1976 NCAA Division I baseball season

The 1976 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 1976. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1976 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the thirtieth time in 1976, 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. Arizona claimed the championship for the first time.[1]

1976 NCAA Division I baseball season
Number of teams219
NCAA tournament
College World Series
ChampionsArizona (1st title)
Runners-upEastern Michigan (2nd CWS Appearance)
Winning CoachJerry Kindall (1st title)
MOPSteve Powers (Arizona)
Seasons
← 1975
1977 →

Conference winners

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This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1976 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. 18 teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championship while 16 teams earned at-large selections.[1][2]

Conference Regular season winner Conference tournament Tournament venue • city Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference Clemson 1976 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament Beautiful Tiger FieldClemson, SC Clemson
Big Eight Conference Missouri 1976 Big Eight Conference baseball tournament All Sports StadiumOklahoma City, OK Missouri
Big Ten Conference Michigan No tournament
EIBL Columbia No tournament
Mid-American Conference Eastern Michigan No tournament
Pacific-8 Conference North - Washington State
South - UCLA
No tournament
Southeastern Conference Auburn No tournament
Southern Conference Furman No tournament
Southwest Conference Texas No tournament

Conference standings

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The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1976 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 5 Clemson  ‍y 10 2   .833 36 15   .706
Maryland  ‍‍‍ 8 4   .667 19 14   .576
North Carolina  ‍‍‍ 8 4   .667 19 17   .528
NC State  ‍‍‍ 6 6   .500 20 10   .667
Wake Forest  ‍‍‍ 5 7   .417 22 11   .667
Virginia  ‍‍‍ 4 8   .333 17 22   .436
Duke  ‍‍‍ 1 11   .083 7 23   .233
† – Conference champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1976[3]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1976 Mid-American Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 Eastern Michigan  ‍‍‍y 12 3   .800 46 16   .742
Ohio  ‍‍‍ 11 7   .611 25 20   .556
Toledo  ‍‍‍ 8 6   .571 33 11   .750
Miami  ‍‍‍ 10 8   .556 40 20   .667
Ball State  ‍‍‍ 9 9   .500 34 14   .708
Bowling Green  ‍‍‍ 8 8   .500 33 20   .623
Western Michigan  ‍‍‍ 8 10   .444 25 22   .532
Central Michigan  ‍‍‍ 7 11   .389 29 16   .644
Kent State  ‍‍‍ 6 11   .353 14 26   .350
Northern Illinois  ‍‍‍ 4 10   .286 15 22   .405
† – Conference champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1976[4]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1976 Pacific-8 Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT
Northern Division
No. 6 Washington State x‍‍‍y 16 2 0   .889 43 15 0   .741
Oregon State ‍‍‍ 12 6 0   .667 31 15 0   .674
Oregon ‍‍‍ 6 12 0   .333 20 18 0   .526
Washington ‍‍‍ 2 16 0   .111 7 27 0   .206
California Intercollegiate Baseball Association
No. 15 UCLA x‍‍‍ 16 8 0   .667 35 25 0   .583
Southern California ‍‍‍ 15 8 1   .646 33 36 2   .479
Stanford ‍‍‍ 14 10 0   .583 42 23 0   .646
California ‍‍‍ 9 14 1   .396 33 20 1   .620
UC Santa Barbara ‍‍‍ 5 19 0   .208 17 29 0   .370
x – Division champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1976[5]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1976 Western Athletic Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Northern
BYU  x‍‍‍ 15 3   .833 26 21   .553
Wyoming  ‍‍‍ 10 7   .588 22 29   .431
Utah  ‍‍‍ 8 9   .471 15 26   .366
Colorado State  ‍‍‍ 2 16   .111 18 26   .409
Southern
No. 3 Arizona State  x‍‍‍y 17 1   .944 65 10   .867
No. 1 Arizona  ‍‍‍y 12 6   .667 56 17   .767
New Mexico  ‍‍‍ 4 14   .222 28 24   .538
UTEP  ‍‍‍ 3 15   .167 9 25   .265
x – Division champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 30, 1976[6]
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

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The 1976 season marked the thirtieth 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 Arizona claiming their first championship with a 7–1 win over Eastern Michigan in the final.[1]

Upper round 1Upper round 2Upper finalSemifinalsPreliminary finalFinal
Clemson9
Auburn4
Clemson2
Eastern Michigan310
Eastern Michigan3
Maine2
Eastern Michigan2
Arizona State1
Arizona State710
Eastern Michigan6
Arizona6
Arizona State9Arizona11
Washington State3
Washington State6
Oklahoma1Eastern Michigan1
Arizona5Arizona7
Lower round 1Lower round 2Arizona State1
Washington State3
Auburn8Maine6
Arizona State7
Maine9
Maine0
Clemson6
Arizona10Arizona10
Oklahoma2

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 23, 2014.
  2. ^ "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 7. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  3. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1976". Boyd's World. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  4. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1976". Boyds World. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  5. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1976". Boyd's World. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  6. ^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1976". boydsworld.com. Retrieved August 23, 2014.