OMAHA, Neb. – Rain delays, disjointed schedules, impatient teams waiting for Mother Nature to loosen her chokehold. It’s happened before at the World Series. NCAA Baseball JOIN THE TEAM. Follow @NCAACWS No, not the College World Series. The one with the big leaguers. On a rainy night in Nebraska, Game 1 of the College World Series finals was scratched Monday. That makes three postponements to go with nearly 11 hours of weather delays in this tournament. The tarp is on the field. The drenched crowd is leaving. Time for some World Series climactic horror stories. RELATED: How to watch the CWS | Scoreboard | Interactive bracket How about the one where the centerfielder had to slip out of town to avoid angry fans, who were holding a vigil outside his hotel in the rain? Or when the manager had to walk into a gas station in his uniform and ask directions? Or the time they wanted two days to play three innings? Or the year the World Series came to Modesto? And Arkansas and Oregon State think they’re having a hard time getting to play. Take 2008. The Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays were trying to finish Game 5 through a rainy, windy, cold mess in Philadelphia. After the top of the sixth inning, the umpires had enough and the game was suspended with a 2-2 tie, and the Phillies ahead in games 3-1. One problem. The Rays, due to fly home after the game, had already checked out and sent their luggage to the airport. So late that Monday night, their traveling secretary had to find a hotel with enough rooms – Wilmington, Delaware, it turned out, 30 miles away – and someone had to race to the airport to get all the bags. “It was really well organized, despite all the chaos in front of us,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said the next day. “It’s magnificent hotel. I believe it was built one year prior to Fenway Park.” He said he planned on seeing a little of Wilmington. “We’ll get out and walk around a bit if the wind dies down.” But the weather stayed lousy for two days. They finally resumed play Wednesday night. All it took was three innings for the Phillies to win 4-3, in something like a hockey shootout. The World Series was over. More Philadelphia bad weather? In 1911, the New York Giants and Athletics had to wait six days for the rain to stop in Philadelphia so they could play Game 4. It didn’t help that back then, there were only tarps for the batter’s box and mound. The postponement interlude was as lively as the baseball. The Giants’ Fred Snodgrass had spiked Philadelphia Frank Baker twice in early games. It might or might not have been a coincidence that Baker was doing so much damage against New York pitching, he was acquiring the nickname that would stay with him forever. Home Run Baker. RELATED: Live updates, scores, analysis from Omaha As the delay dragged on, anger at Snodgrass in notoriously cranky Philadelphia grew daily. Fans were waiting outside the Majestic Hotel, to assail Snodgrass should he ever try to slip outside for dinner. Snodgrass was as encircled as Custer’s cavalry. Finally, manager John McGraw had him hustled out of town on a train back to New York, until it ever stopped raining. The Athletics eventually won in six games in a World Series that did not end until Oct. 26. That’d be early now, but it was unheard of in those days. In 1962, the Yankees and Giants had to wait through three postponements to play Game 6, as the remnants of Typhoon Freda pounded San Francisco. The Yankees grew so weary of being sequestered in their hotel rooms, some of them said they might as well have been in Alcatraz. Back then, the prison was still open for business. On the third day, the sun came out, but Candlestick Park resembled a swimming pool too closely, and the decision was made to wait one more day. So the Yankees and Giants both decided to work out at tiny Del Webb Park in Modesto, 80 miles away. The place only had 2,500 seats. Word got out around Modesto that both World Series teams would be in town, and an estimated 16,000 people showed up, trying to get in to watch. RELATED: Listen to CWS | Shop CWS gear | Highlights and videos from CWS The Yankees ended up winning the Series. But Modesto won, too. In 1975, the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox were engaged in a riveting World Series that came to a halt when a nor’easter rolled over New England. Game 6 was postponed Saturday, and then Sunday, and then Monday, even though the weather had improved. Some accused baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn of wanting to avoid a relatively new TV ratings thoroughbred called NFL Monday Night Football. Meantime, the Reds grew weary of sitting around their hotel and sought an indoor facility for a workout. Lots of colleges to choose from in the Boston area. Harvard, for instance. “I think Harvard would be a little over my head,” manager Sparky Anderson famously said. He decided on Tufts University, where the Big Red Machine could hit drives into fishnets hung from the ceiling. Only one problem. Just where, exactly, is Tufts? The team bus driver would certainly know. Except he didn’t. The bus went this way and that way, as if the Reds had signed up for a Gray Line tour of Massachusetts. Anderson grew irate enough that he finally ordered the driver to pull over, and walked into the gas station himself to ask directions. The Reds finally found Tufts, with Anderson standing by the driver, telling him when to turn left and when to turn right. While many observers worried that the long delay had sucked the drama out of a compelling World Series, when the two teams finally returned to Fenway, they played an epic Game 6. It ended with Carlton Fisk’s immortal home run in the 12th inning.