1978 NCAA Division I baseball season

The 1978 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began in the spring of 1978. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1978 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the thirty-second time in 1978, consisted of one team from each of eight regional competitions and was held in Omaha, Nebraska at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium as a double-elimination tournament. Southern California claimed the championship for the eleventh time.[1]

1978 NCAA Division I baseball season
Number of teams239
NCAA tournament
College World Series
ChampionsUSC (11th title)
Runners-upArizona State (10th CWS Appearance)
Winning CoachRod Dedeaux (11th title)
MOPRod Boxberger (USC)
Seasons
← 1977
1979 →

Conference winners

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This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1978 season. The NCAA sponsored regional competitions to determine the College World Series participants. Seven regionals of four teams and one of six each competed in double-elimination tournaments, with the winners advancing to Omaha. 21 teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championship while 13 teams earned at-large selections.[1][2]

Conference Regular season winner Conference tournament Tournament venue • city Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference Clemson 1978 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament Beautiful Tiger FieldClemson, SC Clemson
Big Eight Conference East - Oklahoma
West - Missouri
1978 Big Eight Conference baseball tournament All Sports StadiumOklahoma City, OK Oklahoma State
Big Ten Conference Michigan No tournament
EIBL Harvard No tournament
Mid-American Conference Eastern Michigan No tournament
Pacific-8 Conference North - Washington State
South - Southern California
No tournament
Southeastern Conference East - Florida
West - Auburn
1978 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament Perry FieldGainesville, FL Auburn
Southern Conference Marshall No tournament
Southwest Conference Texas A&M 1978 Southwest Conference baseball tournament Disch–Falk FieldAustin, TX Baylor
Western Athletic Conference North - BYU
South - Arizona State
1978 Western Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Series Packard StadiumTempe, AZ Arizona State

