The College World Series or CWS is a baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split in to two, four team double elimination brackets with the winner of each bracket playing in the best-of-three championship series. The tournament takes place in June of each year.

History

Since 1950, the CWS has been held at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska; earlier tournaments were held at Hyames Field in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1947-48) and Wichita, Kansas (1949). The name "College World Series" (CWS) is derived from that of the Major League Baseball World Series championship; it is presently an MLB trademark licensed to the NCAA. In reference to the University of Mississippi (aka "Ole Miss") baseball team's 37-year absence from the College World Series, OMAHA has also been coined an acronym for "Ole Miss At Home Again".

Contract extension

On June 10, 2008, the NCAA and College World Series of Omaha, Inc., which is the non-profit group that actually organizes the event, announced a new 25-year contract extension, keeping the CWS in Omaha through 2035. A memorandum of understanding had been reached by all parties on April 30.

The new contract will begin in 2011, the same year the tournament is scheduled to move from Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium to the TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, a new ballpark across from Qwest Center Omaha.

Format changes

Through 1987, the College World Series was a pure double-elimination event. The format was changed in 1988, when the tournament was divided into two four-team double-elimination brackets, with the survivors of each bracket playing in a single championship game. The single-game championship was designed for network television, with the final game on CBS on Saturday afternoon.

In 2003, the tournament returned entirely to cable television on ESPN, which had been covering all of the other games of the CWS since 1982 (and a partial schedule since 1980). The championship final became a best-of-three series between the two bracket winners, with games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday evenings. In the results shown here, Score indicates the score of the championship game(s) only. In 2008, the start of the CWS was moved back one day, and an extra day of rest was added in between bracket play and the championship series.

Since 1999, the four-team brackets in the CWS have been determined by the results of regional and super regional play, much like the NCAA basketball tournament. Prior to 1999, the pairings for the CWS were not determined until after the completion of the regional tournaments.

Before expanding to 64 teams in 1999, the Division I tournament began with 48 teams, split into 8 six-team regionals. The winner of each regional advanced to the College World Series. The regionals were a test of endurance, as teams had to win at least four games over four days, sometimes five if a team dropped into the loser's bracket, placing a premium on pitching. Ironically, in the last two years of the six-team regional format, the eventual CWS champion (LSU in 1997, USC in 1998) had to battle back from the loser's bracket in the regional to advance to Omaha.

With some 293 Division I teams playing, the NCAA switched to a 64 team Regional field in 1999, with 8 National (super) Seed teams, divied up into 16 four-team regionals. Each team seeded 1 thru 4—with the winners of each of the 16 "Regionals" advancing on to eight two-team, best of three format "Super Regionals". (NCAA women's softball has 16 National (super) Seeds.) Those eight Super Regional winners advancing to the CWS in Omaha, NE. A 4 seeded Regional team, the lowest possible, (akin to a #13-16 seed in college basketball's March Madness) the Fresno State Bulldogs, won the CWS national championship in 2008, against the Bulldogs of Georgia in the championship series, winning two of three.

Division I

CWS appearances & titles

• Table is sortable

• Bold indicates team won the CWS that year

Most CWS wins (games)

(All records are current through the 2009 College World Series).

Other championships

Division II

The Division II tournament was held at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois a suburb of St Louis, Missouri in 2008. From 1985 to 2007, it was held at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama (and previously Paterson Field). This division uses a single-game championship rather than the best-of-three series. In 2008 and 2009, the title game was shown on CBS College Sports Network.

Division III

Marietta College (Ohio) hosted the Division III baseball championship from its first year in 1976 through 1987. The 1988 and 1989 series were played in Bristol, Connecticut. Battle Creek, Michigan took over in 1990 and Salem, Virginia, in 1995. The Division III tournament has been held at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin since 2000. This division uses a pure "double elimination" format rather than the best-of-three series.

