A map of all NCAA Division I baseball teams.

College baseball is baseball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. Compared to football and basketball in the U.S., college competition plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily fulfill that role. Although they go to a division II college, Eric Aschley and Kenny Walrond are two of the most dominant college baseball players. Eric posseses a fastball that reaches 92 mph and Ken has some of the quickest hands around.

The first known intercollegiate baseball game took place in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1859, between squads representing Amherst College and Williams College. Amherst won, 73-32. This game was one of the last played under the "Massachusetts rules", which prevailed in New England until the "New York rules" developed in the 1840s gradually became accepted.[1] The Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club of St. John's College in New York (now Fordham University) played the first ever nine-man team college baseball game on November 3, 1859 against (the now defunct) St. Francis Xavier College.

College baseball has grown phenomenally in popularity since the 1980s. Traditionally, it has been played in the early part of the year, with a relatively short schedule and during a time when cold (and/or rainy) weather hinders the ability for games to be played, particularly in the northern and midwestern parts of the U.S. These and other factors have historically led colleges and universities across the nation to effectively consider baseball a minor sport, both in scholarships as well as money and other points of emphasis. During the 1980s, coaches and athletic directors in warm-weather regions of the nation began to recognize the unrealized potential appeal of the sport. These efforts were led by example by Coach Ron Polk at Mississippi State University. They went out and aggressively recruited the sport to potential athletes, as well as made various upgrades to their programs; such as bigger and better stadiums, more money for staff and support salaries, and promotions. As these efforts resulted in better players and overall programs, more television and print media coverage began to emerge. The ESPN Network greatly increased television coverage of the NCAA playoffs and the College World Series.

Soon, in many warm-weather regions, baseball came to be considered a major sport, approaching the level of football and basketball. And even non-warm weather schools started to recognize baseball's potential and began to put considerably more emphasis on it. Nebraska, Notre Dame, and Oregon State are three notable examples of cold (or rainy) weather schools with very successful programs. The first two made the College World Series when warm-weather schools placed major emphasis on baseball as well as had the advantage of playing earlier and more games because of favorable climate advantages. Oregon State won back-to-back national championships in 2006 & 2007. Archrival Oregon has not even had a varsity baseball program since 1981. Many credit the Beavers' success as being a primary factor in UO's recent decision to revive baseball in 2009. For 2008 and succeeding seasons, the NCAA has mandated the first ever start date for baseball. This day is exactly thirteen weeks before the selection of the NCAA tournament field, which takes place on Memorial Day. For 2008, this day is February 22. Many feel this date will give non warm-weather schools more parity in college baseball and help continue to make the sport a major one nationally.

As with other intercollegiate sports, most college baseball is played under the auspices of the NCAA or the NAIA. The NCAA writes the rules of play, while each sanctioning body supervises season-ending tournaments. The final rounds of the NCAA tournaments are known as the College World Series; one is held on each of the three levels of competition sanctioned by the NCAA. The College World Series for Division I takes place in Omaha in June, following the regular season. The playoff bracket for Division I consists of 64 teams, with four teams playing at each of 16 regional sites (in a double-elimination format) in late May. The 16 winners advance to the Super Regionals at eight sites, played head-to-head in in a best-of-three series. The eight winners then advance to the College World Series, a double elimination tournament (actually two separate four-team brackets) to determine the two national finalists. The finalists play a best-of-three series to determine the Division I national champion. In 2008, the winner of the CWS was Fresno State.

EA Sports released MVP 06 NCAA Baseball, the first college baseball video game ever released. It includes most Division I schools. A sequel, MVP 07: NCAA Baseball was also released.

The rules of college baseball are similar to the Official Baseball Rules. Exceptions include the following:

• The bat may be made of wood or of aluminum or a metal or composite material that meets NCAA standards.
• The designated hitter rule is used. In addition, a player may serve as both pitcher and DH at the same time and may remain in one position when removed in the other.
• One or both ends of a doubleheader are sometimes seven innings in length. However, the NCAA has recently tightened the interpretation of what constitutes a regulation game, encouraging schools to play as many nine-inning games as possible.
• A mercy rule may be in use, which terminates play when one team is ahead by 10 or more runs after seven innings (6½ innings if the home team is winning). In games that are scheduled for seven innings the rule takes effect in the fifth. This rule is not used in NCAA tournament games. Several conferences institute this rule only on Sundays or the final day of a conference series, so that the visiting team can travel on time.

