College World Series 2014: Day 1 schedule and open thread

The 2014 College World Series begins on Saturday, and while Ole Miss won't be playing until Sunday, that's no excuse not to be watching. The first bracket group, which includes Vanderbilt, opens play with a pair of games on Day 1.

Why should you divert your attention away from the World Cup to watch some college bros playing baseball? Three reasons:

1. You can use your hands in baseball.
2. There won't be riots in Nebraska (now that I've written that, it seems like a really good reason why you should be watching soccer instead).
3. If Ole Miss ends up in the finals, they'll be facing one of the teams playing on Saturday.

Every day until the College World Series is over, we'll be bringing you a schedule and more importantly, telling you why you should care about each game. Let's get this thing started.

UC Irvine vs. Texas

2 p.m. CT -- ESPN2, WatchESPN

Why you should care: Texas coach Augie Garrido and UC Irvine coach Mike Gillespie have somewhat of an epic rivalry going. This will be the 25th matchup between the two. Ole Augie has won 15 of those, including the 1995 national championship in which he led Cal State Fullerton over Gillespie's USC Trojans. Combined, these two dudes are 149 years old and have won 2,913 college baseball games.

Louisville vs. Vanderbilt

7 p.m. CT -- ESPN2, WatchESPN

Why you should care: For starters, Vandy's the only other SEC team still standing in this tournament. Also, Vandy-Louisville is one of the best budding rivalries in the sport. They've played each other 13 times since 2009, with eight of those games coming in the postseason. The Commodores have lost the last three, including a two-game sweep in the 2013 Nashville Super Regional that knocked them out of the tourney.

Also, Vandy head coach Tim Corbin has made the controversial decision to hold Friday ace and first-round MLB draft pick Tyler Beede until the second game. So we can all point and laugh if that backfires.

Use this as your open thread for Saturday