Division II Champions

• 1968 Chapman 11-0 Delta State

• 1969 Illinois State 12-0 Southwest Missouri State

• 1970 Cal State Northridge 2-1 Nicholls State

• 1971 Florida Southern 4-0 Central Michigan

• 1972 Florida Southern 5-1 Cal State Northridge

• 1973 UC Irvine 9-6 Ithaca

• 1974 UC Irvine 14-1 LSU-New Orleans

• 1975 Florida Southern 10-7 Marietta

• 1976 Cal Poly Pomona 17-3 SIU-Edwardsville

• 1977 UC Riverside 4-1 Eckerd

• 1978 Florida Southern 7-2 Delta State

• 1979 Valdosta State 3-2 Florida Southern

• 1980 Cal Poly Pomona 13-6 New Haven

• 1981 Florida Southern 9-0 Eastern Illinois

• 1982 UC Riverside 10-1 Florida Southern

• 1983 Cal Poly Pomona 9-7 Jacksonville State

• 1984 Cal State Northridge 10-5 Florida Southern

• 1985 Florida Southern 15-5 Cal Poly Pomona

• 1986 Troy State 5-0 Columbus State

• 1987 Troy State 7-5 Tampa

• 1988 Florida Southern 5-4 Sacramento State

• 1989 Cal Poly-SLO 9-5 New Haven

• 1990 Jacksonville State 12-8 Cal State Northridge

• 1991 Jacksonville State 20-4 Missouri Southern

• 1992 Tampa 11-8 Mansfield

• 1993 Tampa 7-5 Cal Poly-SLO

• 1994 Central Missouri State 14-9 Florida Southern

• 1995 Florida Southern 15-0 GC&SU

• 1996 Kennesaw State 4-0 St. Joseph's (Ind.)

• 1997 Cal State Chico 13-12 Central Oklahoma

• 1998 Tampa 6-1 Kennesaw State

• 1999 Cal State Chico 11-5 Kennesaw State

• 2000 Southeastern Oklahoma 7-2 Fort Hays State

• 2001 St. Mary's (Tex.) 11-3 Central Missouri State

• 2002 Columbus State 5-3 Cal State Chico

• 2003 Central Missouri State 11-4 Tampa

• 2004 Delta State 12-8 Grand Valley State

• 2005 Florida Southern 12-9 North Florida

• 2006 Tampa 3-2 Cal State Chico

• 2007 Tampa 7-2 Columbus State

• 2008 Mount Olive 6-2 Ouachita Baptist

• 2009 Lynn 2-1 Emporia State

Division III Champions

• 1976 Cal State Stanislaus 13-6 Ithaca

• 1977 Cal State Stanislaus 8-5 Brandeis

• 1978 Glassboro State 5-3 Marietta

• 1979 Glassboro State 3-0 Cal State Stanislaus

• 1980 Ithaca 12-5 Marietta

• 1981 Marietta 14-12 (12) Ithaca

• 1982 Eastern Connecticut State 11-6 Cal State Stanislaus

• 1983 Marietta 36-8 Otterbein

• 1984 Ramapo 5-4 Marietta

• 1985 Wisconsin–Oshkosh 11-6 Marietta

• 1986 Marietta 11-6 Ithaca

• 1987 Montclair State 13-12 (10) Wisconsin–Oshkosh

• 1988 Ithaca 7-5 Wisconsin–Oshkosh

• 1989 N.C. Wesleyan 8-7 (13) Cal State Stanislaus

• 1990 Eastern Connecticut State 8-1 Aurora

• 1991 Southern Maine 9-0 Trenton State

• 1992 William Paterson 3-1 Cal Lutheran

• 1993 Montclair State 3-1 Wisconsin–Oshkosh

• 1994 Wisconsin–Oshkosh 6-2 Wesleyan (Conn.)

• 1995 La Verne 5-3 Methodist

• 1996 William Paterson 6-5 Cal Lutheran

• 1997 Southern Maine 15-1 Wooster

• 1998 Eastern Connecticut State 16-1 Montclair State

• 1999 N.C. Wesleyan 1-0 St. Thomas (Minn.)

• 2000 Montclair State 6-2 St. Thomas (Minn.)

• 2001 St. Thomas (Minn.) 8-4 Marietta

• 2002 Eastern Connecticut State 8-0 Marietta

• 2003 Chapman 15-7 Christopher Newport

• 2004 George Fox 6-3 Eastern Connecticut State

• 2005 Wisconsin–Whitewater 11-4 Cortland State

• 2006 Marietta 7-2 Wheaton (Mass.)

• 2007 Kean 5-4 Emory

• 2008 Trinity (Conn.) 5-4 Johns Hopkins

• 2009 St. Thomas (Minn.) 3-2 Wooster

See also

• NCAA Division I Baseball Championship

• College baseball records

• List of college baseball awards

• Baseball awards#U.S. college baseball