Getting to Omaha is hard.
Anytime there more then 300 teams competing for just eight spots the competition for one of those spots will be fierce. A lot has to go right for you and wrong for others to get to the College World Series.
Even the teams with the most talent or a roster built with the sole purpose being to get to Omaha can struggle. Go ask UCLA and Mississippi State what it’s like to be one of those teams.
Nothin’ like it#Olemaha pic.twitter.com/JqHClri9zu
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) June 7, 2026
Ole Miss has had its fair share of bad luck and tough scenarios.
“I remember the 2014 team…I know (assistant coach Mike Clement) and I had a visit, so Clem didn’t travel with the team here on Wednesday night. He stayed for the visit with Tyler Keenan,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco recalled. “I know Tyler Keenan wants to get to Omaha. Everybody wants to get to Omaha, but he had a long conversation with Clem about how bad he wanted it and how important this was to get to Omaha because he’s one of the best to ever wear the uniform.
“He played in 2018. We were a national seed and lost. Then in 2019, he lost in a Game 3 super regional. Then in 2020, we were 15-1 and the season ended (because of Covid-19). He never got a chance, and it wasn’t because he wasn’t good. It wasn’t because he wasn’t on good teams. Getting to Omaha is just really hard.”
All but eight teams got through the hard part. Some, though, had a harder time than others. For example, the Rebels’ first opponent in the College World Series was one out away from being an entirely different team.
UNC’s Hard Road to CWS
North Carolina had to rally from a 3-1 eighth-inning deficit and at one point all USC needed was one more out to win. But the Tar Heels kept fighting, got runners on base and Owen Hull hit a walk-off double to steal the win.
That win was the second in as many days for North Carolina, who fell to USC in the opening game of the Chapel Hill Super Regional. It was certainly a hard path for North Carolina, who will head to Omaha for the ninth time since 2006.
But if getting Omaha is hard, winning in Omaha is even harder. North Carolina hasn’t won a national title in its last eight appearances and hasn’t advanced to the championship series since back-to-back losses to Oregon State in 2006 and 2007.
The Tar Heels’ most recent CWS appearance was in 2024 and they beat Virginia before losing to Tennessee and Florida State.
SEE YOU IN OMAHA👋#Olemaha pic.twitter.com/XqSMzfLK6t
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) June 7, 2026
Getting to Omaha is hard. Staying there is even harder. North Carolina knows that as well as anyone, and Ole Miss does too.
That’s what makes this stage so unforgiving and so special. You can have the talent, the experience, the right roster, the right draw, and still watch the season end in a blink.
But you can also be the team that keeps finding a way, the team that survives the moments that should have ended you.
That’s why they play the games in Omaha.
That’s why teams chase this place for years.
And that’s why the ones who make it never take a second of it for granted.
