addition to an impartial (Oregon State). The SEC has gained the previous 5 nationwide championships however has solely two contenders this yr. Not one of the groups on this yr’s MCWS discipline made it to Omaha final summer season. It’s the primary time since 1957 that has occurred, based on ESPN Analysis.
Dan Tauken (left), Jonathan Hogart and Murray State are representing the Missouri Valley Convention on this yr’s MCWS. Steven Branscombe-Imagn Photos
Kendall Rogers, co-owner of D1Baseball.com, stated faculty baseball — and faculty athletics generally — is changing into a spot of parity.
“I’d be lying if I said [the MCWS field] didn’t surprise me a little bit,” Rogers stated. “However I do assume it is a glimpse of the type of issues to return in faculty baseball.
“When you look at the finances, when you look at the scholarship situations and you look at the fact that now we’re about to go to 34 roster spots, you’re going to see more College World Series fields like this.”
Within the latest settlement of the Home v. NCAA, scholarship limits for Division I baseball practically tripled, going from 11.7 to 34, which would appear to learn the facility conferences. However Rogers stated he thinks the brand new 34-player roster restrict (beforehand 40) will assist mid-major groups as a result of the gamers who don’t make a big-school group might want to go elsewhere, and that it’s going to have a trickle-down impact to the decrease mid-majors.
Rogers stated that some athletic applications are additionally pouring more cash into baseball as a better pathway to publicity than greater cash sports activities resembling soccer. Coastal Carolina, one in every of this yr’s MCWS contributors, is an instance of a nonpower convention program reaping the rewards for its dedication to baseball. Coastal Carolina is making its first journey again to Omaha since 2016, when the Chanticleers gained the nationwide championship of their first look.
“I just think the pathway to exposure in college baseball on the national stage is a lot easier than some other sports,” Rogers stated. “Especially, I mean obviously — football.”
A number of longtime Males’s School World Sequence observers observed that the vibe round city this week appeared a bit extra subdued than in years previous. Rogers figured that the majority followers had been gearing up for Saturday evening’s conflict between No. 3 Arkansas and No. 6 LSU. The SEC faculties are the best seeds within the discipline, and one in every of them shall be eradicated sooner or later subsequent week as a result of they’re in the identical bracket.
It’s one other instance of the oddity of 2025 on the MCWS. Heath Mello, CEO of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, laughed when requested whether or not his workplace was rooting for LSU to beat West Virginia final weekend in its tremendous regional, as a result of SEC groups historically convey a throng of followers and since no fan base follows its group extra to Omaha, or has a popularity for spending more cash in bars and eating places, than LSU.
Mellow stated it was “exciting” to see the variety of groups, which provides his group an opportunity to point out off the town to new individuals. UCLA, for instance, hasn’t been to the MCWS since 2013.
However after all he’s completely satisfied to see LSU.
“They bring in a special energy,” Mello stated. “We know that our local restaurants, our small businesses, they appreciate everybody who comes in. But they do notice the fan base that LSU brings year in and year out. And particularly that they bring a fan base when they don’t make the series. Which is why you see a lot of camaraderie, I would say, with Omaha’s CWS faithful and LSU.”
Final yr, sans LSU, was the largest Males’s School World collection within the metropolis’s historical past, Mello stated. It garnered an estimated $115 million in financial affect, supported greater than 22,000 native jobs and stuffed 75,000 resort room nights.
He stated it’s too early to know if this yr’s occasion shall be greater.
UCLA final gained the MCWS in 2013. Steven Branscombe-Imagn Photos
Round lunchtime Saturday, Hughes arrived at Barry O’s Tavern, a four-decades-old institution that has indicators touting itself as “Baseball Central.” Bar supervisor CJ Olaez had simply opened the entrance door, readying himself for Day 2 of the MCWS crush. Olaez, a San Antonio native, is sporting a cowboy hat and a Longhorns’ T-shirt.
He’s lengthy over his group’s loss in regionals — he’s extra of a soccer fan anyway. In addition to, he’s too busy to maintain observe of scores this time of yr. He has observed the absence of among the regulars — and a few new faces. UCLA is staying throughout the road on the Embassy Suites, and newcomers are coming in asking for dinner menus unaware that the one meals they’ve are chips and peanuts.
4 years in the past, when Mississippi State made it to the MCWS, the bar was hopping, he stated. Busch Lights and Previous Fashioneds flowed, and Olaez heard their tales, just like the man who saved saying he wanted to go dwelling and go to work, however then the Bulldogs saved profitable and he didn’t go anyplace.
LSU can be staying throughout the road, so Olaez figures it gained’t be boring subsequent week. It by no means is.
“It’s nice to have new faces around,” he stated.
