Admittedly, as a big fan of old country music, I have a new-found affinity for a 1949 Hank Williams ditty “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It.” The title of the whimsical tune instantly popped in my head during a recent midwestern trip devised to check off one of my ‘bucket list’ destinations, the College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

Having achieved my quest of seeing a Major League Baseball game in all 30 MLB Stadiums and my long-standing affiliation with our very own Little League Baseball World Series, it was only fitting that the college version of the series be checked off my voluminous baseball appetite. Planning for that task began in March, worked around MLB games in St. Louis and Kansas City and side trips to visit friends in Kansas and Oklahoma.

A slight blip on that radar screen occurred when it came time to obtain CWS tickets, which were not available for single game purchase until April 14. I soon learned that this was a pretty big deal as attempts to secure tickets for the first two days of the series (played on Saturday and Sunday) were sold out. Undaunted, tickets for the two games played on Monday, June 18 were obtained, and details were finalized for our mid-western sojourn.

As the college playoff season progressed, we casually followed the proceedings to see what teams may be making an appearance in Omaha during our visit. Our interest ramped higher when North Carolina punched its Nebraska ticket, and when the CWS schedule was finalized, we were thrilled to learn that Loyalsock grad Kyle Datres’ Tar Heels would be playing one of the games we would be seeing. That’s a lot of icing on my baseball cake!

Anticipation was high as we arrived in Omaha as North Carolina was playing the first game of the CWS on a blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon. We watched the game in the comfort of our nearby hotel room and began to reason that this may not be a typical World Series experience.

With Datres contributing a base hit and some outstanding defense, North Carolina outlasted one of the pre-tournament favorites Oregon State 8-6 in a 93-degree heat, 4 hour, 24-minute marathon that made it the longest nine-inning game in CWS history. The headline in the next day’s Omaha World-Herald accurately stated: “Fast Start, Just Not Very Quick.”

As play continued on day 2, we should have known trouble was brewing. Mother Nature sent some lightning storms to the party, which resulted in Texas Tech downing defending champion Florida 6-3 in a game that concluded just before midnight on Sunday. But we were undaunted as our ‘ticketed day’ was upon us to see North Carolina and Datres play on college baseball’s biggest stage.

We were prepared for a hot, sunny day as we entered beautiful TD Ameritrade Park (more on that down the page) for the day’s first game featuring Oregon State and Washington. It was an exciting game with Washington holding a 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth inning when Mother Nature’s unwelcome guest showed up again. At 3:16 p.m., for the second day in a row, play was suspended because of lightning. Only this time it was messing with our tickets!

The rain soon followed leaving fans scrambling for cover and North Carolina uncertain as to when their scheduled 6:00 p.m. game would begin. As it turned out, a 4-hour, 31-minute weather delay lasted until 7:47 p.m. when Oregon State and Washington resumed play. Tournament officials waited until 9:00 p.m. to make the dreaded announcement that the North Carolina game was being rescheduled until Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. Undoubtedly, the best decision for the teams involved, but it left my ‘bucket’ with a most unwelcomed hole in it.

After many months of planning and the unanticipated bonus of seeing Kyle Datres play on college baseball’s biggest stage, our College World Series adventure lasted 5 2/3 unfulfilled innings. Tuesday morning as Datres was taking the field, I saw his first at-bat (a double to right center field) from an Omaha Airport TV monitor as we were about to board our flight home.

More importantly, Kyle Datres’ bucket list is filled to the brim as his Tar Heels reached the zenith of college baseball and he accomplished a childhood dream of being selected in the Major League Baseball draft, picked in the 12th round by the Colorado Rockies. Professional baseball awaits and we will be following his progress.

If you are not aware of the growing emergence of college baseball consider this, it is the NCAA’s second-biggest revenue producer, trailing only the NCAA Men’s March Madness basketball event. Omaha’s TD Ameritrade Park is a 24,000 seat state-of-the-art structure built for the college game in 2011. It is the home of Creighton University’s baseball team and hosts the annual Big Ten baseball tournament. The rest of the year it sits basically idle.

Omaha also has the AAA Storm Chasers, the Kansas City Royals farm team in the Pacific Coast League. They play their games in suburban Papillion, Nebraska in Werner Park, opened in 2011 with a 9,023 capacity. TD Ameritrade Park is too big for the Storm Chasers but just right for College Baseball. Just make sure, should you decide to go there, your bucket doesn’t have a hole in it!