The 2011 College World Series kicks off in Omaha on Saturday with North Carolina meeting Vanderbilt and Florida facing Texas. The winners of these two games will advance to face each other on Monday while the losers will advance into the losers' bracket to face each other, also on Sunday.
ESPN will be broadcasting both of Saturday's games with UNC-Vandy kicking off at 11:00am pacific and Florida-Texas scheduled for 4:00pm. If you do not have ESPN or you'll be away from your computer all day, you can also view the games via live online stream at ESPN3.com.
After some waiting we finally have some gambling odds on the CWS. Based simply on the odds below, it would seem like 52-10 Vanderbilt would be expected to take down the 50-14 North Carolina on day one. In the other matchup, this would indicate Florida is expected to take down Texas. Of course, given the way pitching rotations work and the double elimination nature of this tournament, things could get crazy real quick.
2011 CWS Odds
California 12/1
North Carolina 7/1
Florida 4/1
South Carolina 6/1
Texas 17/2
Texas A&M 11/1
Vanderbilt 15/4
Virginia 7/2
Here's a quick rundown of how the upper half of the bracket works:
Bracket 1
Game 1: Vanderbilt vs. North Carolina, 11am Pacific, Saturday, June 18
Game 2: Florida vs. Texas, 4pm Pacific, Saturday, June 18
Game 5: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 11am Pacific, Monday, June 20
Game 6: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 4pm Pacific, Monday, June 20 - ESPN2
Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser, 4pm Pacific, Wednesday, June 22 - ESPN2
Game 11: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, 11am Pacific, Friday, June 24
Game 13, if necessary: Game 11 Winner vs. Game 11 Loser, 11am Pacific, Saturday, June 25
Make sure and follow our 2011 College World Series StoryStream over the coming days for CWS results. For more on Cal, check out California Golden Blogs.