2011 NCAA Division I baseball tournament


The 2011 NCAA Division I baseball tournament began on Friday, June 3, 2011 as part of the 2011 [NCAA Division I baseball season]. The 64 team double elimination tournament concluded with the 2011 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 29, 2011. This was the first CWS at the new venue, TD Ameritrade Park, after closing Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, which hosted the series since 1950.
The 64 NCAA Division I college baseball teams were selected out of an eligible 300 teams. Thirty teams were awarded an automatic bid as champions of their conferences, and 34 teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee. The University of South Carolina won their second straight CWS championship after winning the final CWS championship at historic Rosenblatt stadium the previous year.

Bids

Automatic bids

Conference champions from 30 Division I conferences earned automatic bids to regionals. The remaining 34 spots were awarded to schools as at-large invitees.
SchoolConferenceRecord BerthLast NCAA appearance
SWAC26–27 Won SWAC TourneyFirst NCAA Appearance
Sun Belt24–32 Won Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament|Sun Belt Tourney]First NCAA Appearance
OVC33–22 Won 2011 [Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament|OVC Tourney]2007
Atlantic Sun36–24 Won 2011 [Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Tournament|A-Sun Tourney]First NCAA Appearance
MEAC35–22 Won 2011 [Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament|MEAC Tourney]2010
Big West39–15 Regular season Champion2010
Atlantic 1042–14 Won 2011 [Atlantic 10 Conference Baseball Tournament|A-10 Tourney]2008
Big South41–18 Won Big South Conference Baseball Tournament|Big South Tourney]2010
Missouri Valley44–14 Won Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament|MVC Tourney]2007
2011 [Florida Gators baseball team|Florida]SEC44–16 Won SEC Tourney2010
WAC40–14 Won WAC Tourney2009
Southern35–24 Won Southern Conference Baseball Tournament|SoCon Tourney]2009
Big Ten28–25 Won Big Ten Conference Baseball Tournament|Big Ten Tourney]2000
Colonial Athletic40–17 Won Colonial Athletic Association Baseball Tournament|CAA Tourney]2008
Mid-American43–15 Won Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament|MAC Tourney]2010
America East32–22 Won America East Conference Baseball Tournament|AEC Tourney]2006
MAAC34–17 Won 2011 [Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament|MAAC Tourney]2006
Patriot33–23–1 Won Patriot League Baseball Tournament|Patriot League Tourney]2002
Mountain West20–39 Won 2011 [Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament|MWC Tourney]2010
Summit35–20 Won Summit League Baseball Tournament|Summit Tourney]2010
Ivy23–22 Won Ivy League Baseball Championship Series|Championship series]2006
Conference USA38–18 Won 2011 [Conference USA Baseball Tournament|C-USA Tourney]2010
Northeast34–21 Won Northeast Conference Baseball Tournament|NEC Tourney]2006
West Coast31–23 Regular season Champion2006
Big East29–23 Won Big East Baseball Tournament|Big East Tourney]2001
2011 [Texas A&M Aggies baseball team|Texas A&M]Big 1242–18 Won Big 12 Baseball Tournament|Big 12 Tourney]2010
Southland40–21 Won Southland Conference Baseball Tournament|Southland Tourney]2009
UCLA Bruins baseball team|UCLA]Pac-1033–22 Regular season Champion2010
Virginia Cavaliers baseball team|Virginia]Atlantic Coast49–9 Won 2011 [Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament|ACC Tourney]2010
Horizon35–17 Won Horizon League Baseball Tournament|Horizon Tourney]2009

National seeds

Bold indicates CWS participant.
  1. Virginia
  2. Florida Gators baseball team|Florida]
  3. 2011 [North Carolina Tar Heels baseball team|North Carolina]
  4. 2011 [South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team|South Carolina]
  5. 2011 [Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team|Vanderbilt]
  6. 2011 [Texas Longhorns baseball team|Texas]
#

Regionals & Super Regionals

Bold indicates winner. * indicates extra innings.

Santa Clara Super Regional

Hosted by the University of California at Stephen Schott Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University.**
**California hosted the super regional at Santa Clara because its own stadium could not accommodate television crews and did not have lights.

College World Series

Bracket


All-Tournament Team

The following players were members of the College World Series All-Tournament Team.
PositionPlayerSchool
PMatt Price
PMichael Roth
1BChristian Walker
2BScott Wingo
3BCody DentFlorida
SSPeter Mooney
CRobert Beary
OFTony KempVanderbilt
OFConnor HarrellVanderbilt
OFBryson SmithFlorida
DHBrady Thomas

Final standings

Seeds listed below indicate national seeds only
PlaceSchoolRecord
1st#4 South Carolina10-0
2nd#2 Florida8-3
3rd#6 Vanderbilt7-2
3rd#1 Virginia7-3
5thCalifornia7-3
5th#3 North Carolina6-2
7th#7 Texas6-4
7thTexas A&M5-4
9thArizona State4-2
9thConnecticut4-3
9thDallas Baptist3-3
9th#5 Florida State4-2
9thMississippi State4-2
9thOregon State3-2
9thStanford3-2
9thUC Irvine4-2
17thAlabama2-2
17thArizona3-2
17thArkansas2-2
17thBaylor2-2
17thBelmont2-2
17thClemson2-2
17thEast Carolina2-2
17thGeorgia2-2
17thGeorgia Tech2-2
17thIllinois2-2
17thJames Madison2-2
17thKent State2-2
17thMiami 2-2
17thOral Roberts3-2
17thStetson2-2
17thUCLA2-2
33rdAustin Peay1-2
33rdCal State Fullerton1-2
33rdCentral Florida1-2
33rdCharlotte1-2
33rdCoastal Carolina1-2
33rdCreighton1-2
33rdJacksonville1-2
33rdMaine1-2
33rdNC State1-2
33rd#8 Rice1-2
33rdSan Francisco1-2
33rdSeton Hall1-2
33rdSt. John's1-2
33rdTexas State1-2
33rdTCU1-2
33rdTroy1-2
49thAlcorn State0-2
49thArkansas–Little Rock0-2
49thBethune-Cookman0-2
49thFIU0-2
49thFresno State0-2
49thGeorgia Southern0-2
49thKansas State0-2
49thManhattan0-2
49thNavy0-2
49thNew Mexico0-2
49thOklahoma0-2
49thOklahoma State0-2
49thPrinceton0-2
49thSacred Heart0-2
49thSouthern Miss0-2
49thWright State0-2

