OMAHA, Neb. ― Eight teams remain in college baseball as Arizona, Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, Louisville, LSU, Murray State, Oregon State and UCLA vie for the national title at the 2025 College World Series at Charles Schwab Field beginning June 13.
Already, this group is making history. It’s the first time since 1957 that there will be no repeat trips to Omaha, as none of the eight teams that made it in 2024 are back this season. In fact, two teams that went to the CWS a year ago didn’t even qualify for the postseason in 2025.
Both Mitch Canham of Oregon State and Chip Hale of Arizona previously won national titles with the schools they currently coach. Both are vying to become the third person to ever win national titles as both a player and coach and the second to ever do both with the same school.
Here’s one storyline for each team you may not know:
Arizona: Chip Hale looking to add to his accolades
Hale has a lot of experience with World Series of all sorts. He won a title as a player with the Wildcats in 1986 and he was on the coaching staff of the 2019 Washington Nationals team that won the World Series. Though he never won an MLB World Series as a player, he was in Triple-A with the Minnesota Twins when they won it all in 1991.
By adding on a College World Series title as a coach, Hale could become uniquely decorated across levels of baseball.
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Arkansas: Why history favors the Razorbacks
College baseball has seen a funny trend over the past half-decade: the last five College World Series championships have been won by five different SEC teams. Three of those teams (Mississippi State in 2021, Mississippi in 2022 and Tennessee in 2024) won their school’s first-ever baseball titles.
If history holds, that leaves Arkansas as the last team standing. The Razorbacks are one of two SEC teams in Omaha, and the other is LSU, which just won two years ago. Arkansas is currently fourth in the country in most CWS appearances without a title, and if the Razorbacks’ 12th attempt in 2025 proves fruitless, they will move into a tie for second.
Coastal Carolina: Kevin Schnall in rare territory
Kevin Schnall is in his first year as Coastal Carolina’s head coach after the retirement of longtime coach Gary Gilmore. A first-year head coach has never won the national title; the closest was LSU’s Jay Johnson, who won in his second season in 2023. But Johnson had been a head coach before and had previously led Arizona to Omaha. Schnall had never been a head coach at any level before taking over the Chanticleers.
Louisville: Tague Davis chasing history
Louisville first baseman Tague Davis has hit 18 home runs this season, already well surpassing the program’s freshman home run record of 15. But Davis could go one step further. He’s currently third nationwide in freshman home runs, but he’s just two behind the leader, Loyola Marymount’s Nate Savoie. Davis is the only freshman with double-digit home runs still playing, and he can tie Savoie’s mark with two homers or secure the national lead with three.
LSU: National champions return
Two players recorded at least 100 plate appearances for both the 2023 LSU team that won the national title and the 2025 team: Jared Jones and Josh Pearson.
Jones started 47 games in 2023 but played only a minor role in Omaha, recording three at-bats. Pearson started all eight of LSU’s games in Omaha and hit .115. but he did contribute one home run and drew eight walks.
The pitching staff is entirely new, though. Of the 17 pitchers who recorded an inning for the 2023 Tigers, only Chase Shores has seen any action in 2025.
Murray State: The first-time participant
Murray State, which won both the Oxford Regional and the Durham Super Regional as the No. 4 seed, is making its first-ever appearance in Omaha. Just four other teams have made their first-ever trip to the College World Series in the last decade: UC Santa Barbara and Coastal Carolina in 2016, Washington in 2018 and Kentucky in 2024.
It’s worth noting that not only are the Chanticleers making their second-ever Omaha appearance along with Murray State in 2025, but they won the national title during their first appearance in 2016.
Oregon State: An independent season
With Pac-12 baseball dormant, Oregon State became an independent for the 2025 season. It’s rarely done, but the last team to compete as an independent had a lot of success. Miami won four national titles and was runner-up two other times as an independent.
No other high-level college baseball team has been with out a conference since the Hurricanes joined the ACC in 2004.
UCLA: Back after a break
Among the teams in Omaha that have been there before, UCLA is the one that’s waited the longest to get back. The Bruins won a national title in 2013, but they haven’t made the trip since. That includes losing two different times as the No. 1 overall seed, in 2015 and 2019.
UCLA has had a tough time post-COVID, failing to qualify for a regional in both 2023 and 2024. But the Bruins are finally back, and they become the first Big Ten team to go to Omaha since the Michigan team that eliminated them in 2019.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
