The College World series was first played in 1947 when California defeated Yale by the score of 8-7. Since then, the highest scoring College World Series final was in 1998, a football-like 21-14 Southern California win over Arizona State. Southern California and Arizona State also played the lowest scoring game in College World Series history, a 1-0 1972 win for USC. (There was also a 1-0 final in 1957, with Cal defeating Penn State)

Southern California has the most College World Series Championships with twelve, followed by Texas and Miami (Fla.) with six each. Florida State has the most College World Series appearances without a championship, at nineteen.

Below are all the College World Series Championship scores. Beginning in 2003 the championship was expanded to best-of-three.

1947    California over Yale 8-7

1948    Southern California over Yale 9-2

1949    Texas over Wake Forest 10-3

1950    Texas over Washington State 3-0

1951    Oklahoma over Tennessee 3-2

1952    Holy Cross over Missouri 8-4

1953    Michigan over Texas 7-5

1954    Missouri over Rollins 4-1

1955    Wake Forest over Western Michigan    7-6

1956    Minnesota over Arizona 12-1

1957    California over Penn State 1-0

1958    Southern California over Missouri 8-7

1959    Oklahoma State over Arizona 5-3

1960    Minnesota over Southern California 2-1

1961    Southern California over Oklahoma State 1-0

1962    Michigan over Santa Clara 5-4

1963    Southern California over Arizona 5-2

1964    Minnesota over Missouri 5-1

1965    Arizona State  over Ohio State 2-1

1966    Ohio State over Oklahoma State 8-2

1967    Arizona State over Houston 11-2

1968    Southern California over Southern Illinois 4-3

1969    Arizona State over Tulsa 10-1

1970    Southern California over Florida State 2-1

1971    Southern California over Southern Illinois 7-2

1972    Southern California over Arizona State 1-0

1973    Southern California over Arizona State 4-3

1974    Southern California over Miami (FL) 7-3

1975    Texas    over South Carolina    5-1

1976    Arizona over Eastern Michigan 7-1

1977    Arizona State over South Carolina 2-1

1978    Southern California over Arizona State 10-3

1979    Cal State Fullerton over Arkansas 2-1

1980    Arizona over Hawaii 5-3

1981    Arizona State    over Oklahoma State     7-4

1982    Miami (FL) over Wichita State 9-3

1983    Texas    over Alabama    4-3

1984    Cal State Fullerton over Texas 3-1

1985    Miami (FL) over Texas 10-6

1986    Arizona over Florida State 10-2

1987    Stanford over Oklahoma State 9-5

1988    Stanford over Arizona State 9-4

1989    Wichita State    over Texas 5-3

1990    Georgia over Oklahoma State 2-1

1991    LSU over Wichita State 6-3

1992    Pepperdine over Cal State Fullerton     Cal State Fullerton

1993    LSU over Wichita State 8-0

1994    Oklahoma over Georgia Tech     13-5

1995    Cal State Fullerton over Southern Cal 11-5

1996    LSU over Miami (FL) 9-8

1997    LSU  over Alabama 13-6

1998    Southern California over Arizona State 21-14

1999    Miami (FL) over Florida State 6-5

2000    LSU over Stanford 6-5

2001    Miami (FL) over Stanford 12-1

2002    Texas    over South Carolina 12-6

2003    Rice over Stanford  4-3 (10), 3-8, 14-2

2004    Cal State Fullerton over Texas 6-4, 3-2

2005    Texas    over Florida 4-2, 6-2

2006    Oregon State over North Carolina 3-4, 11-7, 3-2

2007    Oregon State over North Carolina 11-4, 9-3

2008    Fresno State over Georgia 6-7, 19-10, 6-1

2009    LSU over Texas 7-6, 1-5, 11-4

2010    South Carolina over UCLA  7-1, 2-1 (11)

2011    South Carolina over Florida State  2-1 (11), 5-2

2012    Arizona over South Carolina     5-1, 4-1

2013    UCLA   over Mississippi  3-1, 8-0

Division One is the top level of American collegiate baseball. It offers the best competition and top high school baseball players across the nation strive to be recruited by a D1 baseball team.

There are 298 D1 baseball teams in the United States. They play in 31 different D1 baseball conferences.

Each D1 baseball team is allowed 11.7 full athletic scholarships, which are often divided between the players on the team. Overall, the the NCAA limits the number of players getting any kind of financial aid on a D1 baseball team to no more than 27. Since most rosters are of 35 players, that means most D1 baseball teams make use of eight walk-ons. If these walk-ons perform well they may be given one of the 27 full or partial scholarships in a later year.

The typical D1 regular season schedule is between 50 and 60 games. The NCAA season runs from the beginning of March to the end of the College World Series, which begins soon after Memorial Day.

The College World Series is D1 Baseball’s flagship event, and it takes place every year in Omaha, Nebraska. Between 1950 and 2010 it was held at Rosenblatt Stadium.  In 2011 the venue was moved across town to TD Ameritrade Park.

