25 heroes of the College World Series through the years

It's been 53 years, but Bando's performance helping Arizona State to its first College World Series title in 1965 is still hard to top. The junior third baseman set tournament marks with 12 hits and 21 total bases and tied records for runs (10), RBI (nine), doubles (four) and stolen bases (four). He also batted .480 while hitting safely in each contest. Bando's success carried over to the majors, where he was a four-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion with the Oakland A's.

While Sal Bando was dominant in the '65 College World Series, his Arizona State teammate wasn't too shabby either. Monday homered in the first inning of the Sun Devils' 2-1 victory over Ohio State in the championship game. He hit two homers for the series and recorded four RBI to make the All-Tournament Team. Also in '65, Monday became the No. 1 pick in the first Major League Baseball draft and went on to enjoy a 19-year big league career. 

In 1966, Arlin tossed a pair of complete-game wins and made three relief appearances to earn Most Outstanding Player honors, as Ohio State won the title to finish the business it started as runner-up one year earlier. Though the Buckeyes fell short in '65, Arlin posted the most memorable moment of that tournament when he struck out 20 in 15 innings — both records that still stand — in a 1-0 victory over Washington State in the semifinals. 

The Hall of Fame slugger was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1973 tournament — as a pitcher — but he also hit .363 during the event. In Minnesota's opener, Winfield fanned 14 for a 1-0 victory over Oklahoma. The Gophers reached the semifinals, where Winfield struck out 15 USC hitters over eight innings while building a 7-0 lead. However, things fell apart in the ninth, as Winfield left after giving up three runs and the Trojans scored eight times to stun the Gophers with an 8-7 victory. 

The former Atlanta Braves star was a three-time College World Series participant. In 1977, he helped Arizona State claim its fourth title while clubbing two homers and driving in nine runs to earn the honor of the tournament's top performer. Though the Sun Devils were runners-up to USC in '78, Horner homered and had 11 RBI for the series. His 20 career RBI are a CWS record.

The Most Outstanding Player in 1980, Francona set a record at the time by getting a hit in seven straight official at-bats. He ended up 11-for-24 with a home run, six RBI, five runs scored and a tournament-leading 18 total bases for the national champion Wildcats. Though Francona played 10 years in the majors, his greatest professional success has come as a manager. He ended Boston's 86-year World Series title drought in 2004, then guided the Red Sox to another in '07 and took Cleveland to the Fall Classic in 2016.

During his two appearances at the CWS, the Texas shortstop shined both at the plate and in the field. The Longhorns didn't claim the title either time Owen played in Omaha, but he recorded 10 assists against Oklahoma in '81, tied for second all time. His 31 assists for that series are tied for fourth in CWS history. A year later, Owen batted .529 to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

Despite not making the CWS All-Tournament Team in 1983, Clemens played a key role in helping Texas win its fourth title amid a star-studded field in Omaha that included Barry Bonds, Dave Magadan and Chris Sabo. He earned the win in the Longhorns' 4-3 victory over Alabama in the championship game to finish his collegiate career with a 25-7 mark before becoming a seven-time Cy Young Award winner during a 24-year career that has since been tainted by PED allegations. 

Before he bulked up to become baseball's home run king, Bonds made two trips to the College World Series with Arizona State. Bonds never won a national championship, but in eight career CWS games, he hit .438 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI while making the All-Tournament Team twice. His career .781 slugging percentage in Omaha ranks third all time, and in 1984, Bonds hit safely in eight consecutive CWS games. 

Perhaps the best collegiate power hitter of all time, Incaviglia made three trips to the CWS with Oklahoma State, never winning the tournament but certainly leaving his mark. In 11 games over that three-year stretch, "Inky" hit .357 with four home runs and 16 RBI and slugged at a .762 clip. His 100 career home runs are a NCAA record, as are the 48 he hit and 143 RBI he produced in 1985. 

With Mississippi State back at the College World Series for the first time in five years, it's the appropriate time to revisit Clark's stellar 1985 season. A two-time All-American often associated with former major leaguer and Mississippi State teammate Rafael Palmeiro, Clark hit .420 with 25 home runs and 77 RBI that season. When the Bulldogs got to Omaha, Clark went 8-for-15 with two homers among his four extra-base hits and had five RBI and six runs scored.

One of the best hitters in college baseball history, Ventura was the 1987 Golden Spikes Award winner. That season, his NCAA-record 58-game hitting streak was snapped against Stanford at the CWS. Though that run ended and the Cowboys never won a title in Ventura's three trips to Rosenblatt, his .459 (17-for-37) career average ranks among the highest in tournament history. Ventura's seven career doubles are tied for first all time at the event.

