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)