[edit] Top College Baseball Crowds of All Time

[edit] Top 25 On-Campus College Baseball Crowds

[edit] See also

• NCAA Division I Baseball Championship
• College World Series
• List of college baseball career home run leaders
• List of Division I colleges that do not sponsor baseball
• College baseball standings

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rivals.com/Yahoo! Sports College Baseball
• NCAA Sports.com - Baseball
• NCAA.org - home page
• National (Collegiate) Club Baseball Association
• The College Baseball Blog
• CSTV.com College baseball polls
• College Baseball Dugout.com

2006 College World Series Championship game at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.

The College World Series or CWS is a baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The final eight team double elimination tournament takes place in June of each year.

[edit] History

Since 1950, the CWS has been held at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska; earlier tournaments were held at Hyames Field in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1947-48) and Wichita, Kansas (1949). The name "College World Series" (CWS) is derived from that of the Major League Baseball World Series championship.

[edit] Contract extension

On June 10, 2008, the NCAA and College World Series of Omaha, Inc., which is the non-profit group that actually organizes the event, announced a new 25-year contract extension, keeping the CWS in Omaha through 2035.^[1] A memorandum of understanding had been reached by all parties on April 30.^[2]

The new contract will begin in 2011, the same year the tournament is scheduled to move from Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium to a new downtown stadium across from Qwest Center Omaha.

[edit] Format changes

Through 1987, the College World Series was a pure double-elimination event. The format was changed in 1988, when the tournament was divided into two four-team double-elimination brackets, with the survivors of each bracket playing in a single championship game. The single-game championship was designed for network television, with the final game on CBS on Saturday afternoon.

In 2003, the tournament returned entirely to cable television on ESPN, which had been covering all of the other games of the CWS since 1982 (and a partial schedule since 1980). [1] The championship final became a best-of-three series between the two bracket winners, with games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings. In the results shown here, Score indicates the score of the championship game(s) only.

Since 1999, the four-team brackets in the CWS have been determined by the results of regional and super regional play, much like the NCAA basketball tournament. Prior to 1999, the pairings for the CWS were not determined until after the completion of the regional tournaments.

Before expanding to 64 teams in 1999, the Division I tournament began with 48 teams, split into 8 six-team regionals. The winner of each regional advanced to the College World Series. The regionals were a test of endurance, as teams had to win at least four games over four days, sometimes five if a team dropped into the loser's bracket, placing a premium on pitching. Ironically, in the last two years of the six-team regional format, the eventual CWS champion (LSU in 1997, USC in 1998) had to battle back from the loser's bracket in the regional to advance to Omaha.

[edit] Other championships

[edit] Division III

Marietta College (Ohio) hosted the Division III baseball championship from its first year in 1976 through 1987. The 1988 and 1989 series were played in Bristol, Connecticut. Battle Creek, Michigan took over in 1990 and Salem, Virginia, in 1995. The Division III tournament has been held at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin since 2000. This division uses a pure "double elimination" format rather than the best-of-three series.

[edit] Division II

The Division II tournament was held at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois outside of (St Louis, Missouri) in 2008. From 1985 to 2007, it was held at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama (and previously Paterson Field). This division uses a single-game championship rather than the best-of-three series; in 2008, the title game was shown on CBS College Sports Network.

