College World Series 2017: First-Round Tournament Schedule and Title Predictions

Saturday will kick off the opening action of the 2017 College World Series, wherein eight remaining teams will face off in Omaha, Nebraska, to determine this year's Division I college baseball champion. 

This season, Oregon State, Texas A&M, Cal State Fullerton, Louisville, Florida State, TCU, LSU and Florida are the teams that made it through the Super Regionals and will compete within two brackets at TD Ameritrade Park over the course of the first round this weekend. 

The full schedule for the College World Series can be found at NCAA.com. A complete overview of every matchup in the first round of the tournament, as well as predictions for the best-of-three championship series to be held on June 26-28, is below. 

2017 CWS First-Round Schedule

Saturday, June 17: Cal State Fullerton vs. Oregon State, 3 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Saturday, June 17: Florida State vs. LSU, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Sunday, June 18: Texas A&M vs. Louisville, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Sunday, June 18: TCU vs. Florida, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

After the first round of the series concludes, the teams that lose Saturday will meet again on Monday at 1 p.m. in the double-elimination style format. The two teams that win Saturday will meet each other on Monday at 6 p.m.

Similarly, Sunday's losers will face each other on Tuesday in the afternoon, while the two winners from Sunday's matchups will meet Tuesday evening. 

Title Prediction: Oregon State vs. Florida

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

The Oregon State Beavers (49-4) are the No. 1-ranked team in the country and look to have a solid chance of advancing past No. 20 Cal State Fullerton (34-21) as well as the winner between No. 16 Florida State (39-20) and No. 3 LSU (42-17) in the first round to reach the championship series. 

Sure, LSU could give Oregon State a run for its money should the Tigers, as expected, best the Seminoles in their matchup on Saturday. 

The No. 3 Tigers haven't lost a game since the start of NCAA play.

However, neither have the Beavers. 

Oregon State makes its sixth appearance in the College World Series this year:

Though the Beavers are the nation's top-ranked team, there is a cloud of uncertainty (and darkness) surrounding their bid for the title as allegations surfaced that star pitcher Luke Heimlich pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexually molesting a six-year-old female family member as a teenager, as originally reported by The Oregonian. 

In the days following the report, Heimlich—who as of Wednesday morning has yet to be selected in the MLB draft—excused himself from his team's series with Vanderbilt, which the Beavers swept. 

Even if Heimlich does not play in the College World Series—and many feel that he should not have the opportunity to—however, the Beavers demonstrated in their series with Vandy that they can do just fine without him. 

As for who the Beavers could meet from the other bracket, No. 4 Florida (47-18) looks like a good bet. 

The Gators went 3-1 in their regional against Bethune-Cookman, then defeated Wake Forest 3-0 in the Super Regional to advance to the CWS. 

Florida finds itself in the tournament for the sixth time in the past eight years. Last year, eventual champion Coastal Carolina ended Florida's hopes at a title. 

Now, the Gators look to clinch their first CWS championship. Behind pitchers Alex Faedo and Brady Singer, they just may.

Prediction: Florida