Latest news with #Rocco's
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
College World Series winners and losers: The best and worst from Day 2 in Omaha
OMAHA, NE ― Day 2 of the 2025 Men's College World Series saw powerhouse LSU move into the winners bracket while mid-major darlings Murray State will face elimination against Arkansas. The Tigers saw a strong start from Kade Anderson in a 4-1 win over the Razorbacks, while UCLA defeated the Racers, 6-4. Advertisement LSU and UCLA will face off on June 16 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) for a spot in the semifinals, while Arkansas will face Murray State in the early game (2 p.m. ET, ESPN). Here were the Day 2 winners and losers: WINNERS Bunting Bunting has always been a bigger part of college baseball than MLB, but in a lower-scoring College World Series, teams have more frequently turned to the bunt. UCLA bunted twice in its victory, including one squeeze bunt by star shortstop Roch Cholowsky that got the Bruins a run. Ironically, Bruins coach John Savage wasn't too pleased with the play, even though it worked. "That was on his own," Savage said. "That was not us. I'm like, 'Come on, Roch, what are we doing here?' But ... how can you blame a guy for playing baseball?" Advertisement Then, in the second game, with two on and one out, LSU's Daniel Dickinson dropped down a perfect bunt single. The Tigers ultimately scored three runs in that inning. Rocco's Jello shots Rocco's, an Omaha bar most famous for its "Jello Shot Challenge," surely cheers for LSU every postseason. Tigers fans show up in droves and, known for their tailgating prowess, buy up plenty of Jell-O shots. Now, LSU is guaranteed to be in Omaha through at least Tuesday and likely longer. That will surely net Rocco's more cash − and Tigers fans more social media notoriety. Freshmen Think freshmen have become unimportant in the age of NIL and the transfer portal? Think again. Advertisement Both winning teams, UCLA and LSU, saw significant contributions from freshmen. The Tigers' Derek Curiel had two of the biggest plate appearances of the game, coming back from down 0-2 to draw a walk in an eventual three-run second inning and hitting an RBI single for an insurance run in the eighth. "I think the first at-bat might have been one of the most under-noticed, most important at-bats in the game, where he fell down 0-2 to Zach Root, and fought his way back to put a runner in scoring position for the first time," LSU coach Jay Johnson said in the postgame press conference. " ... But I'm not surprised. Like I said, he was born to hit. His disposition, his demeanor is made for hitting with runners on base is made for playing in games like the College World Series." Several other freshmen pitchers contributed for multiple teams. The Tigers' Casan Evans got the save with a scoreless ninth inning. UCLA's Easton Hawk also picked up the save after Murray State chipped away at an early lead, striking out two in a perfect inning. Arkansas reliever Cole Gibler struck out three in one inning of work. LOSERS Home runs (again) Day 1 in Omaha saw just one home run. But Day 2 featured teams with more offensive firepower, so perhaps the long ball would reappear? Advertisement Not so much. Murray State and UCLA didn't hit a single home run in their matchup and had three total extra-base hits, all doubles. Arkansas' Reese Robinett went deep in game 2, the first no-doubt home run of the tournament. Just two home runs have been hit so far in Omaha, and neither team that homered won its game. Shoelaces During the top of the fifth inning against LSU, Arkansas pitcher Gabe Gaeckle had to leave the mound and go into the dugout when his shoelace broke. Gaeckle threaded a new shoelace into his cleat and returned to the mound after a few minutes. It certainly wasn't a ringing endorsement of whoever made the shoelaces Gaeckle used, and it didn't help that Steven Milam hit a single right afterward. Advertisement After that inning, Gaeckle changed out the other shoelace in the dugout. MURRAY STATE: Has No. 4 seed ever won College World Series? How Murray State might fare at CWS Neutral fans Many people in Omaha not supporting a specific team pulled for Murray State, as evidenced by the Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge leaderboard. But the Racers will face elimination in their next game and they won't have an easy matchup with Arkansas. Those seeking hotel rooms in Omaha won't be too happy with LSU's win, either, as Tigers fans tend to be one of the largest groups in Omaha. Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@ or on X @aria_gerson. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Winners and losers from Day 2 of College World Series in Omaha
USA Today
13-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
What is Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge? Explaining College World Series tradition
