2021 College World Series

College World Series
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The 2021 College World Series was played at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, NE from June 18 to June 30, the tournament resuming after falling victim to the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Eight teams qualified for the tournament by winning their Regional and Super-Regional Tournaments. The field was broken into two double elimination brackets of four teams each.

Mississippi State University defeated Vanderbilt University in the finals, for the school's first ever championship. Will Bednar was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player.

Participating Teams

Bracket 1

School		Conference	Record (Conference)	Head Coach	CWS Appearances	CWS Best Finish	CWS W-L Record
	University of Arizona	Pacific-12 Conference	45-16 (21-9)	Jay Johnson	17 (last:2016 )	1st (1976, 1980, 1986, 2012)	42-29
	North Carolina State University	Atlantic Coast Conference	36-18 (19-14)	Elliott Avent	2 (last:2013 )	3rd (1968)	3-4
	Stanford University	Pacific-12 Conference	38-15 (17-10)	Dave Esquer	16 (last:2008 )	1st (1987, 1988)	40-29
	Vanderbilt University	Southeastern Conference	45-15 (19-10)	Tim Corbin	4 (last:2019 )	1st (2014, 2019)	16-6

Bracket 2

School		Conference	Record (Conference)	Head Coach	CWS Appearances	CWS Best Finish	CWS W-L Record
	Mississippi State University	Southeastern Conference	45-16 (20-10)	Chris Lemonis	10 (last:2019 )	2nd (2013)	13-22
	University of Tennessee	Southeastern Conference	50-16 (20-10)	Tony Vitello	4 (last:2005 )	2nd (1951)	8-8
	University of Texas at Austin	Big 12 Conference	47-15 (17-7)	David Pierce	36 (last:2018 )	1st (1949, 1950, 1975, 1983, 2002, 2005)	85-61
	University of Virginia	Atlantic Coast Conference	35-25 (18-18)	Brian O'Connor	4 (last:2015 )	1st (2015)	12-7

Results

2021 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
	9	Stanford	4
		NC State	10
							NC State	1
							Vanderbilt	0
	5	Arizona	6
	4	Vanderbilt	712
												NC State	1	forfeit
											Vanderbilt	3	*
		Stanford	14
		Arizona	5
							Vanderbilt	6
							Stanford	5
																	Vanderbilt	8	2	0
																	Mississippi St.	2	13	9
	2	Texas	1
	7	Mississippi St.	2
							Mississippi St.	6
							Virginia	5
		Virginia	6
	3	Tennessee	0
												Mississippi St.	5	4
											Texas	8	3
		Texas	8
		Tennessee	4
							Virginia	2
							Texas	6

Game Results

Date	Game	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
June 19	Game 1	North Carolina State University	10-4	Stanford University	Jonny Butler drives in five as NC State romps Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year Brendan Beck.
	Game 2	Vanderbilt University	7-6 (12)	University of Arizona	Arizona scores 3 in the 1st and 5 overall off Kumar Rocker, but Vanderbilt comes back to win in extra innings.
June 20	Game 3	University of Virginia	6-0	University of Tennessee
	Game 4	Mississippi State University	2-1	University of Texas at Austin	Mississippi St. pitchers Will Bednar and Landon Sims combine for a CWS record 21 strikeouts.
June 21	Game 5	Stanford University	14-5	University of Arizona	Brock Jones doubles, homers and drives in five to keep Stanford alive. Arizona eliminated
	Game 6	North Carolina State University	1-0	Vanderbilt University	Jack Leiter strikes out 15 but gives up a 5th-inning homer to Terrell Tatum, whereas Sam Highfill and Evan Justice combine on a two-hit shutout to beat college baseball's 2021 K king.
June 22	Game 7	University of Texas at Austin	8-4	University of Tennessee	Tanner Witt pitches 5 2/3 shutout innings of relief while Silas Ardoin hits the tiebreaking, two-run single. Tennessee eliminated
	Game 8	Mississippi State University	6-5	University of Virginia	Virginia's Griff McGarry takes a no-hitter into the 8th, but Mississippi St. scores 6 in the 8th behind 2 homers to win.
June 23	Game 9	Vanderbilt University	6-5	Stanford University	With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Vanderbilt rallies to score 2, including a walk-off wild pitch Stanford eliminated
June 24	Game 10	University of Texas at Austin	6-2	University of Virginia	Virginia eliminated
June 25	Game 11	Vanderbilt University	3-1	North Carolina State University	NC State has 14 players ruled out due to Covid-19 protocols, leaving only 13 players on the roster.
	Game 12	University of Texas at Austin	8-5	Mississippi State University
June 26	Game 13	Vanderbilt University	xxx	North Carolina State University	Game declared a "no-contest" and Vanderbilt advances due to Covid-19 Protocols. North Carolina St. eliminated
	Game 14	Mississippi State University	4-3	University of Texas at Austin	Miss St. gets a walk-off single in the 9th. Texas eliminated
June 28	Game 1	Vanderbilt University	8-2	Mississippi State University
June 29	Game 2	Mississippi State University	13-2	Vanderbilt University
June 30	Game 3	Mississippi State University	9-0	Vanderbilt University	Will Bednar and Landon Sims combine on a one-hitter as Kumar Rocker has his worst start of the year Mississippi St. wins CWS

All Tournament Team

The following players were members of the All-Tournament Team:

Position	Player	School
P	Will Bednar	Mississippi State
	Jack Leiter	Vanderbilt
1B	Luke Hancock	Mississippi State
2B	Tim Tawa	Stanford
3B	Zack Gelof	Virginia
SS	Lane Forsythe	Mississippi State
C	Logan Tanner	Mississippi State
OF	Tanner Allen	Mississippi State
	Brock Jones	Stanford
	Rowdey Jordan	Mississippi State
DH	Ivan Melendez	Texas

Notable Players

• University of Arizona: Chase Silseth, Daniel Susac
• Mississippi State University: Will Bednar, Landon Sims
• University of Tennessee: Jordan Beck, Drew Gilbert, Trey Lipscomb
• Vanderbilt University: Spencer Jones, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker
• University of Virginia: Andrew Abbott, Griff McGarry, Mike Vasil

Further Reading

• Matt Kelly: "Bednar unhittable en route to CWS crown", mlb.com, June 30, 2021. [1]
• Elizabeth Merrill: "College World Series 2021 - Mississippi State ends a 126-year title drought", ESPN.com, July 1, 2021. [2]