<doc-sep>Peter Aiken/Getty Images With Monday's game washed out at the 2018 College World Series, everything has been pushed back a day and Game 1 of the finals will now be played on Tuesday night. Taking the first game of the best-of-three series is obviously huge, and another day of rest should benefit both pitching staffs. Which team will get one step closer to claiming a national championship on Tuesday evening from TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska? Ahead is a look at the updated finals schedule, a few key players to watch in Game 1 and a final score prediction. 2018 College World Series Schedule Game 1: Tuesday, June 26, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) Game 2: Wednesday, June 27, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday, June 28, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) Video Play Button Videos you might like Key Players LHP Luke Heimlich, Oregon State Nati Harnik/Associated Press After going 16-1 with a 2.32 ERA and 151 strikeouts in 120 innings during the regular season, the Oregon State ace has struggled mightily in his last two starts—both of which came against North Carolina. After taking the loss in the first game of Super Regionals (2.1 IP, 4 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K), he failed to redeem himself with the season on the line (2.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K). Luckily, his teammates picked him up and scored eight runs over the final two innings for an 11-6 victory in that second rocky start. Can Heimlich right the ship in what may well be the final appearance of his college career? RHP Blaine Knight, Arkansas Michael Woods/Associated Press Knight is no stranger to facing off against top-tier starters. He has bested some of the top pitchers in the nation this season on his way to a 13-0 record, as Kurt Voigt of NCAA.com wrote: "Among those Knight has defeated in head-to-head matchups this season are top overall draft pick Casey Mize from Auburn, Florida's tandem of Brady Singer (18th) and Jackson Kowar (33rd) along with Mississippi's Ryan Rolison (22nd). Knight has also kept his perfect record intact in starts against Kentucky's Sean Hjelle (45th), Texas A&M's Mitchell Kilkenny (76th) and Mississippi State's Konnor Pilkington (81st)." The junior right-hander was a third-round pick himself, and his competitive nature should serve him well on the biggest stage. CF Dominic Fletcher, Arkansas Nati Harnik/Associated Press Fletcher is hitting .571 with two doubles, two home runs and eight RBI at this year's College World Series While the sophomore center fielder was no slouch with the bat during the regular season, hitting .282/.337/.448 with eight home runs and 41 RBI, he's been the surprise standout for a Razorbacks lineup that is loaded with powerful bats. Look for Fletcher to stay hot as the finals begin. Prediction: Arkansas 7, Oregon State 2 The Razorbacks chase Heimlich early, Fletcher launches his third home run of the CWS and Knight stays undefeated with seven scoreless innings. All stats courtesy of team sites.<doc-sep>Nati Harnik/Associated Press The matchup is set for the 2018 College World Series title as Arkansas and Oregon State are set to battle it out for the national championship. Arkansas has gone 8-1 this postseason, with their only loss coming in Game 2 of their Super Regionals matchup with South Carolina. They outscored opponents 23-11 in their three College World Series wins to advance to this point. The road has been a bit bumpier for Oregon State. While they too have only lost one game this postseason, it came in the form of an 8-6 loss to North Carolina in their College World Series opener. That meant playing their way through the elimination bracket and beating Mississippi State twice in a row to get to this point. Ahead is a look at the TV schedule for this year's finals, along with some analysis and a predicted winner for Game 1 of the best-of-three series. 2018 College World Series Schedule Video Play Button Videos you might like Game 1: Monday, June 25, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) Game 2: Tuesday, June 26, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) Game 3 (if necessary): Wednesday, June 27, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) Game 1 Analysis and Pick Butch Dill/Associated Press Both teams will have their aces available on full rest for the series opener. Junior right-hander Blaine Knight (18 GS, 13-0, 2.88 ERA, 96 K, 106.1 IP) has been the guy all season for the Razorbacks. He earned Third-Team All-American honors and was selected in the third round of the 2018 draft by the Baltimore Orioles. His last start came on June 17 when he allowed four hits and two earned runs in five innings against Texas, so he should be plenty rested for this one. He'll be opposed by senior Luke Heimlich (19 GS, 16-2, 2.80 ERA, 154 K, 125.1 IP), who will look to right the ship after a rough showing so far this postseason. Nati Harnik/Associated Press/Associated Press After going 16-1 with a 2.32 ERA during the regular season, he's failed to make it out of the third inning in each of his last two starts—both of which came against North Carolina. That said, he was dominant in the Super Regionals, allowing just seven hits and one earned run while striking out nine in 8.2 innings of work against Minnesota. Both teams also have excellent closers anchoring strong relief corps. Sophomore Matt Cronin (23 G, 13 SV, 3.15 ERA, 11.0 K/9) has been a revelation stepping into the closer's role for the Razorbacks. Fellow sophomore Jake Mulholland (30 G, 15 SV, 2.25 ERA, 8.4 K/9) earned Third-Team All-American honors for the Beavers. Offensively, Oregon State ranks among the national leaders in team batting average (.323, third), while Arkansas was one of the country's leading power-hitting teams (98 HR, third), so both lineups are capable of doing some damage. Still, it will likely come down to which ace has the better stuff in this one. We'll go with Knight and say Arkansas takes Game 1 of the series. Stats courtesy of team sites.<doc-sep>FAYETTEVILLE NORTH, Neb. –– Yeah, the dateline is wrong. This was still Omaha Tuesday night. But it was an easy mistake to make, what with the “Wooooo Pig Sooie!” chants that might have carried across the river to Iowa, and the stands full of Arkansans. This is what Oregon State was up against in Game 1 of the College World Series finals: Three hours before the first pitch, the line was more than two blocks long with fans waiting to race in for the general admission seats, 90 percent of them Razorbacks from locales such as Little Rock and Fort Smith and Pine Bluff. Some of them had driven across the plains into town this very day, for this very chance. "Omahogs” is the T-shirt of choice at the moment in eastern Nebraska. By game time, the occasional clumps of Oregon State fans in TD Ameritrade Park looked like small oranges floating in a big bowl of red punch. And the Arkansas players on the field heard it all, in every corner of the stadium. Second baseman Carson Shaddy: “We all looked around at each other and it was like, this is crazy.” MORE: Live updated from the 2018 CWS finals | Bracket | Highlights and video Third baseman Casey Martin: “They were electrified. You couldn’t hear anything. I’m yelling at Biggs (shortstop Jax Biggers), he’s yelling at me. We can’t hear each other. We couldn’t even hear the ball hit the catcher’s mitt, that’s how loud it was.” Left fielder Heston Kjerstad: “I felt like we were playing (home) in Baum Stadium, just a lot bigger.” For coach Dave Van Horn, it reminded him of the home crowd roars when he led Nebraska to Omaha in 2001: “I just kept reminding our players to stay calm and save their energy. Because back in 2001, by the time the game started, our team was tired, honest to goodness, just from what was all going on.” "It felt like we were playing in Baum Stadium." - @hestonkjerstad pic.twitter.com/wILIBgtVwf — Razorback Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) June 27, 2018 This army of Hog backers, louder than the thunderstorms that have rolled through here the past week, was ready to besiege the Beavers in a deafening clamor, if given half a chance. For nearly four innings, there wasn’t one, with Arkansas’ bats and its crowd muted by Luke Heimlich’s pitching. A Razorback team that had not trailed at the end of a single inning in this College World Series was behind 1-0. And then the bottom of the fourth inning changed everything. Changed the game. Maybe the finals. It's never good news when an umpire is included in such a paragraph. Oregon State had a run taken away by an iffy runner interference call. Adley Rutschman was ruled to have interfered on a turn at second base, even though on replays, it sure looked as if he had ducked early to get out of the way. Could have been 2-0. But wasn’t. “It appeared Rutsch was doing everything he could to get out of the way. The ball left the guy’s hands. They weren’t near one another,” Oregon State coach Pat Casey said later. “Everybody can look at the tape and decide for themselves what to think.” For Arkansas, the vanishing Oregon State run was like second wind. In the top of the fifth, the rally started, the clamor from the stands grew — and grew, and grew — and Heimlich suddenly could not find the plate. Or as Shaddy said, “All hell broke loose.” RELATED: This stat gives Arkansas the CWS advantage | 9 things to know about the series Pretty soon, it was 4-1. Pretty soon, that Oregon State offensive machine that rolled up 48 runs in this CWS had stalled against Blaine Knight and the bullpen. Pretty soon, the Razorbacks were doing things like first baseman Jared Gates laying out on the dirt track near the dugout to catch a foul pop. Or Grant Koch, 1-for-11 in the CWS, driving in the tying run. Pretty soon Nick Madrigal was hitting a two-out screamer with two Beavers on base – directly into the glove of Shaddy. Karma was wearing a Omahog shirt. And the crowd was there to push it along. Shaddy: “Every player and everybody in the stadium was on the same page today. We all have one heart. What they were doing was incredible. They never shut up the whole entire game. It’s hard to play against.” Koch: “You don’t really think about it a lot, but there’s definitely times when the momentum shifts and you can feel it and you know that there’s a lot of Razorback fans that want you to win. I