Fresh off the Dallas Mavericks' victory in game six of the NBA finals over the Miami Heat for the NBA championship. The state of Texas will try and muster up enough energy to ride out the week-long College World Series tournament to hope for another reason to skip work and head to an over-the-top-parade.
The Longhorns and Aggies head into this weeks' tournament as legitimate contenders for a national title. Texas is a perennial contender while Texas A&M has shown flashes of the ability to play with anyone in the country this year. If the right Texas A&M team shows up in Omaha, they have a shot at making some noise. They need to show some consistency on the mound if they are going to contend for the title. It's not going to be easy for either of these teams as Virginia, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are all playing like teams ready to dog pile next week.
The Texas Rangers loss in the World Series to the San Francisco Giants last year and the Dallas Cowboys dismal showing last fall has the fans in this state ready for more than just one championship.
Texas takes on Florida Saturday night at 7pm ET on ESPN while Texas A&M takes on South Carolina Sunday night at 7pm ET on ESPN2.
Texas vs Florida is a battle of the dominant pitchers for Texas against the dominant hitters for Florida. Texas is currently ranked second in the country with a team ERA of 2.27, while Florida currently ranks fifth in the country with 67 home runs this season.
Texas A&M is ranked 13th in the country in ERA at 2.88 while South Carolina sits at fifth at 2.60. Texas A&M needs Michael Wacha to pitch like he did in the regional and super regional to have a chance at beating the powerhouse that is South Carolina. The defending national champions are being overshadowed by Virginia for some reason in this tournament. But with as much talent as there is in Omaha this year, nobody should be overlooked.
This is going to be an exciting couple of weeks of college baseball and the state of Texas has two reason to be excited.