Cal State Fullerton was the national runner-up in 1992 thanks to the play of Nevin, who became the first member of a non-championship team since Dave Winfield in 1973 to be named Most Outstanding Player. Nevin went 10-for-19 with two home runs, 11 RBI and seven runs scored in his second CWS appearance. He went on to make one All-Star appearance in 12 major league seasons. 

A two-time All-American, the gritty second baseman led LSU to the 1993 national title and helped the Tigers get back to Omaha the next season. He was named MOP in '93, batting .350 with three home runs and 12 RBI. In two CWS games the next season, Walker went 5-for-7 with another homer and three RBI. 

Kotsay etched his name in CWS lore with both his bat and arm. In Fullerton's 11-5 win over USC in the 1995 championship game, Kotsay belted two home runs, drove in five and took the mound for the final one-and-two-thirds innings en route to earning MOP honors. For the series, Kotsay went 9-for-16 with 20 total bases. In two CWS visits, Kotsay was 15-for-29 at the plate, and his 18 RBI are tied for second in the event's history.

College baseball's best player in 1997, Drew made two appearances at the College World Series in the two years prior. He's tied for second in tournament history with five home runs, three of which came in a wild 16-11 1995 loss to USC that made Drew, then a freshman, the first player at the time to homer three times in a CWS contest. His 12 total bases in that game are also tied for the most all time.

Morris' moment was brief but remains the most memorable finish to a College World Series championship game ever. A preseason All-American, the LSU second baseman missed 39 games with a hand injury that required surgery and forced him to work his way back into the lineup. Batting ninth in the 1996 title game against Miami, Morris stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with one on, two out and the Tigers down 8-7. In storybook fashion, Morris belted his first home run of the season, giving LSU a 9-8 win and its third title with the only walk-off homer in the tournament's history. 

Burrell made three College World Series appearances with Miami but never won a title. However, he was named Most Outstanding Player in 1996 as a freshman when he went 7-for-14 with two homers and seven RBI. Two years later, Burrell had four hits in seven at-bats with a home run and three RBI. Though Burrell never won a college title, he became a World Series champion with Philadelphia in 2008 and again two years later as a member of the San Francisco Giants.

The co-record holder for most career saves in the College World Series with five, Street locked down four of them in 2002 while helping Texas to its fifth national title. That '02 performance, which included one run allowed over six-and-one-third innings, won him the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. The AL Rookie of the Year in 2005 and a two-time All-Star, Street posted 324 saves through 2017.

Though Barney produced some solid numbers at the plate (.298, home run, two doubles and eight RBI) during his three trips to the CWS, the shortstop's Rosenblatt Stadium legacy was etched with his glove. He posted a .963 fielding percentage over 15 games in Omaha, and his 52 career assists rank third in tournament history. He helped the Beavers win back-to-back titles in 2006-07.

The first player to be named to three College World Series All-Tournament Teams, Ackley and his North Carolina Tar Heels were fixtures in Omaha during the late 2000s. Ackley's teams never won the title but was runner-up in 2007. The first baseman batted .412 during his CWS career, and the 28 hits he collected are tied for the most in tournament history. His 40 total bases rank second.

It was 10 years ago that a Fresno State team with 31 losses made an improbable run to the CWS title. Third baseman Tommy M endonca was a big reason, clubbing four home runs — tied for first in tournament history — and driving in 11 while flashing some stellar leather at the hot corner. A second-round pick of the Texas Rangers in 2009, Mendonca has never reached the majors.

Bradley and his South Carolina teammates made the final tournament at Rosenblatt a memorable one in 2010. Before he became an All-Star for the Boston Red Sox, Bradley helped the Gamecocks to their first CWS title with a 2-1, 11-inning victory over UCLA. The tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Bradley went 10-for-29 and delivered a game-tying single in the bottom of the 12th, then scored the winner during a 3-2 victory that eliminated Oklahoma. Bradley helped South Carolina get back to Omaha in '11, where the Gamecocks repeated as champs in the first tournament at its current home of TD Ameritrade Park. 

Swanson may finally be living up to his potential in the majors after a stellar collegiate career at Vanderbilt. The infielder was named CWS Most Outstanding Player in 2014 by going 10-for-31 with five runs scored for the national champion Commodores. Swanson's 2015 performance wasn't nearly as good, but he did help Vanderbilt return for a runner-up finish.

The right-hander didn't pitch in Florida's two-game sweep of LSU to claim last season's CWS title, but he did plenty prior to the final series to capture MOP honors. In two starts, both against TCU, Faedo yielded just five hits and struck out 22 over 14 1/3 scoreless innings. That scoreless stretch ranks fifth all time in tournament history. Faedo is now pitching in the Detroit Tigers' minor league system.