1979 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

1979 NCAA Division I
baseball tournament
Season	1979
Teams	34
Finals site	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium; Omaha, NE;
Champions	Cal State Fullerton (1st title)
Runner-up	Arkansas (1st CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Augie Garrido (1st title)
MOP	Tony Hudson (Cal State Fullerton)
	← 1978 ; NCAA Division I Baseball Championship; 1980 →;

The 1979 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1979 NCAA Division I 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 thirty third year. Eight regional competitions were held to determine the participants in the final event. Seven regions held a four team, double-elimination tournament while one region included six teams, resulting in 34 teams participating in the tournament at the conclusion of their regular season, and in some cases, after a conference tournament.^[1] The thirty-third tournament's champion was Cal State Fullerton, coached by Augie Garrido. The Most Outstanding Player was Tony Hudson of Cal State Fullerton.

Regionals

Seven of the eight regionals were played as 4-team double-elimination tournaments. One regional was played as a 6-team double-elimination tournament. The winner of each regional moved on to the College World Series.

Northeast Regional

Games played at Annapolis, Maryland.


First Round		Semi-Finals		Finals



Connecticut	5

Navy	4
		St. John's	6

		Connecticut	3
St. John's	5

Nebraska	0
				St. John's	4	0

				Connecticut	14	4
Lower round 1		Lower final



		Connecticut	15

Navy	4	Nebraska	0

Nebraska	13

Atlantic Regional

Games played at Coral Gables, Florida.


First Round		Semi-Finals		Finals



Clemson	8

Georgia Southern	4
		Clemson	1

		Miami (FL)	2
Miami (FL)	3¹⁶

The Citadel	1
				Miami (FL)	4	—

				Clemson	1	—
Lower round 1		Lower final



		Clemson	2

Georgia Southern	5	Georgia Southern	0

The Citadel	3

Mideast Regional

Games played at East Lansing, Michigan.


First Round		Semi-Finals		Finals



San Diego State	11

Miami (OH)	6
		San Diego State	9

		Pepperdine	15
Pepperdine	15

Michigan State	0
				Pepperdine	13	—

				San Diego State	2	—
Lower round 1		Lower final



		San Diego State	5

Miami (OH)	4	Michigan State	4

Michigan State	6

East Regional

Games played at Tallahassee, Florida


First Round		Second Round		Third Round		Semi-Finals		Finals



Delaware	10

Seton Hall	1	Delaware	7

		Florida State	6

Arkansas	12			Delaware	6

George Washington	11			Arkansas	8

		Arkansas	9					Arkansas	4	—

		Florida	1					Delaware	3	—

Florida	9					Delaware	7

Florida State	5			Florida	12	Florida	5

		Seton Hall	2	George Washington	7

		George Washington	5

Midwest Regional

Games played at Tucson, Arizona.


First Round		Semi-Finals		Finals



Hawaii	4

Indiana State	3
		Hawaii	2

		Arizona	10
Arizona	8

Oklahoma	1
				Arizona	5	—

				Hawaii	3	—
Lower round 1		Lower final



		Hawaii	12

Indiana State	2	Oklahoma	8

Oklahoma	9

Central Regional

Games played at Austin, Texas.


First Round		Semi-Finals		Finals



Texas	4

Texas–Pan American	2
		Texas	6

		Lamar	4
Lamar	3

BYU	2
				Texas	6	—

				BYU	2	—
Lower round 1		Lower final



		Lamar	4

Texas–Pan American	5	BYU	7

BYU	11

South Regional

Games played at Starkville, Mississippi.


First Round		Semi-Finals		Finals



Murray State	5

Tulane	3
		Murray State	16

		New Orleans	15
New Orleans	13

Mississippi State	11
				Murray State	6	8

				Mississippi State	8	18
Lower round 1		Lower final



		New Orleans	10

Tulane	4	Mississippi State	13

Mississippi State	12

West Regional

Games played at Fresno, California.

First Round

Semi-Finals

Finals

UCLA

5

Cal State Fullerton

4

UCLA

5

Fresno State

4

Fresno State

10*

Portland

8*

UCLA

2

5

Cal State Fullerton

9

Lower round 1

Lower final

Fresno State

3

Cal State Fullerton

20

Cal State Fullerton

12

Portland

3

College World Series

Connecticut, Miami (FL), Pepperdine, Arkansas, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi St., and Cal St. Fullerton won their regionals and moved on to the College World Series.

