OMAHA, Neb. — LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson remembered scanning the 64-team field for the NCAA Division I tournament when it was announced almost a month ago, and he had a premonition Florida would be the opponent if his team reached the College World Series finals.
“You look at the bracket, and you look on the other side, it’s like, yeah, this is not a surprise to me who we’re playing,” he said.
Considering the Gators are the No. 2 national seed, it was a safe assumption they would be there.
And the way college baseball has trended for three decades, picking almost any Southeastern Conference team to make the CWS finals is never a bad guess.
With Florida and LSU playing in the best-of-three championship series that starts Saturday night — the second game is Sunday afternoon, with a third matchup, if necessary, played Monday night — the SEC is assured of winning its fourth straight national title, and by four different schools. Once this CWS is over, of the sport’s past 33 national champions, 15 will have come from the SEC, including nine of the past 14.