Eight things to know about the 2025 NCAA Men's College World Series field

The 2025 College World Series begins at 2 p.m.

ET on Friday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

The field consists of two teams from the SEC (Arkansas and LSU) and one each from the ACC (Louisville), Big 12 (Arizona), Big Ten (UCLA), Missouri Valley (Murray State) and Sun Belt (Coastal Carolina) as well as one independent (Oregon State).

Advertisement Here are eight things to know about the 2025 CWS.

Portal Hogs Arkansas has had no trouble recruiting elite high school talent to Fayetteville over the years, but the 2025 Razorbacks were built by the transfer portal.

Of the Hogs eight position players with at least 30 starts, catcher Ryder Helfrick is the only one who signed with the Razorbacks out of high school.

The imports: Wehiwa Aloy, the SEC Player of the Year, is the only one on that list who has been with the program for more than one season.

Starting pitchers Zach Root (ECU) and Landon Beidelschies (Ohio State) also arrived via the portal last offseason.

The bullpen, however, is almost exclusively homegrown, with Dylan Carter (Crowder College) and Aiden Jimenez (Oregon State) the only transfers.

Draft watch The previous two College World Series featured a total of 15 future first-round MLB Draft picks, including five of the top nine picks in 2023.

The 2025 field does not appear to be as star-studded, with only five players in the first round in Keith Laws most recent mock draft .

Three players were mentioned among others to watch Arkansas pitchers Zach Root and Gage Wood and Louisville pitcher Patrick Forbes.

World Series coaches Some fun facts on the eight head coaches in the 2025 field: Four of the eight are coaching at their alma mater Arkansas Dave Horn, Arizonas Chip Hale, Coastal Carolinas Kevin Schnall and Oregon States Mitch Canham.

Three coaches played in the College World Series.

Hale was on the Arizona team that won the national title in 1986.

Louisvilles Dan McDonnell was on the 1990 The Citadel team that reached the CWS as a No.

5 seed in the Atlantic Regional when the field was still 48 teams (with eight six-team Regionals).

Canham was a catcher on the Oregon State teams that won back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007.

Advertisement Two coaches have taken other schools to the CWS Van Horn (Nebraska, 2001 and 2002) and LSUs Jay Johnson (Arizona, 2016 and 2021).

Hale can become the third person to manage in the major leagues and lead a team to the College World Series title.

The list of two right now includes Jack Barry and Bobby Winkles.

Barry, who led Holy Cross to the 1952 national championship, spent one season as the Boston Red Sox manager (90-62 in 1917).

Winkles won three national titles at Arizona State in the 1960s and later managed the Angels and As in the 1970s.

Hale went 148-176 in two seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2015-16).

Omaha experience Eight players on the LSU roster were also on the 2023 team that won the national championship, but only three saw action in Omaha.

Pitcher Gavin Guidry made four appearances out of the bullpen, giving up seven hits and three earned runs in five innings.

He was on the mound for the final two innings of the 18-4 win over Florida in Game 3.

Outfielder Josh Pearson struggled, going a combined 2-for-20, but he hit a home run in the clincher.

Jared Jones, a freshman at the time, went 1-for-2 in two appearances as a pinch hitter.

Coastal Carolina has two players on its roster who were on teams that played in the College World Series pitchers Cullen McKay (Virginia in 2023 and 2024) and Chance Mako (NC State in 2024).

Neither appeared in a game in Omaha.

Arkansas outfielder Logan Maxwell, a transfer from TCU, went 3-for-7 in three games with the Horned Frogs in the 2023 CWS.

Freshmen of influence Getting elite high school players to campus is always a challenge, even in the NIL era.

The eight CWS teams combined to sign 17 of the top 100 players in Perfect Games Class of 2024 recruiting rankings.

Nine of the 17 enrolled in college, headlined by two top-10 prospects at LSU pitcher William Schmidt (No.

5) and outfielder Derek Curiel (No.

10).

Advertisement LSUs signing class featured 11 top-100 players (six enrolled), while Oregon State and Arkansas each signed two and Arizona and UCLA each signed one.

Heres a look at the 2024 top-100 recruits who made it to campus for the teams in the 2025 CWS.

No.

5 William Schmidt, RHP, LSU: Schmidt has pitched in 17 games, mostly in nonconference action, and has a 7-0 record with a 4.73 ERA.

He has 41 strikeouts in 32 1/3 innings.

No.

10 Derek Curiel, OF, LSU: Curiel has been one of the best freshmen in the nation.

Hes hitting .347 with seven home runs and 52 RBIs.

No.

40 Mason Russell, LHP, Arizona: White has thrown only 7 1/3 innings in seven appearances.

He has a 13.50 ERA and a 2.45 WHIP.

No.

43 Dax Whitney, RHP, Oregon State: Whitney has been a key part of the Beavers weekend rotation.

The Idaho native is 6-3 with a 3.66 ERA and has struck out 111 batters in 71 1/3 innings.

No.

56 Carson Wiggins, RHP, Arkansas: Wiggins has made 14 appearances, all in relief, and is 1-1 with a 3.21 ERA and three saves.

He has given up only seven hits and has 20 strikeouts in 14 innings.

No.

73 Cooper Williams, LHP, LSU: Williams has been a key left-handed option out of the bullpen.

He has thrown 19 2/3 innings over 20 appearances and has an 0-1 record with a 1.83 ERA.

No.

74 Casan Evans, RHP, LSU: Evans started three SEC games but has mostly been used out of the bullpen.

He is 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA and six saves.

He has 65 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings.

No.

79 David Hogg II, INF, LSU: Hogg played in only three games and recently entered the transfer portal.

No.

92 Ryan Costello, 1B, LSU: Costello, like Hogg, is in the transfer portal after playing sparingly in 2025.

The long ball Last years CWS field featured some of the games most prodigious power hitters.

Led by Floridas Jac Caglianone and Tennessees Christian Moore, seven of the nations top 16 home run leaders played in Omaha in 2024.

Advertisement Its a different story this time around.

The 2025 field features only two of the top 20 sluggers: Jonathan Hogart of Murray State (tied for fourth with 24) and Roch Cholowsky of UCLA (tied for sixth with 23).

Three teams in the field rank among the top 20 nationally in home runs Arkansas (fourth with 124), Oregon State (tied for 16th with 103) and LSU (19th with 101).

Next up is Louisville (43rd with 83).

Coastal Carolina is the only team not in the top 100.

The Chants are 108th with 66.

Another Fresno State? Murray State is the fourth No.

4 Regional seed to crash the College World Series since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1999.

Heres a look at how the Cinderellas got to Omaha, and how they fared.

Fresno State, 2008: Aaron Judges alma mater (no, he was not on the 08 Bulldogs) won the Long Beach Regional and then beat Arizona State in three games in the Tempe Super Regional to advance to Omaha.

The Bulldogs beat No.

6 seed Rice 17-5 and No.

2 seed North Carolina 6-2 to stay in the winners bracket.

They lost to North Carolina 4-3 but then beat the Tar Heels 6-1 to move on to the championship series.

Georgia won the opener 7-6, but Fresno State bounced back with wins of 19-10 and 6-1 to claim the title.

Stony Brook, 2012: The America East champs had to come out of the losers bracket to win the Coral Gables Regional and advance to face mighty LSU in the Baton Rouge Super Regional.

LSU won the first game, but Stony Brook won the next two, 3-1 and 7-2, to stun the college baseball world.

The Seawolves stay in Omaha did not last long; they lost to No.

2 seed UCLA 9-1 in the opener and then bowed out with a 12-2 loss to No.

3 Florida State.

Oral Roberts, 2023: Oral Roberts, which cruised through the Summit League with a 23-1 record, went 3-0 at the Stillwater Regional and then beat Oregon in three games at the Eugene Super Regional (after losing the opener 9-8 after leading 8-0!).

The Golden Eagles went 1-2 in Omaha, beating TCU in the opener and then losing to Florida and TCU.

Advertisement By the numbers The eight teams in Omaha have a combined 74 appearances in the College World Series and 16 national championships.

LSU leads the way with 20 CWS appearances, followed by Arizona (19), Arkansas (12), Oregon State (eight), Louisville (six), UCLA (six), Coastal Carolina (two) and Murray State (one).

The titles belong to LSU (seven), Arizona (four), Oregon State (three), Coastal Carolina (one) and UCLA (one).

(Photo of Murray State: Jaylynn Nash / Imagn Images).

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