Participants

School	Conference	Record (conference)	Head coach	CWS appearances	CWS best finish	CWS record
Arizona	Pac-10	42–23 (17–13)	Jerry Kindall	10 (last: 1976)	1st (1976)	21–19
Arkansas	SWC	46–13 (19–5)	Norm DeBriyn	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Cal State Fullerton	SCBA	55–13 (23–4)	Augie Garrido	1 (last: 1975)	7th (1975)	0–2
Connecticut	Eastern Collegiate	31–11 (n/a)	Larry Panciera	4 (last: 1972)	5th (1957, 1972)	3–8
Miami (FL)	n/a	55–9 (n/a)	Ron Fraser	2 (last: 1978)	2nd (1974)	5–4
Mississippi State	SEC	47–10 (17–2)	Ron Polk	1 (last: 1971)	7th (1971)	0–2
Pepperdine	SCBA	50–16 (19–9)	Dave Gorrie	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Texas	SWC	53–6 (22–2)	Cliff Gustafson	17 (last: 1975)	1st (1949, 1950, 1975)	36–30

Results

Bracket


Upper round 1		Upper round 2		Upper final		Semifinals		Preliminary final		Final



Arkansas	5

Pepperdine	4
		Arkansas	10

		Arizona	3
Arizona	5

Miami (FL)	1
				Arkansas	9

				Texas	4
Texas	11
						Arkansas	10
Connecticut	5
		Texas	8			Cal State Fullerton	13

		Mississippi State	2
Mississippi State	6

Cal State Fullerton	1									Cal State Fullerton	2

								Cal State Fullerton	8	Arkansas	1

		Lower round 1		Lower round 2				Pepperdine	5



				Mississippi State	4

		Pepperdine	9	Pepperdine	5¹⁰
						Texas	4
		Miami (FL)	3
						Pepperdine	6
				Arizona	3

		Connecticut	3	Cal State Fullerton	16

		Cal State Fullerton	8

Game results

Date	Game	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
June 1	Game 1	Arkansas	5–4	Pepperdine
June 1	Game 2	Arizona	5–1	Miami (FL)
June 2	Game 3	Texas	11–5	Connecticut
	Game 4	Mississippi State	6–1	Cal State Fullerton
	Game 5	Pepperdine	9–3	Miami (FL)	Miami eliminated
June 3	Game 6	Cal State Fullerton	8–3	Connecticut	Connecticut eliminated
	Game 7	Arkansas	10–3	Arizona
	Game 8	Texas	8–2	Mississippi State
June 4	Game 9	Cal State Fullerton	16–3	Arizona	Arizona eliminated
June 4	Game 10	Pepperdine	5–4 (10 innings)	Mississippi State	Mississippi State eliminated
June 5	Game 11	Arkansas	9–4	Texas
June 6	Game 12	Pepperdine	6–4	Texas	Texas eliminated
June 6	Game 13	Cal State Fullerton	13–10	Arkansas
June 7	Game 14	Cal State Fullerton	8–5	Pepperdine	Pepperdine eliminated
June 8	Final	Cal State Fullerton	2–1	Arkansas	Cal State Fullerton wins CWS

All-Tournament Team

The following players were members of the All-Tournament Team.

Position	Player	School
P	Tony Hudson (MOP)	Cal State Fullerton
P	Steve Krueger	Arkansas
C	Kurt Kingsolver	Cal State Fullerton
1B	Tim Wallach	Cal State Fullerton
2B	Mike Gates	Pepperdine
3B	Dan Hanggie	Cal State Fullerton
SS	Larry Wallace	Arkansas
OF	Marc Brumble	Arkansas
	Kevin McReynolds	Arkansas
	Joseph Bruno	Texas
DH	Keith Walker	Texas

Notable players

Arizona: Terry Francona, Craig Lefferts, Brad Mills, John Moses, Jim Scranton, Dwight Taylor
Arkansas: Kevin McReynolds, Johnny Ray, Ronn Reynolds
Cal State Fullerton: John Christensen, Andre David, Tim Wallach
Connecticut:
Miami (FL): Tony Brewer, Neal Heaton, Ross Jones, Mike Pagliarulo, Dennis Owens
Mississippi State: Tim Weisheim
Pepperdine: Mike Gates
Texas: Jim Acker, Tony Arnold, Joseph Bruno, Keith Creel, Ron Gardenhire, Jerry Don Gleaton, Andre Robertson, Ricky Wright

Tournament notes

In the South Regional semifinal Murray State and New Orleans set a tournament record for most combined runs in a game (31).

References

^ "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 195. Retrieved August 24, 2014.

[NCAA-1] "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 195. Retrieved August 24, 2014.

[1]

v t e 1978–79 NCAA Division I championships
Baseball Basketball Cross country Fencing Football (I-A) Football (I-AA)† Golf Gymnastics Ice hockey Lacrosse Skiing Soccer Swimming and diving Tennis Indoor track and field Outdoor track and field Volleyball Water polo Wrestling
† Inaugural championship – Until 1981–82, all championships for men only

1979 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

Regionals

Northeast Regional

Atlantic Regional

Mideast Regional

East Regional

Midwest Regional

Central Regional

South Regional

West Regional

College World Series

Participants

Results

Bracket

Game results

All-Tournament Team

Notable players

Tournament notes

See also

References