The year of 1993 rang in as Kansas’s first college world series trip. The Jayhawks have enjoyed some success since then in baseball, yet haven’t made it Omaha, the site of the college world series since.
The 1993 Kansas baseball squad was one of two teams in the world series along with Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks were seeded eighth of the eight participants. Joining the two big eight squads was Texas A&M from the now defunct Southwest Conference, Texas as well from SWC, Arizona State,Long Beach State, Louisiana State (LSU)
, and Wichita State. All seven of the other teams have experienced playing in Omaha, this was something new for Kansas.
Kansas with a ranking of 45-16 on the year, faced top-seeded Texas A&M in the first game of the series. The Aggies entered with an astounding 52-9 record on the year. Texas A&M had a number of star players including Kelly Wunsch, Trey Moore, Jeff Granger and Chris Clemons. Kansas was full of guys overachieving, with second baseman Jeff Berblinger getting most of the accolades for the team.
The Aggies jumped on Kansas right away, before finishing with a 5-1 victory. Kansas with the loss entered the losers bracket, and got the right to face Long Beach State, who lost to LSU, 7-1. Kansas again didn’t have the pitchers to slow down big bats, as Long Beach State won, 6-1.
LSU went onto win the world series, defeating Wichita State, 8-0 in the final.The Tigers rebounded after losing to Long Beach State, 10-8 in game 11 only to have revenge in game 13. LSU knocked off Long Beach State, 6-5 ending their run.