[edit] Division I

[edit] CWS appearances & titles

• Table is sortable
• Bold indicates team won the CWS that year

School	Appearances	Titles	Years
Alabama	5		1950, 1983, 1996, 1997, 1999
Arizona	15	3	1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986, 2004
Arizona State	20	5	1964, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2005, 2007
Arkansas	5		1979, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2004
Auburn	4		1967, 1976, 1994, 1997
Baylor	3		1977, 1978, 2005
Boston College	4		1953, 1960, 1961, 1967
Bradley	2		1950, 1956
BYU	2		1968, 1971
California	5	2	1947, 1957, 1980, 1988, 1992
Cal State Fullerton	15	4	1975, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007
Cal State-Los Angeles	1		1977
Citadel	1		1990
Clemson	11		1958, 1959, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006
Colgate	1		1955
Colorado State	1		1950
Connecticut	5		1957, 1959, 1965, 1972, 1979
Creighton	1		1991
Dartmouth	1		1970
Delaware	1		1970
Duke	3		1952, 1953, 1961
Eastern Michigan	2		1975, 1976
Florida	5		1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2005
Florida State	19		1957, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2008
Fresno State	4	1	1959, 1988, 1991, 2008
Georgia	6	1	1987, 1990, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008
Georgia Southern	2		1973, 1990
Georgia Tech	3		1994, 2002, 2006
Harvard	4		1968, 1971, 1973, 1974
Hawaii	1		1980
Holy Cross	4	1	1952, 1958, 1962, 1963
Houston	2		1953, 1967
Indiana State	1		1986
Iowa	1		1972
Iowa State	2		1957, 1970
Ithaca	1		1962
James Madison	1		1983
Kansas	1		1993
Lafayette	4		1953, 1954, 1958, 1965
Long Beach State	4		1989, 1991, 1993, 1998
Louisiana-Lafayette	1		2000
Louisville	1		2007
Loyola Marymount	1		1986
LSU	14	5	1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008
Maine	7		1964, 1976, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986
Massachusetts	2		1954, 1969
Miami (FL)	23	4	1974, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008
Michigan	7	2	1953, 1962, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984
Michigan State	1		1954
Minnesota	5	3	1956, 1960, 1964, 1973, 1977
Mississippi	4		1956, 1964, 1969, 1972
Mississippi State	8		1971, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2007
Missouri	6	1	1952, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1964
Missouri State	1		2003
Nebraska	3		2001, 2002, 2005
New Hampshire	1		1956
New Orleans	1		1984
NYU	2		1956, 1969
North Carolina	7		1960, 1966, 1978, 1989, 2006, 2007, 2008
North Carolina State	1		1968
Northeastern	1		1966
Northern Colorado	10		1952, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1974
Notre Dame	2		1957, 2002
Ohio	1		1970
Ohio State	4	1	1951, 1965, 1966, 1967
Oklahoma	9	2	1951, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1992, 1994, 1995
Oklahoma State	19	1	1954, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999
Oral Roberts	1		1978
Oregon	1		1954
Oregon State	4	2	1952, 2005, 2006, 2007
Penn State	5		1952, 1957, 1959, 1963, 1973
Pepperdine	2	1	1979, 1992
Princeton	1		1951
Rice	7	1	1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008
Rider	1		1967
Rollins	1		1954
Rutgers	1		1950
St. John's (NY)	6		1949, 1960, 1966, 1968, 1978, 1980
St. Louis	1		1965
San Jose State	1		2000
Santa Clara	1		1962
Seton Hall	4		1964, 1971, 1974, 1975
South Carolina	8		1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 2002, 2003, 2004
Southern California	21	12	1948, 1949, 1951, 1955, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001
Southern Illinois	5		1968, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1977
Springfield	2		1951, 1955
Stanford	16	2	1953, 1967, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008
Syracuse	1		1961
Temple	2		1972, 1977
Tennessee	4		1951, 1995, 2001, 2005
Texas	32	6	1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Texas A&M	4		1951, 1964, 1993, 1999
Texas-Pan American	1		1971
Tufts	1		1950
Tulane	2		2001, 2005
Tulsa	2		1969, 1971
UC Irvine	1		2007
UCLA	2		1969, 1997
Utah	1		1951
Wake Forest	2	1	1949, 1955
Washington State	4		1950, 1956, 1965, 1976
Western Michigan	6		1952, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963
Wichita State	7	1	1982, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996
Wisconsin	1		1950
Wyoming	1		1956
Yale	2		1947, 1948

[edit] Most CWS wins (games)

(All records are through 2008 College World Series).

