OMAHA—Senior catcher Curt Casali hit a solo home run, his seventh of the season, to help Vanderbilt beat North Carolina 5-1 Wednesday night. The victory advanced the Commodores into the bracket championship against Florida, which it must beat twice to reach the College World Series Finals.

Casali was gracious enough to join us for a postgame video interview.

OMAHA—Travel complications conspired to keep me in town one more day, but it's not like I was hurting for something to do. It's Day Five of the College World Series and time for an elimination game between Vanderbilt, rocking the Clemson-cut pants, and North Carolina, which looks in pregame to be taking a page from Cal's stirrups playbook. (Of course, Texas A&M was all about stirrups, too, and went 0-2.)

Aaron Fitt insists on interviewing only players he can look down upon or look in the eye. So here's his postgame interview with Pac-10 player of the year Tony Renda, who had two hits in Cal's 7-3 elimination victory against Texas A&M.

Well, Florida already has beaten Vanderbilt 3-1, which tells you a bit about my video editing skills. Still, this preview has our picks today. Aaron has improved to 6-0 with the Gators' victory, while I fell to 5-1. We diverge again in Games Seven and Eight:

OMAHA—The weather forecast for the College World Series area appears dire, but we'll see if the thunderstorms and hail predictions hold off in our new downtown CWS home.

It needs to, because the evening's Florida vs. Vanderbilt tilt should be outstanding. It pits my preseason national championship pick with Aaron's, and it's the first pick we have disagreed about during this week's Series. We went audio over video for today's picks blog, so have a listen as we review the CWS to this point and preview today's games.

Here's the VandyfloridaPreview. North Carolina-Texas preview (which of course I should have done first!) to come soon. In the interest of having the picks out there before the games start, we both surprisingly pick North Carolina over Texas, while diverging on the evening's game. Aaron's got Florida; I've got Vanderbilt. We're both 4-0 to this point, but obviously at least one of us will no longer be undefeated after today.

UPDATE: Due to technical issues, we never got that UNC-Texas preview up. I'm sure you'll be able to live with it.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Oregon coach George Horton on Friday to talk baseball for 20 minutes at the Nike Fieldhouse. We plan to post the whole thing as an audio podcast but edited this down to focus on a couple of the highlights.

Coach Horton has plenty of fond memories of Omaha from his Cal State Fullerton days, including a 2004 national title as a head coach, a 1995 title as an assistant and a 1975 appearance as a player.

OMAHA—A couple of quick thoughts as we post the pregame video:

• Feedback on the new ballpark continues to be strong from players and fans in the positive direction. I suppose the news media might be the strongest "nay" vote on the new park. A lot of veterans that I've talked to in and around the media—and by "around" I mean others who help us do our jobs and are around the Series every year—continue to have our reservations. But I think that speaks more to our love of Rosenblatt Stadium and what it meant to us than it speaks negatively of the new park.

There's no doubt this place is nicer, and no doubt that it is more corporate. It's right there in the name. At the front of the old park, giant letters proclaimed, "Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium." Here, it's TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. The old place belonged to the city and the people of Omaha. This place belongs (metaphorically speaking) to a corporate partner and the NCAA. It's up to you if that's a good thing or not. But the park is indisputably nicer and pretty close to big league.

• We welcome feedback to our approach with video. We recorded this one on the gazebo porch at our hotel, which seemed like a good idea at the time. It's fun for Aaron and me to talk about the game but it's also fun to write about it; we can do either one. Thanks for the interest. I hope it comes through how much we enjoy covering this event.

• If you don't want to watch the video, we both picked Florida and Vanderbilt yesterday to go to 2-0. Today, both Aaron and I pick South Carolina and Virginia.

Without further ado, here's the picks video:

OMAHA—Vanderbilt outfielder Tony Kemp went 3-for-4 at the top of the Commodores' lineup, including a bunt single and run scored in the first inning of the first College World Series game at new TD Ameritrade Park.

Baseball America national writer Aaron Fitt talked to Kemp postgame.

We're delving back into the video this year, this time with picks blogs. Of course we were a bit late with the first one … patience please. Here's our picks video for Day One of the 2011 College World Series:

OMAHA—Louis Coleman’s strikeout of Texas’ Connor Rowe delivered LSU its sixth national championship, setting off a celebration that began with the requisite dogpile on the pitcher’s mound.

Amid the jubilation, the Tigers players literally planted their flag in center field at Roseblatt Stadium before making a beeline to the left-field bleachers to high-five fans.

LSU head coach Paul Mainieri then took the time to say a few words of thanks during the postgame trophy presentation and awards ceremony.

OMAHA—After watching Louisiana State win its sixth national championship with an 11-4 win against Texas, Kirk Kenney and I offered our parting thoughts from Rosenblatt Stadium.

