Rice and Stanford both advanced to the championship round of the College World Series in dramatic fashion, the Owls by scoring a run off nearly-untouchable Texas closer Houston Street in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Stanford thanks to a dramatic 10th-inning homer by leftfielder Danny Putnam against Cal State-Fullerton.

The two teams begin their three-game series Saturday night, and here's how it breaks down:

Pitching

	Jeff Niemann is 17-0 with a 1.67 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 129.1 innings entering the CWS final.

Rice has the advantage over Stanford in terms of pitching. The Owls' top two guys are Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend, who go 6-8 and 6-6, respectively, and both throw dominant fastballs for strikes. Each has also had two days off to rest and scout, so Rice will be able to make a solid decision about who will throw in Game 1.

The Owls have pretty much gone with a postseason pattern of Neimann in the first game and Townsend in the second, with the exception of Philip Humber starting before Neimann and Townsend in the super regional, and there's not much reason to think they will change that now.

The question for Stanford is how spent its staff will be. John Hudgins, the Cardinal's best pitcher, threw 135 pitches over nine innings on Wednesday, and he likely won't pitch until Game 2. The 10-inning win over Cal State-Fullerton will give the Cardinal something to think about when considering who to go with in the opener.

Hitting
Stanford has the upper hand offensively. The Cardinal is balanced up and down the lineup with players who can hit the opponent's best guy. Ryan Garko, Sam Fuld, Danny Putnam and Carlos Quentin have all put up solid numbers this year.

But Rice has been impressive at the plate in the College World Series. Guys like centerfielder Austin Davis and catcher Justin Ruchti -- who drove in the game-winner against Texas -- have gotten big hits, and top bat Vince Sinisi has struggled.

The Owls know Sinisi will come around and the contributions from other guys have been a good sign, but everyone is going to have to be just a little bit better for them to win the whole thing.

Intangibles
This is Rice's first trip to the finals and the Owls are the underdog. The fans have been outwardly pulling for them and they are definitely the Cinderella, since Stanford will be the favorite in the minds of many. We saw the excitement that can bring on Wednesday night, with Rice coach Wayne Graham jumping around after the win over Texas.

Stanford's experience will be an advantage here. The Cardinal has guys all through the order who have been here before, and everyone has contributed something throughout the year. That's huge against an underdog opponent.

Prediction
Everyone knows that Rice's starting pitching can be dominant, with guys throwing 95 mph fastballs, hard sliders and changeups while not making many mistakes, so it will come down to offense.

The Owls have surprised people with their hitting, but they will have to step it up even more against the Cardinal. Stanford has better balance between its offense and pitching, and for that reason I like the Cardinal.

ESPN analyst Tony Gwynn, a career .338 hitter with the Padres, is the head baseball coach at San Diego State.