MADISON- The College Baseball World Series is certainly an annual highlight in collegiate sports with the best teams in college baseball battling for the crown as National Championships in the Series played in Omaha, Neb. This year’s event is even more special from the fact three former players from Bob Jones are there playing in what is a college sport spectacle.

“It’s unusual to have that many high-level players on one team and know they would be on a Power 5 program,” said Jared Smith head coach of the Bob Jones baseball program.

The three former Patriots in Omaha are Cam Hill of Auburn, Max Soliz, Jr. of Arkansas and Mitch Daly who plays for Texas. They won’t play against one another in round one of the World Series as Auburn (42-20) faces Ole Miss (37-22), Arkansas (43-19) tangles with Stanford (47-16) and Texas (47-20) will battle Notre Dame (40-15). The remaining three-game series in the final eight teams has Oklahoma (42-22) pitted against Texas A&M (42-18). Half of the eight-team field is comprised of squads from the Southeastern Conference.

At Auburn, Hill played in 39 games this season batting .280 with seven doubles and 19 RBIs as a sophomore. He also pitched in three games. The 6-foot-5, 214-pounder was a top-300 player nationally while at Bob Jones and was named to the 2019 Perfect Game Third Team All-American squad. He was also named to the Super All-State Team.

For the 6-1, 185-pound Daly, he was born just outside Austin, Tex. and always had the Longhorns in his heart when it came time to choose a college to play baseball as he also received offers from Duke and Clemson. He was a First Team All-State selection at Bob Jones for his spectacular play at both shortstop and second base. He was rated the No. 1 shortstop in Alabama.

For the Longhorns, who are making their 38^th appearance in the College World Series, which is a NCAA best and finished third in 2021, he was named to the Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America second team after he started 59 games at second base. This year, he batted .238 with four homers and 37 RBIs in 66 games.

Soliz played in five games as a Razorback freshman. He batted .222.

At Bob Jones, he was the top catcher in Alabama and the fourth overall player in the state. He finished his four years at Bob Jones tied for eighth on the all-time homeruns listing after spanking 10 round trippers in 2021. While with the Patriots, the 6-5, 220-pound Soliz was spotted by several professional teams before he chose to attend Arkansas where he plans on studying business.

“We knew in the moment how good those guys were and how special they were,” said Smith, who has had 21 All-State players including 13 First-Team selections over the last seven years. “Not any of the coaches on our staff are surprised that these players are having the success they are.”