A former Aledo Bearcat and his college team are among the final eight standing as the College World Series gets underway in Omaha, Nebraska this weekend.
Max Lucas, who is in his first season with Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma as an infielder, has helped the Golden Eagles (51-12) to their first CWS appearance since 1978. Back then the team was known as the Titans and played as an independent, whereas now they compete in the Summit League, ironically, along with the University of Omaha.
Also, ironic, Lucas and the Eagles will open the CWS against TCU (42-22) Friday at 1 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field, home of the Creighton baseball team.
"I'm very excited for Max and the Oral Roberts team and staff. It's extremely hard to get there, so it's a testament to their hard work and commitment to each other and the team first mentality," Aledo coach Chad Barry said. "I wish them all the best."
Lucas, a transfer from Panola College in Carthage, has played in a dozen games this season, including four starts. He has a .346 batting average with a pair of doubles and two runs batted in.
The Golden Eagles won the Summit League with a 23-1 record. At one point they were 10-8 and have since gone 41-4.
The Golden Eagles are only the third team to qualify for the CWS after entering a four-team regional as the No. 4 seed. They hope to duplicate the accomplishment of Cal State Fullerton in 2008 when they won the national championship after being a fourth seed at regionals and not go the way of Stonybrook in 2012 when they went 0-2 in the CWS.
The Eagles won the Stillwater Regional in Oklahoma, sweeping three games. They defeated No. 11 Oklahoma State 6-4, Washington 15-12 and Dallas Baptist 6-5.
ORU won the Oregon Super Regional, rallying back to defeat the Oregon Ducks in three games. In the first game they were part of the largest comeback in NCAA Super Regionals history as the Ducks overcame an 8-0 deficit to win 9-8. In Game 2, it was the Eagles who came back to win 8-7 with two runs in the bottom of the ninth after they trailed 7-4 in the seventh.
In the third game, ORU won 11-6.
The Eagles will be facing another of the nation's hottest teams in TCU. The Horned Frogs have won 19 of 21 since they once stood 23-20 and were in danger of missing the postseason altogether.
TCU has a 26-19 all-time series advantage against ORU, including a 3-1 win last season in the College Station Regional. However, they are 3-3 in their six postseason meetings.
This will be TCU's sixth CWS appearance since 2010, when they finished third. The Horned Frogs also went in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, finishing third again in their last appearance.
TCU qualified for the CWS after sweeping No. 14 Indiana State 4-1 and 6-4 last weekend in Fort Worth in their super regional matchup, a series that was actually scheduled to be in Terre Haute, Indiana before it had to be switched due to hotel logistics. ISU was hosting the Indiana State Special Olympics.
The previous weekend TCU swept through the Fayetteville Regional, which included wins of 20-5 and 12-4 over No. 3 Arkansas.
Joining ORU and TCU in Omaha will be No. 2 Florida (50-15) and No. 7 Virginia (50-13) in one bracket, while the other bracket will feature No. 1 Wake Forest (52-10), No. 8 Stanford (43-17), No. 5 LSU (48-15) and Tennessee (42-19).
The winners of the two brackets will meet in a best-of-three series June 24-26 to determine the national champion. The CWS is set to be broadcast on ESPN, with the two bracket finals broadcast site yet to be determined, though it will be in the ESPN family, including ESPN+ and ESPNU
Aledo came close to having two former Bearcats participating in Omaha. Outfielder Max Belyeau and the Texas Longhorns (42-22) lost the third game of their best-of-three series to Stanford in Palo Alto, California in heartbreaking fashion Monday.
The Longhorns overcame a 6-3 deficit to tie the game, only to have the Cardinal win 7-6 with a run in the bottom of the ninth after Texas outfielders lost sight of the ball in the lights. The ball dropped in for a walkoff hit.
Belyeau played in 15 games this season, starting four. He batted .300 with a double and two RBI.
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