Day one the College World Series is officially in the books. Georgia didn't have the pleasure of playing during the first day of the CWS, but the four teams in the other bracket opened up the College World Series with two very good games.
West Virginia kicked things off with a victory over Troy in the first game on Friday, but Georgia fans had their eyes on game two later that day. Why is that? Because betting favorite North Carolina took on Ole Miss and a loss by the Tar Heels would've made Georgia's path to winning a National Championship much easier.
At one point it looked like Ole Miss was going to pull off the upset, but a late rally saw North Carolina end up winning 6-2.
North Carolina nearly gave Georgia a much easier College World Series path
Ole Miss led North Carolina for much of the game Friday night. They opened up the scoring by taking a 1-0 lead in the third inning and then got a 2-1 lead back in the top of the seventh, but that is when North Carolina finally woke up.
Two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth was all North Carolina needed to end up winning 6-2 and hurt Georgia's chances of avoiding them in the National Championship series.
Georgia is a good enough team to beat anyone, but they would still love to get an easier path to a National Championship if possible. So far Georgia has played the highest seeded team possible, so it feels like they are due to get some luck.
North Carolina losing their first game would've been huge for Georgia's chances to win it all. A UNC loss would've meant that North Carolina would have to win four games in a row to make it to the National Championship series, and at this point in the NCAA Tournament that is extremely difficult to do.
So for all intents and purposes, a North Carolina loss to Ole Miss would've knocked them out of the College World Series.
Now if Georgia makes it to the National Championship series they could face North Carolina, and since they are the best team in the other four-team bracket it would've been nice if that didn't happen.
Georgia can't afford to look past Texas in their first CWS game
None of this matters though if Georgia doesn't advance out of their four-team bracket. And if they are going to do that they need to avoid losing their first game against Texas.
Unfortunately for Georgia the Longhorns are the betting favorite to win Saturday night. They aren't favored by much, but Vegas believes Texas will find a way to beat Georgia.
Georgia can't allow that to happen because it would make it very difficult to get to the National Championship series. So they need to buckle down and prove Vegas wrong once again and beat Texas to give themselves a good chance to make the National Championship series just like North Carolina did.
If the Tar Heels are waiting for Georgia in the final series then so be it, Georgia just needs to get there first then they can worry about who they face.
Georgia will take on Texas at the College World Series on Saturday, June 13 with first pitch scheduled for 8:00 pm EST.
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