CBD Column: Time to Fall Back in Love with College Baseball

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With the beginning of Fall upon us, many college baseball fans begin to get that itch for the upcoming season.

I know the Fall is dominated by college football, but for those hardcore college baseball fans, this is where it all begins. Teams are back on the field beginning fall practices and scrimmages.

Summer leagues are now over so prospect reports are coming out for the upcoming season. We’re constantly getting complete schedules for teams — it’s a wonderful time of the year for college baseball fans.

It’s been three months since the Florida Gators made an incredible run through the College World Series to win the championship. Last year was one of best years for college baseball in my opinion.

But already we begin to look forward to 2018 and all the joys of a new season.

The Gators are in a perfect position to repeat as champs with Brady Singer and Jackson Kowar atop their rotation. But as we’ve seen in the past, sometimes Florida doesn’t handle high expectations very well.

Meanwhile. Oregon State hopes to follow-up on it’s impressive regular season last year and finish it with a championship this time. The Beavers will once again be led by Nick Madrigal. It feels like he’s been in college baseball forever, but this will most likely be our last season to see him at the collegiate level, so enjoy his farewell season.

The SEC looks to yet again be the toast of college baseball with several teams primed to reach Omaha. However, the ACC is right on their heels and could overtake them with some strong teams this year.

TCU will look to make an unprecedented fifth straight appearance in the College World Series. But will this be the year the Horned Frogs break through and win the whole thing? Hopefully we’ll see a full year of Luken Baker as he’s one of the most exciting players in college baseball, and this will likely be his final year at the collegiate level.

And then there are the Cinderellas that will emerge. While the 2017 College World Series didn’t give us many surprises, there were certainly a lot of upsets with Sam Houston State and Davidson advancing to Super Regionals.

I can’t wait to see what teams emerge as contenders in 2018.

All of that hard work and preparation begins right now with Fall practices. That’s what makes this part of the season so exciting for me. Pretty soon we’ll be cold and miserable waiting for the season to start, but just before that happens we get a glimpse of what we can look forward to in the Spring.

If you have the opportunity, please go out and watch the Fall scrimmages in your area. As I said, pretty soon you’ll be stuck indoors wishing you had the chance to watch the bat hit the ball. Take advantage of this precious time in the college baseball season.

Here at College Baseball Daily we plan to keep you updated with news, schedules, columns, podcasts, prospects reports, preseason rankings and much more to help get you ready for the upcoming season. So please check back with us frequently and follow us on Twitter (@CB_Daily) for all your college baseball updates.

Before you know it, opening weekend will be here and The Road to Omaha will begin.