The College World Series begins on Saturday in Omaha and ticket sales are on pace with past years despite the absence of perennial powers like LSU and Mississippi State. Thousands of Iowans make the annual trip to TD Ameritrade Park to watch college baseball’s premier event. Herb Hames is the volunteer ticket chairman for the event.

He says “A majority of our season ticket holders just love the fact that this is still an amateur sport, where they get to see future Major Leaguers.”  Hames says there are always those who support the underdog.”U-C Santa Barbara and Coastal Carolina may not bring a lot of their own fans, but I think they will draw more and more fans from Omaha, season ticket holders that want to cheer for a first-timer.”

He says there are several teams in the field that will bring large followings. Such as Oklahoma State,which hasn’t been at the CWS since 1999. And, TCU, which Hames says draws an Omaha crowd because a lot of area residents have graduated from or had kids that graduated from, TCU. Hames says bleacher seats are always popular and group sales are big during the week when attendance is traditionally lower.

He says the weather is a big factor. “When you have games in the afternoon where the temperature is going to be in the high 90’s, a lot of people may prefer to watch it on TV, and sell their tickets to somebody else.” He says they’ll just have to see how what happens.

Oklahoma State will play UC-Santa Barbara in Saturday afternoon’s opener. Miami and Arizona collide on Saturday night.

(Radio Iowa Sports)

Big changes are coming to the seeding process for high school boys’ post season tournament basketball. The Quad City Times reports the Iowa High School Athletic Association board of control has approved a change that will allow the coaches to seed their district or sub-state. In recent years a team’s record during a portion of the season determined its seed. Matt Coss reported on the story for the Times.

He says “Now it’s gonna be in the coaches hands. They’re going to have seeding meetings the first part of February each year, for basketball, where they’ll take win/loss record into account. But I think you’ll also see strength of schedule play a bigger role into it as well. A lot of other states have gone to this format, such as Illinois and Missouri, so Iowa is just kinda jumping on-board with this now.”

Coss says way the state tournament is seeded will also change. “Now, the eight coaches that make the state tournament will rank the seven other teams (in their class). They won’t rank their own team. From there, the Association will take those rankings and determine the seeding of the eight teams. Then they’ll turn it into a “pairing show,” and things like that, so definitely some major changes from what’s taken place in the past.”

Previously, a team’s win-loss record was used to seed the state tournament and Coss says that system drew a number of complaints from coaches. “Especially in the lower classes. It seemed in 1-A and 2-A, you had a lot of teams that maybe were seeded 6th or 7th that ended-up in a State Championship game, just because maybe they were a little more ‘battle tested’ than some of the other teams. So I think now maybe we’ll get some better match-ups right out of the gate at the State Tournament, and it could make the State Tournament more competitive throughout the week.”

The changes will go into effect for next season.

(Radio Iowa Sports)

AHSTW, Avoca 12, Riverside, Oakland 2
Bedford 9, Stanton 3
Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 6, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 3
Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 6, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 5
CAM, Anita 11, West Central Valley, Stuart 0 (6 innings)
Coon Rapids-Bayard 16, Adair-Casey 1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 7, West Harrison, Mondamin 6
Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 6, Sioux City, North 1
Creston 4, Denison-Schleswig 2
Creston 9, Denison-Schleswig 6
Earlham 12, Madrid 6
Griswold 5, Audubon 3
Guthrie Center 5, East Union, Afton 3
Lawton-Bronson 9, East Sac County 2
Lewis Central 6, Shenandoah 3
Madrid 4, Earlham 3
Missouri Valley 12, IKM-Manning 0
Sioux City, North 1, Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 0
Winterset 6, Pleasantville 0
Woodward-Granger 12, Panorama, Panora 5
Woodward-Granger 2, Panorama, Panora 1

Atlantic 10, Clarinda 0
Atlantic 12, Clarinda 0
Bedford 16, Stanton 1
CAM, Anita 12, West Central Valley, Stuart 8
Central Decatur, Leon 9, Southwest Valley 1
IKM-Manning 5, Missouri Valley 4
LeMars Gehlen Catholic 16, Clay Central-Everly 4
Lewis Central 10, Shenandoah 0
Lewis Central 12, Shenandoah 0
OA-BCIG 9, South Central Calhoun 2
Orient-Macksburg 4, Twin Cedars 3
St. Albert, Council Bluffs 14, Fremont-Mills 1
Treynor 13, Tri-Center, Neola 0
Treynor 15, Tri-Center, Neola 0
Westwood, Sloan 12, West Harrison 1
Winterset 10, Carroll 0
Winterset 13, Carroll 0
Woodward-Granger 5, Panorama 4
Woodward-Granger 6, Panorama 5 (8)