1961 NCAA University Division baseball season

1961 NCAA University Division baseball season
1961 NCAA University Division baseball season
NCAA tournament
Duration	May 26–June 15, 1961
College World Series
Champions	USC (3rd title)
Runners-up	Oklahoma State (5th CWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Rod Dedeaux (3rd title)
MOP	Littleton Fowler (Oklahoma State)
Seasons
	← 1960 1962 →

The 1961 NCAA University Division baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began in the spring of 1961. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1961 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the fifteenth time in 1961, consisted of one team from each of eight geographical districts and was held in Omaha, Nebraska at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium as a double-elimination tournament. Southern California claimed the championship.^[1]

Conference winners

This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1961 season. Each of the eight geographical districts chose, by various methods, the team that would represent them in the NCAA tournament. 9 teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championship while 16 teams earned at-large selections.^[1]^[2]

Conference	Regular season winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	Duke
Big Eight Conference	Oklahoma State
Big Ten Conference	Michigan
CIBA	Southern California
EIBL	Navy
Mid-American Conference	Western Michigan
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington State
Southeastern Conference	LSU
Southern Conference	West Virginia
Southwest Conference	Texas

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1961 Athletic Association of Western Universities baseball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
North Division
No. 28 Washington State ‍†‍‍^y	8	–	4	.667	21	–	10	.677
Oregon State ‍‍‍	8	–	6	.571	27	–	14	.659
Oregon ‍‍‍	6	–	5	.545		–		–
Idaho ‍‍‍	6	–	9	.400		–		–
Washington ‍‍‍	4	–	8	.333	13	–	10	.565
California Intercollegiate Baseball Association
No. 1 Southern California ‍†‍‍^y	12	–	4	.750	36	–	7	.837
No. 14 California ‍‍‍	11	–	5	.688	29	–	10	.744
UCLA ‍‍‍	7	–	9	.438	25	–	15	.625
Santa Clara ‍‍‍	5	–	11	.313		–		–
Stanford ‍‍‍	5	–	11	.313	26	–	17	.605

† – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1961^[3] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1961 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 6 Duke ‍†‍‡‍^y	11	–	3	.786	16	–	11	.593
No. 24 North Carolina ‍‍‍	10	–	4	.714	15	–	7	.682
No. 27 Wake Forest ‍‍‍	9	–	5	.643	23	–	7	.767
NC State ‍‍‍	8	–	5	.615	13	–	5	.722
Clemson ‍‍‍	6	–	8	.429	12	–	11	.522
Maryland ‍‍‍	5	–	8	.385	8	–	12	.400
Virginia ‍‍‍	4	–	9	.308	7	–	11	.389
South Carolina ‍‍‍	1	–	12	.077	3	–	15	.167

† – Conference champion ‡ – Playoff champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1961^[4] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1961 Big Eight Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 2 Oklahoma State ‍†‍‍^y	18	–	1	.947	27	–	3	.900
Missouri ‍‍‍	13	–	6	.684	16	–	7	.696
Colorado ‍‍‍	9	–	8	.529	21	–	11	.656
Kansas State ‍‍‍	10	–	10	.500	10	–	12	.455
Oklahoma ‍‍‍	9	–	10	.474	10	–	15	.400
Nebraska ‍‍‍	7	–	11	.389	9	–	14	.391
Iowa State ‍‍‍	3	–	13	.188	5	–	14	.263
Kansas ‍‍‍	2	–	12	.143	5	–	14	.263

† – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1961^[5] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1961 Mid-American Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf						Overall
Team	W		L		T	PCT	W		L		T	PCT
No. 5 Western Michigan ‍†‍‍^y	11	–	0	–	0	1.000	19	–	8	–	0	.704
Kent State ‍‍‍	9	–	2	–	0	.818	12	–	7	–	0	.632
Ohio ‍‍‍	7	–	3	–	0	.700	13	–	6	–	0	.684
Miami (OH) ‍‍‍	3	–	6	–	0	.333	5	–	11	–	1	.324
Bowling Green ‍‍‍	2	–	7	–	0	.222	6	–	12	–	1	.342
Marshall ‍‍‍	2	–	8	–	0	.200	8	–	12	–	1	.405
Toledo ‍‍‍	1	–	9	–	0	.100	2	–	16	–	0	.111

† – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1961^[6] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1961 Southwest Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 8 Texas ‍†‍‍^y	11	–	3	.786	22	–	6	.786
No. 25 Baylor ‍‍‍	10	–	4	.714	18	–	4	.818
Rice ‍‍‍	6	–	6	.500	13	–	11	.542
Texas A&M ‍‍‍	6	–	8	.429	14	–	10	.583
TCU ‍‍‍	6	–	8	.429	7	–	16	.304
SMU ‍‍‍	1	–	11	.083	5	–	16	.238

† – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1961^[7] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

The 1961 season marked the fifteenth 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 Southern California claiming their third championship with a 1–0 win over Oklahoma State in the final.^[1]


Upper round 1		Upper round 2		Upper final		Semifinals		Final



Oklahoma State	3

Duke	2
		Oklahoma State	12

		Syracuse	9
Syracuse	12

Colorado State College	5
				Oklahoma State	2

				Southern California	4
Boston College	3
						Oklahoma State	8
Western Michigan	2
		Boston College	3			Syracuse	0

		Southern California	10
Southern California	8

Texas	6

								Oklahoma State	0

		Lower round 1		Lower round 2				Southern California	1



				Boston College	4¹⁰

		Duke	15	Duke	3
						Southern California	4
		Colorado State College	3
						Boston College	3
				Syracuse	6

		Western Michigan	8	Western Michigan	0

		Texas	2

Award winners

All-America team

References

^ ^a ^b ^c W.C. Madden & Patrick J. Stewart (2004). The College World Series:A Baseball History, 1947-2003. McFarland & Co. pp. 35–38. ISBN 9780786418428. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
^ "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 7. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyd's World. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyd's World. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyd's World. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyds World. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
^ "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". boydsworld.com. Retrieved January 20, 2020.

[CWS-1] W.C. Madden & Patrick J. Stewart (2004). The College World Series:A Baseball History, 1947-2003. McFarland & Co. pp. 35–38. ISBN 9780786418428. Retrieved April 4, 2014.

[NCAA-2] "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 7. Retrieved April 4, 2014.

[3] "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyd's World. Retrieved April 4, 2014.

[4] "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyd's World. Retrieved November 16, 2020.

[5] "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyd's World. Retrieved January 15, 2019.

[6] "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". Boyds World. Retrieved November 25, 2020.

[7] "College Baseball Conference Standings – 1961". boydsworld.com. Retrieved January 20, 2020.

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v t e NCAA college baseball seasons
Pre-regulation	1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906
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1961 NCAA University Division baseball season
NCAA tournament
Duration	May 26–June 15, 1961
College World Series
Champions	USC (3rd title)
Runners-up	Oklahoma State (5th CWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Rod Dedeaux (3rd title)
MOP	Littleton Fowler (Oklahoma State)
Seasons
← 1960 1962 →