College World Series opens Saturday

OMAHA, June 13 (UPI) -- The top-seeded Miami Hurricanes will be in action Saturday when the 62nd College World Series gets underway at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.

The original 64-team NCAA baseball tournament field has been whittled down to the final eight. Miami, with a 52-9 record, will open against Georgia (41-23-1) in the second game of a double header.

Florida State (54-12) will take on Stanford (39-22-2) in the first game of the tournament, beginning at 1 p.m. CDT.

The other half of the draw will begin play Sunday, with Fresno State (42-29) meeting Rice (47-13) and LSU (48-17-1) facing North Carolina.(51-12).

Winners of the two double-elimination brackets will play a best-of-three championship series beginning June 23.

Two-time defending champion Oregon State failed to make the field this year. North Carolina was runner-up to the Beavers in both 2007 and 2006.

The most recent winner of the tournament to have made the CWS field this year is Rice, which captured the event in 2003.