The College World series is the cumulation of the D1 Baseball Championship Tournament, which takes place after the regular season and cthe onference tournaments. 64 Division 1 teams qualify for the Championship Tournament and they are divided into 16 four-team regional double elimination pods. The winner of each pod plays in one of eight super-regional best-of-three series, with the eight winners advancing to Omaha and the College World Series.

The College World Series consists of two four-team double elimination pods. The winners of each pod play each other in a best-of-three championship. In the 2013 College World Series, the UCLA Bruins defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs 2 game to 0.

D1 Baseball is different than professional baseball in several fundamental ways. The most noticeable involves the bats. Although wood bats are perfectly legal in D1 baseball, most players chose to use “metal bats” of aluminum or composite. In 2011, the NCAA passed new rules that limited the maximum allowed exit speed of these bats, essentially making them hit more like wood bats.

Other differences between the pro game include seven inning double headers and a mercy rule during regular season (but not post-season) games if one team is up by more than ten after seven innings. In D1 baseball you can’t take out the catcher or a baseman on a slide or collusion, and doing so will garner an ejection. The use of replay to determine whether a slide went over the line is permitted. D1 baseball games always uses a designated hitter.

Once a player enters D1 baseball, or any four-year college, he loses his Major League Baseball draft eligibility until completing his junior year or turning 21, whichever comes first. 9.1 percent of D1 players are eventually drafted by a Major League team, although few ever make it through the minors to the bigs.

Here is a list of the 31 D1 baseball conferences, ranked roughly by overall strength.

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Pacific-10 Conference
Big 12 Conference
Conference USA
Big East Conference
Big West Conference
West Coast Conference
Southern Conference
Colonial Athletic Association
Sun Belt Conference
Big Ten Conference
Western Athletic Conference (WAC)
Atlantic Sun Conference
Missouri Valley Conference
Mountain West
Mid-American Conference
Southland Conference
Patriot League
Big South Conference
Atlantic 10 Conference
America East Conference
Ohio Valley Conference
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
The Summit League
Horizon League
Ivy Group
Northeast Conference
Independent
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)

The College World Series is the final part of the NCAA Men’s Baseball Division 1 post-season championship. It is held in mid-to-late June in Omaha, Nebraska.

The first ever College World Series was held in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1947. The University of California beat Yale to take the inaugural title. In 1950, after a brief stop in Wichita, Kansas, the CWS moved to Omaha and has been there since.

Between 1950 and 2010 the College World Series was held at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium. However with the facility aging and really too big for minor league baseball, which was its purpose when it wasn’t hosting the week-long College World Series, the facility was closed in 2010 and demolished in 2012.

Thanks to an agreement with the NCAA that would keep the CWS in Omaha for at least 25 more years the city built the TD Ameritrade Park, a modern facility with seating up to 35,000, to host the event. During the 2013 CWS a record 27,127 fans packed the stadium to watch Mississippi State play UCLA in one of the best-of-three final games.

Before a team reaches the eight team College World Series they have to make their way through the 64 team NCAA Division 1 Baseball Championship. The selection for the tournament is much like the more famous NCAA Division 1 Basketball Championship with the 30 division 1 conference tournament winners getting automatic bids and then 34 teams getting at large bids based on factors such as record, strength of schedule, recent play and injuries.

The first round of the tournament, which is called the regionals, is divided into 16 regional pods. One of the four teams in the pod is selected to host the round-robin regional action at their home stadium. The selected host teams are essentially the top 16 seeds in the tournament.

Eight of those teams are also given an official national seed. This means they are guaranteed to host the next round, which features the winners of each regional pod competing in eight best-of-three super regionals. If there is a super regional without a national seed the competing teams bid for the right to host the best-of-three and the NCAA awards the series based on the teams’ records and their ability to draw fans.

The eight super regional winners will then go to Omaha for the College World Series.

The College World Series is divided into two unseeded groups of four. The pods play double elimination until there is one team left each group. The two remaining teams face each other in a best-of-three series to determine the national champion.

The University of Texas has the most College World Series appearances with 34. Next on the appearance list are Miami, (Fl.) (23) Arizona State (22), Florida State (21) and Southern California (21.)

Southern California tops the titles chart with 12. The University of Texas and Louisiana State University have six, Arizona State has five and Miami (Fl.), Arizona and Cal State Fullerton have four.

There have been six back-to-back title winners, South Carolina, Oregon State, LSU, Stanford, Southern California (who won five straight between 1970 and 1974) and Texas. Florida State has the most College World Series appearances without a title.

Current and former Major League Baseball players who have won the CWS Most Outstanding Player award include Jackie Bradley Jr., Huston Street, Phil Nevin, Pat Burrell, Todd Walker, Calvin Schiraldi, Terry Francona, Bob Horner, Dave Winfield and Sal Bando.