2008 College World Series

College World Series
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The 2008 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE. The participating schools qualified by winning their Regional and Super-Regional tournaments. The finals were an interesting set of firsts - Fresno State was the first No. 4 regional seed to make it to the College World Series, let alone the finals, while Georgia was the first team to have a losing record one year and make the CWS finals the next. Fresno State won the title, becoming the team with the most losses (31) to win the CWS as well as the lowest seed to do so. Tommy Mendonca of Fresno State was voted the Most Outstanding Player.

Participating Teams

Bracket 1

School		Conference	Record (Conference)	Head Coach	CWS Appearances	CWS Best Finish	CWS W-L Record
	Florida State University	Atlantic Coast Conference	54-13 (24-6)	Mike Martin	18 (last: 2000)	2nd (1970, 1986, 1999)	25-36
	University of Georgia	Southeastern Conference	42-23-1 (20-9-1)	Dave Perno	5 (last: 2006)	1st (1990)	6-9
	University of Miami	Atlantic Coast Conference	53-9 (23-5)	Jim Morris	22 (last: 2006)	1st (1982, 1985, 1999, 2001)	46-36
	Stanford University	Pacific-10 Conference	40-22-2 (14-10)	Mark Marquess	15 (last: 2003)	1st (1987, 1988)	38-27

Bracket 2

School		Conference	Record (Conference)	Head Coach	CWS Appearances	CWS Best Finish	CWS W-L Record
	Fresno State	Western Athletic Conference	42-29 (21-11)	Mike Batesole	3 (last: 1991)	3rd (1959)	4-6
	Louisiana State University	Southeastern Conference	48-17-1 (18-11-1)	Paul Mainieri	13 (last: 2004)	1st (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000)	29-17
	University of North Carolina	Atlantic Coast Conference	51-12 (22-7)	Mike Fox	6 (last: 2007)	2nd (2006, 2007)	10-13
	Rice University	Conference USA	47-13 (21-3)	Wayne Graham	6 (last: 2007)	1st (2003)	10-11

Results

2008 College World Series Bracket

The teams in the CWS are divided into two pools of four, with each pool playing a double-elimination format. The winners of the two pools meet in a best-of-three finals.

	First round					Second round					Semifinals						Finals
	1	Miami	4
	8	Georgia	7
						8	Georgia	4
							Stanford	3
	4	Florida State	5
		Stanford	16
											8	Georgia	10	--
											Stanford	8	--
	1	Miami	7
	4	Florida State	5
						1	Miami	3
							Stanford	8
																8	Georgia	7	10	1
																	Fresno State	6	19	6
		Fresno State	17
	6	Rice	5
							Fresno State	5
						2	North Carolina	3
	2	North Carolina	8
	7	LSU	4
												Fresno State	3	6
										2	North Carolina	4	1
	6	Rice	5
	7	LSU	6
						7	LSU	3
						2	North Carolina	7

Game Results

Date	Game	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
June 15	Game 1	Stanford University	16-5	Florida State	Stanford becomes the first team in 14 years to score 11 runs in one inning in the College World Series, putting it away in the 9th to break a 5-5 tie. FSU shortstop Tony Delmonico makes three errors.
	Game 2	Georgia	7-4	Miami	After winning 45 games in a row in which they led entering the 9th, top seed Miami blows it as first-round draftee Carlos Gutierrez makes a two-run error.
June 15	Game 3	Fresno State	17-5	Rice University	Rice, with the #5 ERA in NCAA Division I (3.63), allows the most runs in a College World Series in 7 years to underdog Fresno State. Fresno State hits 3 3-run homers in the rout.
	Game 4	North Carolina	8-4	Louisiana State University	LSU loses for only the second time in a 27-game stretch
June 16	Game 5	Miami	7-5	Florida State	Florida State eliminated. In a sudden-death match-up, Miami tops their Florida rivals. FSU strands a CWS record 17 runners. Carlos Gutierrez almost blows his second save in a row for Miami.
	Game 6	Georgia	4-3	Stanford	Matt Cerione breaks the 3-3 tie with a 2-out single with the bases loaded in the 7th to give Georgia the close win.
June 17	Game 7	Louisiana State	6-5	Rice	Rice eliminated. Rice blows a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the 9th as former All-American Cole St. Clair. The big hit is a 3-run double by DH Blake Dean.
	Game 8	Fresno State	5-3	North Carolina	Fresno State, the lowest ranked seed in the tournament, becomes the second 2-0 team with its second upset in a row.
June 18	Game 9	Stanford	8-3	Miami	Miami eliminated. The #1 seed is knocked out as their powerful offense sputters. Cord Phelps falls a homer shy of the cycle and drives in two for Stanford and Sean Ratliff homers.
June 19/June 20	Game 10	North Carolina	7-3	Louisiana State	Louisiana State eliminated. Due to rain, the game was halted on June 19 and resumed the next day. The score was even at 3 going into the 9th. Louis Coleman allowed a hit then intentionally walked Dustin Ackley and Tim Fedroff to put the potential winning run at the plate. Tim Federowicz then hit a 2-out grand slam to ruin LSU manager Paul Mainieri's two free passes.
June 21	Game 11	Georgia	10-8	Stanford	Stanford eliminated. Rich Poythress ties the CWS record with 3 doubles in a game and Ryan Peisel delivers a 3-run homer as Georgia edges Stanford to move to the finals.
	Game 12	North Carolina	4-3	Fresno State	Fresno State's magic run is at least temporarily put on hold as UNC tries to go to the finals for a third year in a row. Chad Flack's 2-run 8th-inning homer is the big blow.
June 22	Game 13	Fresno State	6-1	North Carolina	North Carolina eliminated. UNC fails to make the finals for the third year in a row. Clayton Allison allowed one run in six innings and Tommy Mendonca drove in four for the Bulldogs.
June 23	Game 14	Georgia	7-6	Fresno State	Fresno State and Georgia battled evenly for 7 innings to a 3-3 tie. In the 8th, Fresno State broke through for three runs. Closer Brandon Burke struggled, though, allowing 4 runs in the bottom of the inning, to lose the game. The big shot was a 2-run homer by Gordon Beckham to become Georgia's all-time home run king. Josh Fields went 1-2-3 in the 9th for his 18th save in 18 chances this season.
June 24	Game 15	Fresno State	19-10	Georgia	For the first time this season, Fresno State comes back from a 5-run deficit, battling back for a rout. Georgia allows the most runs it had in a game since 2001. Tommy Mendonca ties the CWS record with his 4th home run, a 3-run shot in the third inning.
June 25	Game 16	Fresno State	6-1	Georgia	Fresno State wraps up their astounding title, the first in school history, behind the pitching of Justin Wilson, who fanned 9 while throwing shutout ball for 7 innings before Gordon Beckham homered for Georgia's lone run. Steve Detwiler homered twice and drove in six to lead the Fresno State offense.

All Tournament Team

The following players were members of the All-Tournament Team

Position	Player	School
P	Alex White	North Carolina
	Justin Wilson	Fresno State
1B	Dustin Ackley	North Carolina
2B	Erik Wetzel	Fresno State
3B	Tommy Mendonca	Fresno State
SS	Gordon Beckham	Georgia
C	Jason Castro	Stanford
OF	Tim Fedroff	North Carolina
	Steve Susdorf	Fresno State
	Steve Detwiler	Fresno State
DH	Ryan Peisel	Georgia