1954 NCAA baseball tournament

1954 NCAA I
baseball tournament
Season	1954
Teams	24
Finals site	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium; Omaha, NE;
Champions	Missouri (1st title)
Runner-up	Rollins (1st CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Hi Simmons (1st title)
MOP	Tom Yewcic (Michigan State)
	← 1953; NCAA Division I Baseball Championship; 1955 →;

The 1954 NCAA baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1954 NCAA baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Series, a double-elimination tournament in its eighth year. Eight regional districts sent representatives to the College World Series, but for the first time the preliminary tournament rounds hosted by each district were sanctioned NCAA events. These events would later become known as regionals. Each district had its own format for selecting teams, resulting in 24 teams participating in the tournament at the conclusion of their regular season, and in some cases, after a conference tournament.^[1] The College World Series was held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 10 to June 16. The eighth tournament's champion was Missouri, coached by John "Hi" Simmons. The Most Outstanding Player was Tom Yewcic of Michigan State.^[2]

Tournament

District 1

Games played in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Semifinals		Finals

UMass	9*

Springfield	7*
		UMass	2

		Boston University	0
Boston University	8

Holy Cross	3

District 2

Games played at Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Semifinals		Finals

St. John's	4

Navy	2
		St. John's (NY)	0

		Lafayette	9
Lafayette	4

Villanova	3

District 3

District 3 consisted of two separate 3-game series. The first series was played between Virginia Tech and Clemson, with the winner moving on to play Rollins in a three-game series. The winner of that series moved on to the College World Series.

In the semifinal series, the first game was played in Clemson, South Carolina, and the second game was played in Blacksburg, Virginia. Both final series games were played in Winter Park, Florida.

Semifinal				Final

				Virginia Tech	0	3	–
Virginia Tech	11	7	–	Rollins	3	9	–
Clemson	10	1	–

District 4

District 4 consisted of two separate 3 game series'. The first series was played between Ohio and Ashland, with the winner moving on to play Michigan St. in a three-game series. The winner of that series moved on to the College World Series.

Games played at Athens, Ohio.

Semifinal				Final

				Ohio	10	7	3
Ashland	4	6	–	Michigan State	14	0	5
Ohio	18	10	–

District 5

Missouri (Automatic College World Series qualifier)

District 6

Games played at Austin, Texas.

District 6 Series

Oklahoma State	6	12	7

Texas	3	16	6

District 7

Games played at Greeley, Colorado.

	Game 1

	Arizona	8

	Colorado State College	2

	Game 2

	Colorado State College	21

	Wyoming	14

	Game 3

	Arizona	16

	Wyoming	9

	Final

	Arizona	8¹¹

	Colorado State College	5¹¹

District 8

Games played at Eugene, Oregon.

First Round

Semi-Finals

Finals

Oregon

9

Seattle

4

Oregon

9

Fresno State

5

Fresno State

9

Southern California

3

Oregon

1⁵

—

Fresno State

0⁵

—

Lower round 1

Lower final

Fresno State

7

Seattle

0

Southern California

4

Southern California

9

College World Series

Participants

School	Conference	Record (conference)	Head coach	CWS appearances	CWS best finish	CWS record
Arizona	Border	39–7 (2–0)	Frank Sancet	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Lafayette	Independent	16–6	Charlie Gelbert	1 (last: 1953)	3rd (1953)	3–2
UMass	Yankee	14–5 (4–2)	Earl Lorden	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Michigan State	Big 10	22–8–1 (11–2)	John Kobs	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Missouri	Big Seven	17–3 (11–1)	Hi Simmons	1 (last: 1952)	2nd (1952)	3–2
Oklahoma A&M	MVC	16–9 (8–1)	Toby Greene	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Oregon	PCC	18–6 (11–5)	Don Kirsch	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Rollins	Independent	22–6	Joe Justice	0 (last: none)	none	0–0

Results

Bracket

Upper round 1

Upper round 2

Upper final

Semifinals

Preliminary final

Final

Michigan State

16

UMass

5

Michigan State

2

Arizona

1

Arizona

12

Oregon

1

Michigan State

4

Rollins

5

Rollins

9¹¹

Rollins

2

Oklahoma A&M

5

Rollins

4

Michigan State

3¹⁰

Missouri

1

Missouri

5

Lafayette

3

Rollins

1

Michigan State

3

Missouri

4

Lower round 1

Lower round 2

Missouri

4

Missouri

8

UMass

5

UMass

1

Missouri

7

Oregon

3

Oklahoma A&M

3

Arizona

4

Oklahoma A&M

4

Oklahoma A&M

5¹⁴

Lafayette

2

Game results

Date	Game	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
June 10	Game 1	Michigan State	16–5	UMass
June 10	Game 2	Arizona	12–1	Oregon
June 11	Game 3	Rollins	9–5 (11)	Oklahoma A&M
June 10	Game 4	Missouri	5–3	Lafayette
June 11	Game 5	UMass	5–3	Oregon	Oregon eliminated
	Game 6	Oklahoma A&M	4–2	Lafayette	Lafayette eliminated
	Game 7	Michigan State	2–1	Arizona
	Game 8	Rollins	4–1	Missouri
June 12	Game 9	Missouri	8–1	UMass	UMass eliminated
	Game 10	Oklahoma A&M	5–4 (14)	Arizona	Arizona eliminated
	Game 11	Rollins	5–4	Michigan State
June 13	Game 12	Missouri	7–3	Oklahoma A&M	Oklahoma A&M eliminated
June 13	Game 13	Michigan State	3–2 (10)	Rollins
June 14	Game 14	Missouri	4–3	Michigan State	Michigan State eliminated
June 16	Final	Missouri	4–1	Rollins	Missouri wins CWS

Notable players

Arizona: Don Gile, Don Lee, Carl Thomas
Lafayette:
UMass:
Michigan State: Bob Anderson, Ed Hobaugh, Jack Kralick, Leroy Powell, George Smith, Bill Stewart, Tom Yewcic
Missouri: Jay Hankins, Jerry Schoonmaker, Norm Stewart
Oklahoma A&M: Tom Borland
Oregon: George Shaw
Rollins:

References

^ "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 196. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
^ "1954 College World Series". Omaha.com. Archived from the original on December 26, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2019.

[NCAA-1] "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 196. Retrieved April 22, 2012.

[2] "1954 College World Series". Omaha.com. Archived from the original on December 26, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2019.

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