  • # denotes national seed

Record by conference

The columns RF, SR, WS, NS, CS, and NC respectively stand for the Regional Finals, Super Regionals, College World Series, National Semifinals, Championship Series, and National Champion.

Round 1

  • 14 of 16 No. 1 seeds won their first round games, with Georgia Tech & UCLA being the only No. 1 seeds to lose.
  • Only 5 of 16 No. 2 seeds won their first round games.

Round 2

  • 6 No. 1 seeds have been eliminated from the tournament. 3 prior to the regional finals: TCU, Cal State Fullerton, and No. 8 national seed Rice; with Georgia Tech, Clemson, and UCLA losing in the regional final

Regional Finals

  • 6 non No. 1 seeds have won their regional and advanced to the Super Regionals: No. 3 UC Irvine, No. 3 Mississippi State, No. 3 Dallas Baptist, No. 3 California, No. 2 Stanford, and No. 2 Connecticut

Super Regionals

  • In the context of almost being eliminated as a sponsored intercollegiate team by the University due to financial issues, the Cal Baseball team has advanced to the College World Series as a No. 3 seed.

College World Series

  • Before the opening game of the CWS between Vanderbilt and North Carolina, the ceremonial first pitch was delivered by former President George W. Bush. Omaha Little Leaguer Henry Slagle had the honor of handing the ball to President Bush as his Memorial Park Little League team greeted the former president on the field. Before the pitch, his father, former president George H. W. Bush, who played for Yale in the first CWS in 1947, delivered a video message christening the new facility.
  • This is the first CWS to feature eight schools from BCS automatic qualifying conferences.
  • *The 1987 event was the last with eight major football-playing schools. Florida State, which played baseball in the Metro Conference at the time, was an elite Independent in football, since the Metro did not sponsor football until the 1995 conference reunification.
  • The SEC Eastern Division has three teams in the same CWS for the first time, South Carolina, Florida, Vanderbilt.
  • *The SEC East qualified all three teams in these semi-finals, effectively taking the podium.
  • *The SEC West qualified four of its six teams in 1997, including national champion LSU.
  • Florida is making its first back-to-back trip to the College World Series in school history. South Carolina is also making a back-to-back CWS appearance, but for the fourth time,.
  • * South Carolina is the first defending Champion to make it back to the CWS and defend its title since Oregon State did so in 2007.
  • This is Vanderbilt's first trip to the College World Series in school history.
  • * This now makes Kentucky the only SEC school to have never made it to the College World Series.
  • ** Both members added to the SEC in 2013, Texas A&M and Missouri, also previously made it to Omaha.
  • This is the 19th consecutive year that the SEC has fielded at least one team in the College World Series.
  • This is the 4th consecutive year that the SEC has fielded at least one team in the Championship Series.
  • * * This is the second time that the SEC fielded two teams in the Championship Game, and with the last in 1997, LSU-Alabama 1997, representing the Western Division, this was the first to feature two Eastern Division opponents.
  • The SEC was undefeated against out-of-conference opponents this CWS, going 6–0 in those games versus teams outside of the SEC.
  • The Big 12 Conference went 0–4 this CWS.
  • There have been 86 extra-inning games played in the history of the College World Series. By the end of this series, South Carolina had played in the past four.
  • Three CWS Championship Series games have gone to 11 innings. By the end of this series South Carolina had played in the past two.
  • For the first time in CWS history, the All-Tournament Team, including the Most Outstanding Player, was composed entirely of players from one conference, the SEC; more specifically the SEC Eastern Division..
  • The South Carolina Gamecocks were the first team to go undefeated in the NCAA tournament since the Miami Hurricanes did so in 2001.
  • With Game 2 Championship Series win South Carolina ties NCAA record for consecutive Post Season wins 15.
  • With Game 2 Championship Series win South Carolina ties NCAA record for consecutive College World Series wins 10.
  • South Carolina becomes the first team to win the CWS NCAA National Championship in the new TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
  • South Carolina becomes the first team to win the CWS NCAA National Championship while using the new BBCOR Standard composite baseball bats that resulted in far less overall offensive production, nationally and across the board, during the 2011 college baseball season. The Gamecocks were also the first team to win the CWS while operating under the new "20-second pitch clock" rule.
  • South Carolina becomes the sixth team in CWS history to win Back-to-Back NCAA D1 Baseball Championships.
  • This was the lowest-scoring College World Series in modern,, history.

Television coverage

Selection shows

The NCAA Division I Road to Omaha Selection Show Presented by Capital One aired on ESPN on May 30, 2011.

Competition

  • Regionals:
  • Super Regionals: All games were broadcast on either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3.com, and ESPN Mobile
  • CWS: Every game was broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.