What is Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge? Explaining College World Series tradition Show Caption Hide Caption Which NCAA baseball teams could blow up the bracket The Montgomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record's Jackson Fuller break down who could wreck the tournament bracket. Inside the walls of Charles Schwab Field Omaha over the next 10 days, eight college baseball teams will be competing for immortality in their sport during the College World Series, with one squad emerging by the end of it as a national champion. Across North 13th Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, a very different kind of competition will be unfolding. Over the past several years, the Jell-O Shot Challenge at Rocco's Pizza and Cantina has become a fixture of the CWS, with supporters of the eight teams vying for the title of the thirstiest fan base at the event. If glory for their teams can't be found on the diamond, fans can try to find it in small plastic cups. REQUIRED READING: 2025 College World Series team rankings: The eight teams in Omaha from best to worst Over the course of the CWS, a tally is kept on a whiteboard, with the restaurant keeping track of which school's fan base has consumed the most shots. The intrigue in the proceedings goes well beyond Omaha: The ever-changing count is regularly updated on social media, with millions of interested fans across the country able to see who's leading in the race for alcohol-soaked greatness. With the first game of the CWS starting today, here's a closer look at the Jell-O Shot Challenge and how it came to be: What is Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge? Years before its sudden rise to fame, Rocco's had been a popular gathering spot for college baseball fans in town for the College World Series to relish their team's wins, drown their sorrows after losses and channel the intensity from the sport's biggest event to various drinking games and competitions with opposing fans. In 2011, when Florida and South Carolina squared off in the CWS championship series, Gators and Gamecocks fans flocking to Rocco's had requested their own distinct shots. Fans knocked them back in droves, giving Pat McEvoy, the restaurant's manager, the idea of doing so for all teams at the event — and eventually gamifying it as an outlet for fans' competitive impulses. Years later, the liquid shots gave way to Jell-O shots, which are easier to make in bulk. As demand for them picked up year after year, Rocco's outsourced the mass-production of the shots to a Tennessee-based company that specializes in making the concoctions. The challenge itself officially began in 2019, making the 2025 College World Series the sixth iteration of it (the COVID-19 pandemic canceled much of the 2020 season, including the CWS). The competition itself is simple. Rocco's stocks Jell-O shots for each of the eight CWS teams, corresponding with one of the school's colors. Each time a fan of that team purchases a shot, it is tallied as part of the school's larger total. The shot counts for each school are periodically updated on a white board at the bar at Rocco's, giving patrons an idea of where things stand and how much work their team needs to catch up. The tally only accounts for shots purchased, not shots consumed. While it had already become a tradition in Omaha, the challenge truly took off in 2022, when McEvoy set up a social media account in which he would post pictures of the leaderboard. After picking up seven followers on its first day, the account had 17,000 by the end of the tournament. Today, it has nearly 51,000 followers. The sheer number of shots have increased rapidly, too. In the first year of the challenge, Arkansas won with 864 shots. Last year, only five years later, Tennessee won with 38,799. It has been a source of intrigue in recent years, with the final leaderboard at Rocco's perhaps the only thing that attracts greater interest in Omaha during the CWS than the games themselves. As it has on the field at the CWS, the SEC has dominated the event, with one of its schools winning each year the challenge has been held. Teams with large fan bases that travel well and that are known for their drinking prowess have generally done well, with LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas among the previous winners (those teams having deep tournament runs, which kept their fans around Omaha longer, didn't hurt, either). Smaller private schools such as Stanford or public schools with stuffier reputations, such as Virginia, have predictably struggled at times. The push to win the challenge helps support a good cause, too. One dollar from each of the $5 shots gets donated to the local food bank of the particular school while another 50 cents goes to the Heartland Food Bank in Omaha. College World Series Jell-O Shot Challenge record The record for most Jell-O shots consumed at Rocco's during the CWS belongs to a familiar face — one with a mark that's highly unlikely to be topped. On its way to winning the Jell-O Shot Challenge in 2023, LSU fans bought 68,888 shots, which is 30,000 more than the next-closest finisher ever in the event. How the Tigers got there is its own story. As the Jell-O Shot Challenge has become more popular, fans have turned to unconventional and perhaps questionable means to ensure their team can be near the top of the leaderboard. When LSU notched its record-setting mark, it received a sizable boost from Raising Cane's founder and CEO Todd Graves, a Baton Rouge resident who bought 6,000 shots — a bill that came out to $30,000. Even without that, Tigers fans still made their presence felt, with more than 60,000 shots excluding Graves' mass purchase. "You know what, man? I started from nothing," Graves said to ESPN. "I had to commercial fish in Alaska to start my first restaurant. ... You work hard and become successful and then you're able to buy all these LSU fans a shot, it feels pretty cool. It's a good way to celebrate with others." Here are the highest shot totals since the challenge started in 2019: LSU, 2023 : 68,888 : 68,888 Tennessee, 2024 : 38,799 : 38,799 Texas A&M, 2024 : 32,762 : 32,762 Ole Miss, 2022 : 18,777 : 18,777 Arkansas, 2022 : 8,672 : 8,672 Wake Forest, 2023 : 7,622 : 7,622 TCU, 2023: 7,070 College World Series Jell-O Shot Challenge winners Here are the previous winners of Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge, along with their final shot tallies:
