Why Texas Tech baseball has historically struggled in Omaha

Winning at title in Omaha is extremely difficult

The most obvious reason for Tech’s struggles at the College World Series is simply the fact that winning a national title in baseball is not easy.  The double-elimination format means that to win it all, a team will have to beat two of the top teams in the nation twice whereas in football and basketball, you only have to beat a good team once in order to eliminate them.

Consider how much more difficult Tech’s run to the championship game in basketball would have been if the Red Raiders would have had to beat Gonzaga and Michigan State twice.  That is the difficult task teams face in Omaha.

Making the road even tougher is that thus far in Omaha the Red Raiders have run up against some excellent teams.  In fact, in seven of the program’s twelve all-time CWS games, Tech has faced a higher-seeded team, including all three games in 2018.  And three times, the Red Raiders have had to face the No. 1 seed in the entire tournament.

To prove of how tough it can be to win it all, Tech fans have to look no further than two of the opponents we saw in Omaha this year.  If you watched the Red Raiders’ game against Florida State, there’s no way you could avoid ESPN’s coverage of FSU head coach Mike Martin, who retired after the 4-1 loss to Tech.

Martin is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history, regardless of the sport.  He took the Seminoles to Omaha 17 times but never won it all.  In fact, only twice was his team able to finish as the runner-up.

Then there is Arkansas’ Dave Van Horn.  2019 was his 8th trip to the College World Series with no title to show for his efforts.  That could have easily changed in 2018 had the Hogs been able to catch a foul pop when leading Oregon State with two outs in the ninth inning of game-two of the championship series but Van Horn saw his team drop the ball and fail to close out the Beavers.

In fact, there are six schools that have made it to the College World Series ten times or more without having won a national championship.  Florida State leads the way with 23, Clemson is second with 12, North Carolina and Mississippi State each have been 11 times and Northern Colorado and Arkansas check in with 10.

That should provide some perspective as Tech still has a long way to go before they reach double-digit appearances.  Though the novelty of seeing Tim Tadlock’s team in Omaha has faded, the fact is that the Red Raiders are still relatively new to the CWS party.  History suggests that in the modern era of the sport, programs have to endure some significant heartache before they are able to breakthrough and that could be what is in store for the Red Raiders.