CWS 2015: Predicting Winners and Scores for Tuesday's NCAA Baseball Bracket
The 2015 College World Series marches on as one team will join the Arkansas Razorbacks in saying an abrupt goodbye to Omaha, Nebraska.
The LSU Tigers and Cal State Fullerton Titans will meet in Tuesday's first game to determine who will become the second school eliminated from the CWS field. After that, a place in the semifinals will be on the line as the TCU Horned Frogs and Vanderbilt Commodores battle in what should be a great game.
Let's look ahead to these two matchups, both of which should have plenty of drama.
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Tuesday Schedule
| 3 p.m. | LSU | Cal State Fullerton | ESPN2 | Watch ESPN |
| 8 p.m. | Vanderbilt | TCU | ESPN | Watch ESPN |
Tuesday Preview and Prediction
LSU vs. Cal State Fullerton
Who would've thought LSU would be fighting for its College World Series life after just a single game? The Tigers were one of the best teams in the country heading into Omaha, and their stay might be over almost as soon as it began.
It would be unfair to blame LSU's 10-3 defeat to TCU solely on the two errors by Jared Poche. With that said, the complexion of the game changed radically after the Tigers starter gave the Horned Frogs not one but two lifelines to start the top of the fourth. They proceeded to take a 2-0 lead and didn't look back
LSU coach Paul Mainieri sounded almost shell-shocked after the game, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com):
"He comes out in the first inning with all the pressure in the world on his shoulders, and he strikes out the side and gets nine up, nine down and should have had 11 up, 11 down. The next two batters hit feeble groundballs right back to him and he didn't execute the play. It spiraled from there.
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D1Baseball.com's Aaron Fitt also thought Poche looked rattled after the errors:
The good news for LSU is that it doesn't have to see the TCU pitching staff again Tuesday, and it's facing perhaps the weakest team in Omaha—certainly the weakest team in the Tigers' half of the bracket. Plus, what more can go wrong after Sunday's defeat?
The Titans shouldn't be summarily dismissed, but they are hitting .265 as a team, which ranks 197th in the country. They're also tied for 111th in runs (313) and 230th in slugging (.355).
Cal State Fullerton's pitching can take the team a long away, as evidenced by the group's victory over the Louisville Cardinals in the super regional.
However, that three-game series also illustrated that the Titans' margin for error is so small when they're facing the elite in college baseball. Both of their wins over Louisville came by one run in extra innings.
Fullerton could pull off a victory Tuesday, but the Tigers have the Titans out-manned. The talent gap should be enough for LSU to stay alive.
Prediction: LSU 3, Cal State Fullerton 1
Vanderbilt vs. TCU
Simply put, until Vanderbilt loses, I'm not picking against the defending national champion. The Commodores haven't lost since the NCAA tournament began, including a 21-0 victory in that run over Radford and a two-game sweep of Illinois in Champaign.
Yes, Vandy needed some magic to beat Fullerton on Monday, but give the Commodores credit for coming back and scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth:
Of course, TCU did beat Vanderbilt earlier in the year. The Horned Frogs picked up a 4-2 win in Los Angeles on March 8.
"That was a long time ago," said TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle, per Carlos Mendez of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "We're a more complete club now than we were then, and I'm sure they are, too."
Vanderbilt is so balanced across the board. The Commodores have an offense led by No. 1 draft pick Dansby Swanson and augmented by the likes of Zander Wiel, Bryan Reynolds and Rhett Wiseman. In addition, Vandy's pitching staff ranks first in strikeouts per nine innings (9.7) and third in hits allowed per nine innings (7.03).
The Horned Frogs have a great staff themselves. They're second in earned-run average (2.38), sixth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.19) and fifth in hits allowed per nine innings (7.23).
The fact TCU is 12th in stolen bases per game (1.89) only makes the team that much more tricky to play. The Horned Frogs don't need a ton of power in order to manufacture runs.
It sounds like I'm hedging when I say you can reasonably pick either team to win this game and be completely justified, but I've already said that I'm backing the reigning champs. The Commodores will squeak by as TCU's offense struggles to repeat its performance versus LSU.
Prediction: Vanderbilt 2, TCU 1
Note: Stats are courtesy of NCAA.com and up to date as of 2:50 a.m. ET Tuesday.
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