2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

The 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was the 74th edition of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The 64-team tournament began on Friday, June 4, 2021, as part of the 2021 NCAA Division I baseball season and concluded with the 2021 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, which started on June 19 and ended on June 30. [2021 2021 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team|Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team|Mississippi State] defeated [2021 2021 Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team|Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team|Vanderbilt] in the best-of-three final series to win their first national championship in program history.
The 64 participating NCAA Division I college baseball teams were selected out of an eligible 299 teams. There were 30 teams awarded an automatic bid as champions of their conferences, and 34 teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee. Teams were divided into sixteen regionals of four teams, each of which conducted a double-elimination tournament. Regional champions then faced each other in Super Regionals, a best-of-three game series, to determine the eight participants in the College World Series.
Grand Canyon, NJIT, Norfolk State and Presbyterian made their NCAA tournament debuts after winning their first conference tournaments in program history. Nevada qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2000, Rider qualified for the first time since 2010 and Charlotte qualified for the first time since 2011. Auburn and Louisville were the lone teams from the 2019 College World Series field to fail to qualify.

Tournament procedure

A total of 64 teams entered the tournament, with 30 of them receiving an automatic bid by winning their conference's tournament. The remaining 34 bids were at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee.
On Friday, May 14, the NCAA Selection Committee announced 20 potential sites for the first round regionals due to necessary coronavirus precautions, which were reduced to 16 on May 30. Typically, the top sixteen teams receive national seeds and host their respective regional tournaments. However, since the committee determined only twenty potential sites, if a team outside that list of twenty were to receive a national seed, they would play their regional on the road. This had not occurred since 2010 when No. 1 seed Florida State Seminoles traveled to the Norwich Regional hosted by UConn at Dodd Memorial Stadium. Despite receiving a national seed, [2021 2021 Old Dominion Monarchs baseball team|Old Dominion Monarchs baseball team|Old Dominion] travelled to Founders Park at the Columbia Regional hosted by the University of South Carolina.

Schedule and venues

On May 30, the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee announced the sixteen regional host sites. The Southeastern Conference led the way with seven hosts. The Big 12 Conference and Pac-12 Conference each had three regional hosts, while Conference USA, Atlantic Coast Conference, and American Athletic Conference each had one regional host. Texas led all institutions as they hosted for the 28th time. Louisiana Tech hosted for the first time in program history.
The Super Regional sites were announced on the morning of Tuesday, June 8, after the completion of the regional round.
Regionals

Super Regionals

June 11–13
*Baum–Walker Stadium, Fayetteville, Arkansas
*Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park, Lubbock, Texas
*Hi Corbett Field, Tucson, Arizona
*Hawkins Field, Nashville, Tennessee
June 12–14
*UFCU Disch–Falk Field, Austin, Texas
*Dudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium, Starkville, Mississippi
*Founders Park, Columbia, South Carolina
*Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee

College World Series

June 19–30
*TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska,

Bids

Of the 64 qualified to play in the 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament, 35 competed in the previous tournament in 2019. Grand Canyon, NJIT, Norfolk State and Presbyterian all made their NCAA tournament debuts after winning their first conference tournaments in program history. Nevada qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2000, Rider qualified for the first time since 2010 and Charlotte qualified for the first time since 2011.
Notable teams that failed to qualify included Auburn and Louisville, who both advanced to the 2019 College World Series.

School	Conference	Record	Berth	Last NCAA Appearance
[2021 2021 Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team\|Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team\|Alabama]	SEC	31–24	At-large	2014 (Tallahassee Regional)
[2021 2021 Arizona Wildcats baseball team\|Arizona Wildcats baseball team\|Arizona]	Pac-12	40–15	Regular season	2017 (Lubbock Regional)
Arizona State	Pac-12	32–20	At-large	2019 (Baton Rouge Regional)
[2021 2021 Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team\|Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team\|Arkansas]	SEC	46–10	Tournament	2019 College World Series
	Patriot	28–23	Tournament	2019 (Lubbock Regional)
Campbell	Big South	35–16	At-large	2019 (Greenville Regional)
	Northeast	28–13	Tournament	2019 (Fayetteville Regional)
	Mid-American	40–16	Regular season	2019 (Starkville Regional)
Charlotte	Conference USA	39–19	At-large	2011 (Tempe Regional)
[2021 2021 Dallas Baptist Patriots baseball team\|Dallas Baptist Patriots baseball team\|Dallas Baptist]	Missouri Valley	37–15	Tournament	2019 (Lubbock Regional)
Duke	ACC	32–20	Tournament	2019 (Morgantown Regional)
[2021 2021 East Carolina Pirates baseball team\|East Carolina Pirates baseball team\|East Carolina]	American	41–15	At-large	2019 (Louisville Super Regional)
Fairfield	Metro Atlantic	37–3	At-large	2016 (Lubbock Regional)
[2021 2021 Florida Gators baseball team\|Florida Gators baseball team\|Florida]	SEC	38–20	At-large	2019 (Lubbock Regional)
Florida State	ACC	30–22	At-large	2019 College World Series
Georgia Tech	ACC	29–23	At-large	2019 (Atlanta Regional)
	West Coast	33–17	Regular season	2018 (Minneapolis Regional)
	Western Athletic	39–19–1	Tournament	First appearance
	Missouri Valley	30–19	At-large	2019 (Nashville Regional)
Jacksonville	ASUN	16–32	Tournament	2018 (Gainesville Regional)
Liberty	ASUN	39–14	At-large	2019 (Chapel Hill Regional)
[2021 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs baseball\|Louisiana Tech Bulldogs baseball team\|Louisiana Tech]	Conference USA	40–18	At-large	2016 (Starkville Regional)
LSU	SEC	34–22	At-large	2019 (Baton Rouge Super Regional)
Maryland	Big Ten	28–16	At-large	2017 (Winston-Salem Regional)
McNeese State	Southland	32–28	Tournament	2019 (Nashville Regional)
Miami (FL)	ACC	32–19	At-large	2019 (Starkville Regional)
[2021 2021 Michigan Wolverines baseball team\|Michigan Wolverines baseball team\|Michigan]	Big Ten	27–17	At-large	2019 College World Series Runner-up
Mississippi State	SEC	40–15	At-large	2019 College World Series
[2021 2021 NC State Wolfpack baseball team\|NC State Wolfpack baseball team\|NC State]	ACC	30–17	At-large	2019 (Greenville Regional)
Nebraska	Big Ten	31–12	Regular season	2019 (Oklahoma City Regional)
	Mountain West	25–18	Regular season	2000 (Palo Alto Regional)
	America East	26–22	Tournament	First appearance
Norfolk State	Mid-Eastern	25–26	Tournament	First appearance
North Carolina	ACC	27–25	At-large	2019 (Chapel Hill Super Regional)
North Dakota State	Summit	41–17	Tournament	2014 (Corvallis Regional)
	Colonial	36–10	Tournament	2018 (Raleigh Regional)
[2021 2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team\|Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team\|Notre Dame]	ACC	30–11	At-large	2015 (Champaign Regional)
Oklahoma State	Big 12	35–17–1	At-large	2019 (Lubbock Super Regional)
Old Dominion	Conference USA	42–14	Tournament	2014 (Columbia Regional)
[2021 2021 Ole Miss Rebels baseball team\|Ole Miss Rebels baseball team\|Ole Miss]	SEC	41–19	At-large	2019 (Fayetteville Super Regional)
	Pac-12	37–14	At-large	2015 (Springfield Regional)
Oregon State	Pac-12	34–22	At-large	2019 (Corvallis Regional)
	Big South	22–21	Tournament	First appearance
	Metro Atlantic	23–16	Tournament	2010 (Austin Regional)
Samford	Southern	35–22	[2021 Southern Conference\|Southern Conference Baseball Tournament\|Tournament]	2018 (Tallahassee Regional)
South Alabama	Sun Belt	33–20	Tournament	2017 (Hattiesburg Regional)
[2021 2021 South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team\|South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team\|South Carolina]	SEC	33–21	At-large	2018 (Fayetteville Super Regional)
	American	28–27	Tournament	2018 (DeLand Regional)
	Ohio Valley	30–20	Tournament	2016 (Starkville Regional)
Southern	Southwestern Athletic	20–28	Tournament	2019 (Starkville Regional)
Southern Miss	Conference USA	37–19	At-large	2019 (Baton Rouge Regional)
[2021 2021 Stanford Cardinal baseball team\|Stanford Cardinal baseball team\|Stanford]	Pac-12	33–14	At-large	2019 (Starkville Super Regional)
[2021 2021 TCU Horned Frogs baseball team\|TCU Horned Frogs baseball team\|TCU]	Big 12	40–17	Tournament	2019 (Fayetteville Regional)
[2021 2021 Tennessee Volunteers baseball team\|Tennessee Volunteers baseball team\|Tennessee]	SEC	45–16	At-large	2019 (Chapel Hill Regional)
[2021 Texas Longhorns baseball\|Texas Longhorns baseball team\|Texas]	Big 12	42–15	At-large	2018 College World Series
[2021 2021 Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball team\|Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball team\|Texas Tech]	Big 12	36–15	At-large	2019 College World Series
UC Irvine	Big West	40–16	Regular season	2014 College World Series
UC Santa Barbara	Big West	39–18	At-large	2019 (Stanford Regional)
UCLA	Pac-12	35–18	At-large	2019 (Los Angeles Super Regional)
UConn	Big East	33–16	Tournament	2019 (Oklahoma City Regional)
Vanderbilt	SEC	40–15	At-large	2019 National champions
VCU	Atlantic 10	37–14	Tournament	2015 (Dallas Regional)
[2021 2021 Virginia Cavaliers baseball team\|Virginia Cavaliers baseball team\|Virginia]	ACC	29–23	At-large	2017 (Fort Worth Regional)
Wright State	Horizon	35–11	Tournament	2018 (Stanford Regional)