think that’s what we’re playing for.” Knight: “I know that’s what I was feeding off of during the game, and I’m sure the other guys were, too.” Right fielder Eric Cole: “It’s a really big deal. I feel like we’re probably not in the position we are right now without a lot of our fans being there.” The game ended with same 4-1 score. Arkansas had only five hits — four fewer than Oregon State — and struck out 16 times, including being blown away 11 times in 4.2 innings by reliever Christian Chamberlain. But they still won, and went to bed in this best-of-three series telling themselves not to think too far ahead. But fact is fact; game 1 victors have gone on to take the championship 73 percent of the time. But Koch mentioned, “After the game, coach’s immediate message was we have a lot of work to do and there’s a lot of unfinished business and we’ve got to come out tomorrow with a sense of urgency for sure. “He didn’t even really have to say it.” RELATED: Hogs' freshmen duo have one goal this series | OSU riding Rutschman's hot bat And Knight called it, “just a little small taste of whatever, we’ve got to flush it by tomorrow morning.” And Van Horn warned, “Take it to them. Don’t wait for something to happen.<doc-sep>
Nati Harnik/Associated Press Arkansas and Oregon State will play each other in the finals of the 2018 College World Series having outlasted six other teams at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, and another 56 when counting college baseball's national postseason tournament that started on June 1. Now nearing the end of a furious month of tournament baseball, all that's left is a best-of-three games series to decide the sport's ultimate college program. The Razorbacks are looking for their first College World Series title, while the Beavers are going for their third after winning back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007 under current head coach Pat Casey. The Beavers were wholly expected to win it all last year after coming into the CWS with a 54-4 record, but they lost twice to LSU and didn't even make the final, which Florida won. Here's how to watch the finals. College World Series Finals Times, Viewing Info Video Play Button Videos you might like Game 1: Monday, June 25 at 7 p.m. Game 2: Tuesday, June 26 at 7 p.m. Game 3: Wednesday, June 27 at 7 p.m.* TV: ESPN Live Stream: Watch ESPN *if necessary Arkansas is looking to become the sixth Southeastern Conference team to win the CWS since 2009. If the Razorbacks are to extend the SEC's run of dominance—the conference has also had five runners-up in that same timeframe—they will have to quell the white-hot bats of Oregon State. Nati Harnik/Associated Press After dropping their first game in Omaha to North Carolina 8-6, the Beavers have been on a tear, scoring 42 runs in four games to get to the final. They've done it with home runs, like Tyler Malone's three-run shot on Saturday that helped Oregon State beat the Bulldogs 5-2 and move them to the final. They've also done it by simply amassing a huge amount of hits, as evidenced by their win the day prior when the team combined for 15 hits (only four of them for extra bases) in a 12-2 victory. Catcher Adley Rutschman has been phenomenal all season long with a .393 batting average, but he has truly outdone himself in the CWS. He's hitting .529 in five games with nine hits (one home run) and 10 RBI. He's received well-deserved praise from the likes of NBCSN Northwest's Jason Quick and ESPN's Chris Burke: The Razorbacks will counter with some great arms on the mound. In three CWS games, no Arkansas starter has given up more than two runs. Blaine Knight is the best of them all. He's a staggering 13-0 this year with a 2.88 ERA and should be ready to go right away as he last pitched on June 17. Arkansas will provide a tough test with their pitching staff, but runs could still be a common thing in the final games at TD Ameritrade. As SI.com's Eric Single noted, the venue has been kind to hitters: "TD Ameritrade Park has been decidedly hitter-friendly this year, with at least 14 runs scored in seven of the 13 games played so far. Expect another shootout or two in the championship series, which pits two of the 18 Division I teams that hit .300 or better this season." The series could turn out to be a hitter's delight, as the Arkansas offense has produced 23 runs in their perfect 3-0 run in Omaha. Third baseman Casey Martin has been particularly prolific batting second in the lineup, going 8-for-13 with two RBI and six runs scored. Center fielder Dominic Fletcher has provided the pop, with two home runs in three games. As ESPN.com's Mitch Sherman pointed out, the team jumped all over Florida's excellent ace Brady Singer on Friday, gashing him for four runs in five innings in a 5-2 victory. "We're not really scared of anybody," Arkansas second baseman Carson Shaddy said, per Sherman. If you asked them a couple weeks ago, the Razorbacks might have been more worried about Oregon State's pitchers, but there have been some signs of weakness. Beavers ace Luke Heimlich (16-2, 2.80 ERA) has been roughed up in his past couple of starts, though he should be rested for Game 1 if coach Casey calls upon him. This series is shaping up to be an excellent duel. Both teams have plenty of MLB-caliber talent and should be supremely confident after playing great baseball over the past few weeks.