By Kirk Kenney

OMAHA—LSU had won 14 straight games and was one victory away from claiming the school’s sixth national championship coming into Game Two of the CWS Finals. Texas starter Taylor Jungmann had his way with the Tigers on Tuesday night, however, pitching the Longhorns to a 5-1 victory at Rosenblatt Stadium that knotted the best-of-three series at one game apiece.

Jungmann tossed a five-hitter—nicked only for an unearned run in the second inning—for the first complete game at the CWS in three years.

Aaron Fitt and Kirk Kenney discussed the game’s highlights. Aaron also broke down Wednesday’s Game Three pitching matchups and what to expect when the teams take the field for the decisive game.

By Kirk Kenney

OMAHA—Texas hit a record-tying five solo homers, but LSU came back for a 7-6, 11-inning win over the Longhorns in Game One of the CWS Finals. The victory puts the Tigers one win away from the school’s sixth national championship. That, by the way, would equal the numbers of titles one by Texas.

Aaron Fitt and Kirk Kenney discussed Monday night’s exciting game and Aaron also took a look ahead to Game Two on Tuesday.

By Kirk Kenney

OMAHA—A weekend without games provided an opportunity to reflect on what has transpired at Rosenblatt Stadium over the past week and a look ahead to what could happen when LSU and Texas take the field for the best-of-three 2009 CWS Finals.

Baseball America national college baseball writer Aaron Fitt, whose future is so bright he has to wear shades, caught up with old buddy and BA draft guru Jim Callis in the stands at Rosenblatt following Sunday practice sessions by the Tigers and Longhorns.

Their discussion included observations on Texas’ Chance Ruffin and LSU’s Louis Coleman, the respective starting pitchers for Game One, thoughts on the matchup and much more.

By Kirk Kenney

OMAHA—The best-of-three CWS Finals features two of college baseball’s heavyweights.

In this dugout, checking in with a record 33 CWS appearances and six national championships, Texas; in the other dugout, with five national championships and an unbeaten record in title games, LSU.

Texas coach Augie Garrido, college baseball’s career leader in coaching victories with 1,717 wins, has an opportunity to win his sixth title. LSU coach Paul Mainieri, who took over the Tigers program three years ago, is going for his first.

I spoke to a Texas booster Saturday night at a watering hole in the Old Market area of downtown and he estimated that 5,000 Longhorns fans could be in attendance Monday night at Rosenblatt Stadium for Game One. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Tigers similarly represented. Look for burnt orange, purple and gold throughout the 24,000-seat stadium.

It just doesn’t get any bigger than this.

At Sunday’s press conference, Mainieri and Garrido made a few remarks about the get-together before joining their teams on the field for practice. Here’s some of what they had to say:

By Kirk Kenney

OMAHA—Texas’ epic 25-inning, 3-2 victory over Boston College in the Austin Regional was three weeks ago, but people are still talking about it.

And what some of them still want to know is how Texas coach Augie Garrido could allow senior lefthander Austin Wood to go 13 innings and throw 169 pitches. Wood, who was drafted five days later in the fifth round by the Tigers, didn’t allow a hit for the first 12 1/3 innings in a performance that instantly became a part of Longhorns lore.

The Texas and LSU head coaches and three players from each team gathered today in the Hall of Fame room at Rosenblatt Stadium for a press conference on the eve of the CWS Finals. One of the questions posed to Garrido was once again in reference to the use of Wood in the 25-inning game.

Here is Garrido’s response:

OMAHA—Texas always seems to have a flair for the dramatic, and the Longhorns did it again in Friday night’s 4-3 win over Arizona State. Cameron Rupp tied the game with a one-out homer in the bottom of the ninth to deep, deep, deep center field. Teammate Connor Rowe won it with a walk-off homer to left that sent Texas to the CWS Finals against LSU. Texas coach Augie Garrido, Rupp and Rowe talk about the exciting finish.

OMAHA—LSU pitcher Anthony Ranaudo put a poor outing against Virginia behind him in today’s 14-5 win over Arkansas. Listen to what Ranaudo, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn and LSU coach Paul Mainieri had to say about the righthander’s six shutout innings that helped the Tigers to the CWS Finals.

 OMAHA—Arizona State’s Kole Calhoun has three home runs and 10 RBIs in the Series, including a grand slam and six RBIs in Thursday night’s 12-5 win over North Carolina. Arizona State coach Pat Murphy couldn’t say enough about his outfielder after the game.

 OMAHA—Arkansas was one pitch away from heading home in the ninth inning, but its season was extended with a 12-inning, comeback win over Virginia. We reviewed the Razorbacks’ exciting victory and also looked ahead to Thursday’s  elimination game between North Carolina and Arizona State.