Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
Eight teams head to Omaha this week for a shot at NCAA baseball immortality
Eight teams are on their way to Omaha for the 2024 Men’s College World Series.
Only one will earn the right to be called a National Champion.
A field that began with 64 teams in pursuit of a dream has been trimmed to eight, and now those final teams have been split into two brackets. On one side of the tournament you have North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida State. The other finds NC State, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas A&M.
That’s right, eight teams representing just two conferences, the SEC and the ACC.
Later this week the eight teams will head to Omaha to begin the final two stages of the Men’s College World Series, starting with a pair of double elimination tournaments to trim the field to the final two, and then a best-of-three series to crown a champion.
Here are the teams, the brackets, the full schedule, how to watch, and more.
Finalists
Here are the eight finalists, listed in order of their ranking heading into the NCAA Men’s Baseball Tournament.
(1) Tennessee
(2) Kentucky
(3) Texas A&M
(4) North Carolina
(8) Florida State
(10) NC State
(12) Virginia
Florida
As you can see, seven of the eight teams were among the ranked 16 teams when the field of 64 began play. Only one team — Florida — survived to this point as an unranked team.
Format and Brackets
The NCAA Men’s Baseball Tournament follows something of a hybrid model, beginning with a double-elimination tournament (the Regionals) and then a best-of-three series (the Super Regionals).
The Men’s College World Series uses both over the final two segments. In the Men’s College World Series the eight teams are divided into two brackets, and play a double-elimination tournament. A winner emerges from each bracket, and those two teams meet in the Men’s College World Series Final, which is a best-of-three series.
Bracket 1
The first bracket consists of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Florida State.
Bracket 2
The second bracket consists of Florida, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and NC State.
You can see the full bracket here:
Men’s College World Series Final schedule and results
Saturday, June 22
Game 1: Texas A&M 9, Tennessee 5 (Texas A&M leads series 1-0)
Sunday, June 23
Game 2: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M | 2:00 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+
Monday, June 24
Game 3 (if necessary): Tennessee vs. Texas A&M | 7 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+
Men’s College World Series schedule and results
Friday, June 14
Game 1: North Carolina 3, Virginia 2
Game 2: Tennessee 12, Florida State 11
Saturday, June 15
Game 3: Kentucky 5, NC State 4
Game 4: Texas A&M 3, Florida 2
Sunday, June 16
Game 5: Florida State 7, Virginia 3 (Virginia eliminated)
Game 6: Tennessee 6, UNC 1
Monday, June 17
Game 7: Florida 5, NC State 4 (NC State eliminated)
Game 8: Texas A&M 5, Kentucky 1
Tuesday, June 18
Game 9: Florida State 9, UNC 5 (UNC eliminated)
Game 10: Kentucky vs. Florida | 7 p.m. ET | (Postponed due to weather)
Wednesday June 19
Game 10: Florida 15, Kentucky 4 (Kentucky eliminated)
Game 11: Tennessee 7, Florida State 2 (Florida State eliminated)
Game 12: Texas A&M 6, Florida 0 (Florida eliminated)