MCWS 2024 championship preview: What's at stake for two legendary programs - ESPN

OMAHA, Neb. — Any stroll in or around Charles Schwab Field is an instant history lesson on the teams that have celebrated a Men's College World Series title. There are plaques lining the wall that separates center field from the outside world, broken up by decades, all the way back to the first MCWS in 1947. There are banners mounted to the towering walls of the main concourse, listing every champ, five teams at a time. And finally, there is the mural on Mike Fahey Street, one of the most popular pregame selfie spots, with pennants posted for every college baseball program that has ever been the sport's last team standing, er, dogpiling.

There are 31 champions in all, from the blue bloods — OK, purple, burnt orange and cardinal bloods — of LSU, Texas and USC, to the legendary underdogs and wonder dogs of Coastal Carolina, Holy Cross and Fresno State. Rice, Michigan, Pepperdine, Wichita State, so many schools from so many regions over so many years.

Except two glaring MIA programs. The very two that will be competing this weekend for their first baseball natty and long-denied Omaha glory.

«It does seem odd, doesn't it?» confessed Jim Schlossnagle, coach of the Texas A&M Aggies, a proud program with a Rome-like ballpark built for intimidation and an eight-time MCWS participant, with no rings to show for it. Yet. «You look at the coaches, players and history, especially recent history of us and them and you'd think one of us would have won this at some point along the way.»

«That's the truth,» agreed Tony Vitello, leader of a Tennessee Volunteers baseball program that has come up empty during its previous six Omaha visits, a number that seems mighty paltry for a ballclub that has produced the likes of just elected Baseball