National seeds

The sixteen national seeds were announced on the Selection Show on Monday, May 31 at 12 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. Teams in italics advanced to the Super Regionals. Teams in bold advanced to the 2021 College World Series.

Regionals and Super Regionals

''Bold indicates winner. Seeds for regional tournaments indicate seeds within regional. Seeds for super regional tournaments indicate national seeds only.''

Columbia Super Regional

The Columbia Super Regional between Dallas Baptist and Virginia was held at Founders Park due to NCAA COVID-19 guidelines for the 2021 tournament mandating that all Super Regionals take place at one of the original sixteen regional sites regardless of the winners of those regionals.
†Old Dominion was unable to host at their home stadium, Bud Metheny Baseball Complex in Norfolk, Virginia, due to inadequate facilities according to NCAA regional hosting guidelines.

College World Series

The College World Series was held at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.

Finals

;Game 1
;Game 2
;Game 3

Awards

The 2021 College World Series Most Outstanding Player was pitcher Will Bednar of Mississippi State. In addition to the Most Outstanding Player, an All-Tournament team was selected for the College World Series.

Final standings

Seeds listed below indicate national seeds only

Place	School	Record
1st	No. 7 Mississippi State	10–3
2nd	No. 4 Vanderbilt	9–3
3rd	No. 2 Texas	8–2
3rd	NC State	7–2
5th	No. 9 Stanford	6–3
5th	Virginia	7–4
7th	3 Tennessee	5–2
7th	5 Arizona	5–3
9th	1 Arkansas	4–3
9th	Dallas Baptist	4–3
9th	13 East Carolina	3–2
9th	LSU	4–3
9th	No. 10 Notre Dame	4–2
9th	12 Ole Miss	4–3
9th	South Florida	3–3
9th	8 Texas Tech	3–2
17th	Campbell	2–2
17th	Central Michigan	2–2
17th	Fairfield	2–2
17th	Georgia Tech	2–2
17th	Liberty	2–2
17th	16 Louisiana Tech	2–2
17th	Maryland	2–2
17th	Nebraska	3–2
17th	11 Old Dominion	2–2
17th	14 Oregon	2–2
17th	Oregon State	3–2
17th	South Alabama	3–2
17th	Southern Miss	3–2
17th	UC Irvine	3–2
17th	UCLA	2–2
17th		2–2
33rd	Alabama	1–2
33rd	Arizona State	1–2
33rd	Charlotte	1–2
33rd	Duke	1–2
33rd	Florida State	1–2
33rd	Gonzaga	1–2
33rd	Indiana State	1–2
33rd	Miami	1–2
33rd	NJIT	1–2
33rd	North Carolina	1–2
33rd	North Dakota State	1–2
33rd	Oklahoma State	1–2
33rd	South Carolina	1–2
33rd	6 TCU	1–2
33rd	UConn	1–2
33rd	VCU	1–2
49th	Army	0–2
49th	Central Connecticut	0–2
49th	15 Florida	0–2
49th	Grand Canyon	0–2
49th	Jacksonville	0–2
49th	McNeese State	0–2
49th	Michigan	0–2
49th	Nevada	0–2
49th	Norfolk State	0–2
49th	Northeastern	0–2
49th	Presbyterian	0–2
49th	Rider	0–2
49th	Samford	0–2
49th	Southeast Missouri St	0–2
49th	Southern	0–2
49th	Wright State	0–2

Record by conference

Includes a game declared no-contest due to COVID-19 protocols with NC State. Vanderbilt advanced to the CWS Finals.
The columns RF, SR, WS, NS, CS, and NC respectively stand for the Regional Finals, Super Regionals, College World Series Teams, National Semifinals, Championship Series, and National Champion.
Nc is non–conference records, i.e., with the records of teams within the same conference having played each other removed.

Media coverage

Radio

NRG Media provided nationwide radio coverage of the College World Series through its Omaha Station KOZN, in association with Westwood One. It also streamed all CWS games at westwoodonesports.com on Tunein and on SiriusXM. Kevin Kugler and John Bishop provided pxp on games leading up to the Championship Series. Bishop, Jeff Leise, Damon Benning, and Gary Sharp provided the analysis. The Championship Series was called by Kugler and Scott Graham.

Television

ESPN aired every game from the Regionals, Super Regionals, and the College World Series across its networks.

Broadcast assignments

;Regionals

Bob Wischusen and Gregg Olson: Austin, Texas
and Gaby Sánchez: Columbia, South Carolina
Clay Matvick and Ben McDonald: Eugene, Oregon
and Lance Cormier: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Anish Shroff and Keith Moreland: Fort Worth, Texas
and : Gainesville, Florida
and Danan Hughes: Greenville, North Carolina
Mark Neely and Adam Greenberg: Knoxville, Tennessee
Dave Neal and Chris Burke: Lubbock, Texas
and Greg Swindell: Nashville, Tennessee
Tom Hart and Kyle Peterson: Oxford, Mississippi
and : Ruston, Louisiana
Mike Morgan and Todd Walker: South Bend, Indiana
John Schriffen and Xavier Scruggs: Stanford, California
and Jay Walker: Starkville, Mississippi
Roxy Bernstein and : Tucson, Arizona

;Super Regionals

Mike Monaco and Eduardo Pérez: Austin, Texas
John Schriffen and Gaby Sánchez: Columbia, South Carolina
Mike Morgan and Todd Walker: Fayetteville, Arkansas
Tom Hart and Chris Burke: Knoxville, Tennessee
Karl Ravech and : Lubbock, Texas
Clay Matvick and Ben McDonald: Nashville, Tennessee
Dave Neal and Kyle Peterson: Starkville, Mississippi
Roxy Bernstein and Wes Clements: Tucson, Arizona

;College World Series

Tom Hart, Chris Burke, Ben McDonald, and Kris Budden: Afternoons, Thursday night
Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez, Kyle Peterson, and Kris Budden: Evenings minus Thursday

;CWS Championship Series

Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez, Kyle Peterson, and Kris Budden