Getty Image / Peter Aiken
For baseball purists, the Divsion I College Baseball World Series is a dream come true. Every year, eight teams meet up in Omaha, Nebraska to crown the best college baseball team in the country. This year, the most unlikely participant to make the College Baseball World Series was Oral Roberts, and they had an opening day to remember.
Oral Roberts is a small Christian school of 4,000 students located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was recently in the sports news due to making the Sweet Sixteen and nearly the Elite Eight in 2021. And, the baseball team, while not as big of a Cinderella story as the basketball team, has also reached national prominence. They beat Oregon last week in Super Regionals to get to Omaha, and continued the legend on Friday.
Oral Roberts was down 5-2 heading into the top of the ninth. But, after scoring a run, this dramatic home run (and terrible call by ESPN’s Karl Ravech) put them up 6-5.
Down to their final two outs …
ORAL ROBERTS TAKES THE LEAD WITH A 3-RUN HR! 😱 pic.twitter.com/VYNkl5Zit0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 16, 2023
And, they got out of a jam in the bottom of the ninth inning with a flyout to left field to give them an opening-game win. But, it’s the celebration that has everyone talking. Look at this.
Ring around the Rosie to celebrate a CWS win is phenomenal stuff from Oral Roberts pic.twitter.com/YNkmVcUR5H
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 16, 2023
Playing ring around the Rosie is an incredible callback to childhood and an excellent celebration. Oral Roberts plays Florida, who beat Virginia 6-5 as well, on Sunday.