Rhett Lowder explains how he stays locked in, tunes out MLB Draft buzz

Rhett Lowder is keeping the main thing the main thing in Omaha for the College World Series.

The star pitcher for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons is bound to get a ton of buzz for the 2023 MLB Draft. He’s been stellar throughout his time in Winston-Salem, helping Wake Forest ascend and become the top team in the nation.

As the Demon Deacons continue their quest for a title, Lowder explained how he keeps his focus amid MLB teams calling, trying to stay locked in on the College World Series.

“Yeah, it’s something you don’t really worry about in the moment,” explained Lowder. “It’s a little bit easier when you have a pretty good team. All have you to do is focus on trying to go out there and win.

“It might be a little bit different if we weren’t in the situation we’re in. It hasn’t really been too hard up until this point.”

Alas, Rhett Lowder will have plenty of opportunities to focus on the MLB, but he may only have one shot at winning the College World Series. The Wake Forest starting pitcher and his teammates will continue to give it their all towards their ultimate goal of winning it all.

More on the Men’s College World Series ahead of Day 3

Continuing, the first two days of College World Series action are now behind us, meaning the pressure is heating up in Omaha. Four teams find themselves in a win-or-go-home scenario as the next round takes place Sunday and Monday. 

Firstly, TCU and Virginia will face off in an elimination game at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. The Horned Frogs entered the ninth inning with a 5-2 lead on Oral Roberts on Friday after scoring three runs in the eight to break a 2-2 tie. However, they surrendered four runs to the Golden Eagles after that, including a three-RBI home run to Blaze Brothers, as they went on to lose 6-5. 

Virginia also held a lead against Florida heading into the ninth inning of the late game Friday, as the Cavaliers found themselves up 5-3. However, the Gators caught fire in the final stretch starting with a homer from Ty Evans to lead off the inning. After later scoring the tying run and loading the bases, Florida’s Luke Heyman drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly. 

The first game of Day 2 on Saturday also featured a late comeback. No. 1 overall seed Wake Forest had dominated Regional and Super Regional play, but found itself trailing 2-1 coming out of a nearly 1-and-a-half hour rain delay in the seventh inning. However, the Demon Deacons took the lead for good after a two-RBI single from Danny Corona and moved on to the winner’s bracket with a 3-2 victory.

LSU defeated Tennessee 6-3 in the second game Saturday and will move on to face Wake Forest on Monday. The Vols made a late comeback push by scoring three runs in the eighth inning, including a two-run homer from Hunter Ensley. However, it wasn’t enough to overcome a 5-0 deficit as LSU responded with a homer of its own in the bottom of the inning. Tennessee now must stave off elimination Monday against Stanford.

After the elimination matchup between TCU and Virginia, ORU and Florida will play at 7 p.m. ET Sunday. You can view the full schedule here.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this article.