[edit] Division II

• 1968 Chapman 11-0 Delta State
• 1969 Illinois State 12-0 Southwest Missouri State
• 1970 Cal State Northridge 2-1 Nicholls State
• 1971 Florida Southern 4-0 Central Michigan
• 1972 Florida Southern 5-1 Cal State Northridge
• 1973 UC Irvine 9-6 Ithaca
• 1974 UC Irvine 14-1 LSU-New Orleans
• 1975 Florida Southern 10-7 Marietta
• 1976 Cal Poly Pomona 17-3 SIU-Edwardsville
• 1977 UC Riverside 4-1 Eckerd
• 1978 Florida Southern 7-2 Delta State
• 1979 Valdosta State 3-2 Florida Southern
• 1980 Cal Poly Pomona 13-6 New Haven
• 1981 Florida Southern 9-0 Eastern Illinois
• 1982 UC Riverside 10-1 Florida Southern
• 1983 Cal Poly Pomona 9-7 Jacksonville State
• 1984 Cal State Northridge 10-5 Florida Southern
• 1985 Florida Southern 15-5 Cal Poly Pomona
• 1986 Troy State 5-0 Columbus State
• 1987 Troy State 7-5 Tampa
• 1988 Florida Southern 5-4 Sacramento State
• 1989 Cal Poly 9-5 New Haven
• 1990 Jacksonville State 12-8 Cal State Northridge
• 1991 Jacksonville State 20-4 Missouri Southern
• 1992 Tampa 11-8 Mansfield
• 1993 Tampa 7-5 Cal Poly
• 1994 Central Missouri State 14-9 Florida Southern
• 1995 Florida Southern 15-0 GC&SU
• 1996 Kennesaw State 4-0 St. Joseph's (Ind.)
• 1997 Cal State Chico 13-12 Central Oklahoma
• 1998 Tampa 6-1 Kennesaw State
• 1999 Cal State Chico 11-5 Kennesaw State
• 2000 Southeastern Oklahoma 7-2 Fort Hays State
• 2001 St. Mary's (Tex.) 11-3 Central Missouri State
• 2002 Columbus State 5-3 Cal State Chico
• 2003 Central Missouri State 11-4 Tampa
• 2004 Delta State 12-8 Grand Valley State
• 2005 Florida Southern 12-9 North Florida
• 2006 Tampa 3-2 Cal State Chico
• 2007 Tampa 7-2 Columbus State
• 2008 Mount Olive 6-2 Ouachita Baptist

[edit] Division III

• 1976 Cal State Stanislaus 13-6 Ithaca
• 1977 Cal State Stanislaus 8-5 Brandeis
• 1978 Glassboro State 5-3 Marietta
• 1979 Glassboro State 3-0 Cal State Stanislaus
• 1980 Ithaca 12-5 Marietta
• 1981 Marietta 14-12 (12) Ithaca
• 1982 Eastern Connecticut State 11-6 Cal State Stanislaus
• 1983 Marietta 36-8 Otterbein
• 1984 Ramapo 5-4 Marietta
• 1985 Wisconsin-Oshkosh 11-6 Marietta
• 1986 Marietta 11-6 Ithaca
• 1987 Montclair State 13-12 (10) Wisconsin-Oshkosh
• 1988 Ithaca 7-5 Wisconsin-Oshkosh
• 1989 N.C. Wesleyan 8-7 (13) Cal State Stanislaus
• 1990 Eastern Connecticut State 8-1 Aurora
• 1991 Southern Maine 9-0 Trenton State
• 1992 William Paterson 3-1 Cal Lutheran
• 1993 Montclair State 3-1 Wisconsin-Oshkosh
• 1994 Wisconsin-Oshkosh 6-2 Wesleyan (Conn.)
• 1995 La Verne 5-3 Methodist
• 1996 William Paterson 6-5 Cal Lutheran
• 1997 Southern Maine 15-1 Wooster
• 1998 Eastern Connecticut State 16-1 Montclair State
• 1999 N.C. Wesleyan 1-0 St. Thomas (Minn.)
• 2000 Montclair State 6-2 St. Thomas (Minn.)
• 2001 St. Thomas (Minn.) 8-4 Marietta
• 2002 Eastern Connecticut State 8-0 Marietta
• 2003 Chapman 15-7 Christopher Newport
• 2004 George Fox 6-3 Eastern Connecticut State
• 2005 Wisconsin-Whitewater 11-4 Cortland State
• 2006 Marietta 7-2 Wheaton (Mass.)
• 2007 Kean 5-4 Emory
• 2008 Trinity (Conn.) 5-4 Johns Hopkins

[edit] See also

• NCAA Division I Baseball Championship
• College baseball records

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• NCAA baseball
• College World Series
• Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush played in the first College World Series
• 2006 NCAA College World Series Records BookPDF (8.90 MiB)
• 2006 NCAA Baseball Records BookPDF (3.07 MiB)
• ESPN: CWS historical results