Conference standings

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The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1978 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 25 Clemson  ‍y 10 2   .833 39 14   .736
No. 3 North Carolina  ‍‍‍y 9 3   .750 38 17   .691
Wake Forest  ‍‍‍ 7 5   .583 23 14   .622
Maryland  ‍‍‍ 5 6   .455 14 14   .500
NC State  ‍‍‍ 5 7   .417 23 16   .590
Virginia  ‍‍‍ 4 8   .333 18 14   .563
Duke  ‍‍‍ 1 10   .091 12 22   .353
† – Conference champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1978[3]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1978 Big Ten Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT
No. 6 Michigan  ‍‍‍y 13 3 0   .813 30 17 0   .638
Michigan State  ‍‍‍ 11 5 0   .688 33 21 0   .611
Wisconsin  ‍‍‍ 10 6 0   .625 23 21 1   .522
Iowa  ‍‍‍ 9 6 0   .600 28 17 0   .622
Minnesota  ‍‍‍ 7 7 0   .500 25 17 0   .595
Ohio State  ‍‍‍ 9 9 0   .500 24 23 0   .511
Indiana  ‍‍‍ 5 8 0   .385 20 23 0   .465
Northwestern  ‍‍‍ 6 10 0   .375 17 18 1   .486
Illinois  ‍‍‍ 6 12 0   .333 25 22 1   .531
Purdue  ‍‍‍ 3 13 0   .188 16 26 0   .381
† – Conference champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1978[4][5]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1978 NCAA Division I baseball independents standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 4 Miami (FL)  ‍‍‍y   50 12   .806
No. 28 Hawaii  ‍‍‍   38 14   .731
No. 11 Gonzaga  ‍‍‍y   33 14   .702
Detroit  ‍‍‍   33 16   .673
Mercer  ‍‍‍   32 16   .667
Stetson  ‍‍‍   33 17   .660
Richmond  ‍‍‍   21 12   .636
Virginia Tech  ‍‍‍   27 17   .614
Air Force  ‍‍‍   22 15   .595
Northern Iowa  ‍‍‍   17 16   .515
Lafayette  ‍‍‍   11 12   .478
Campbell  ‍‍‍   12 15   .444
Villanova  ‍‍‍   11 18   .379
Notre Dame  ‍‍‍   12 25   .324
Hofstra  ‍‍‍   7 18   .280
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1978[6]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1978 Pacific-8 Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Northern Division
No. 16 Washington State  x‍‍‍y 15 3   .833 41 17   .707
Oregon ‍‍‍ 7 9   .438  
Oregon State ‍‍‍ 6 9   .400 22 22   .500
Washington ‍‍‍ 5 12   .294 29 16   .644
Southern Division
#1 Southern California xy ‍‍‍ 15 3   .833 54 9   .857
No. 15 UCLA ‍‍‍ 9 9   .500 39 20   .661
California ‍‍‍ 6 12   .333 35 27   .565
Stanford ‍‍‍ 6 12   .333 35 20   .636
x – Division champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1978[7]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1978 Southeastern Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Eastern Division
Florida  x‍‍‍ 18 4   .818 34 15   .694
Georgia  ‍‍‍ 11 12   .478 30 19   .612
Tennessee  ‍‍‍ 11 12   .478 25 21   .543
Vanderbilt  ‍‍‍ 10 13   .435 31 17   .646
Kentucky  ‍‍‍ 6 15   .286 20 25   .444
Western Division
No. 22 Auburn  x‍‍y 15 8   .652 33 21   .611
No. 14 Mississippi State  ‍‍‍y 13 8   .619 38 18   .679
Ole Miss  ‍‍‍ 12 11   .522 27 21   .563
Alabama  ‍‍‍ 10 11   .476 23 20   .535
LSU  ‍‍‍ 6 18   .250 12 34   .261
x – Division champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1978[8]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1978 Southwest Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 12 Texas A&M ‍‍‍y 19 5   .792 39 16   .709
No. 18 Arkansas ‍‍‍ 18 6   .750 31 13   .705
No. 8 Baylor ‍‍y 15 9   .625 32 19   .627
No. 13 Houston ‍‍‍ 14 10   .583 30 21   .588
Texas ‍‍‍ 12 12   .500 36 16   .692
SMU ‍‍‍ 9 15   .375 25 29   .463
Texas Tech ‍‍‍ 8 16   .333 23 25   .479
TCU ‍‍‍ 7 17   .292 18 29   .383
Rice ‍‍‍ 6 18   .250 18 29   .383
† – Conference champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1978[9]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1978 Western Athletic Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Northern
BYU  x‍‍‍ 16 2   .889 37 15   .712
Wyoming  ‍‍‍ 8 10   .444 35 24   .593
Colorado State  ‍‍‍ 6 12   .333 20 26   .435
Utah  ‍‍‍ 6 12   .333 8 27   .229
Southern
No. 2 Arizona State  x‍‍y 15 3   .833 56 12   .824
Arizona  ‍‍‍y 13 5   .722 42 13   .764
New Mexico  ‍‍‍ 5 12   .294 31 24   .564
UTEP  ‍‍‍ 2 15   .118 26 26   .500
x – Division champion
‡ – Championship Series champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1978[10]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

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The 1978 season marked the thirty second NCAA baseball tournament, which culminated with the eight team College World Series. The College World Series was held in Omaha, Nebraska. The eight teams played a double-elimination format, with Southern California claiming their eleventh championship with a 10–3 win over Arizona State in the final.[1]

Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper finalSemifinalsFinal
Michigan4
Baylor0
Michigan3
Southern California11
Southern California9
Miami (FL)3
Southern California5
Arizona State2
Oral Roberts11
Southern California3
North Carolina0
Oral Roberts6North Carolina2
Arizona State7
Arizona State13
St. John's2
Southern California10
Lower round 1Lower round 2Arizona State3
Oral Roberts3
Baylor1Miami (FL)5
Arizona State11
Miami (FL)12
Miami (FL)3
Michigan6
North Carolina9North Carolina7
St. John's5


Award winners

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All-America team

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References

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  1. ^ a b c W.C. Madden & Patrick J. Stewart (2004). The College World Series:A Baseball History, 1947-2003. McFarland & Co. pp. 41–43. ISBN 9780786418428. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  2. ^ "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 7. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  3. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1978". Boyd's World. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  4. ^ 2019 Big Ten Baseball Record Book (PDF). Big Ten Conference. p. 101. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  5. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1978". Boyd's World. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  6. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1978". Boyd's World. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  7. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1978". Boyd's World. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  8. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1978". Boydsworld.com. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  9. ^ "Division I Baseball Records" (PDF). NCAA. pp. 39–40. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  10. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1978". boydsworld.com. Retrieved July 13, 2017.