1951 NCAA baseball season

1951 NCAA baseball season
College World Series
Duration	June 13–17, 1951
Champions	Oklahoma (1st title)
Runners-up	Tennessee (1st CWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Jack Baer (1st title)
MOP	Sidney Hatfield (Tennessee)
Seasons

The 1951 NCAA baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began in the spring of 1951. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1951 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the fifth time in 1951, 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. Oklahoma claimed the championship.

Conference winners

This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1951 season. Each of the eight geographical districts chose, by various methods, the team that would represent them in the NCAA Tournament. Conference champions had to be chosen, unless all conference champions declined the bid.

Conference	Regular season winner	Conference tournament	Tournament city	Tournament winner
Big Seven	Oklahoma	No conference tournament
Big Ten	Ohio State	No conference tournament
CIBA	Southern California	No conference tournament
EIBL	Princeton	No conference tournament
Missouri Valley	Houston	1951 Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament	Tulsa, OK	Houston
Pacific Coast Conference North	Oregon State	No conference tournament
Southeastern Conference	Tennessee	No conference tournament
Southern Conference	North - Maryland South - Clemson	1951 Southern Conference baseball tournament	Greensboro, NC	Duke
Southwest Conference	Texas/Texas A&M	No conference tournament

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1951 Big Seven Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Oklahoma  ‍†‍‍y 10 – 1   .909 19 – 9   .679 Missouri  ‍‍‍ 9 – 4   .692 12 – 6   .667 Nebraska  ‍‍‍ 5 – 4   .556 10 – 5   .667 Colorado  ‍‍‍ 3 – 5   .375 –   – Kansas  ‍‍‍ 5 – 9   .357 6 – 9   .400 Kansas State  ‍‍‍ 5 – 10   .333 5 – 10   .333 Iowa State  ‍‍‍ 3 – 7   .300 8 – 7   .533 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the College World Series As of June 30, 1951 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1951 Big Ten Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT Ohio State  ‍†‍‍y 10 – 2 – 0   .833 23 – 15 – 0   .605 Illinois  ‍‍‍ 8 – 3 – 0   .727 16 – 9 – 0   .640 Indiana  ‍‍‍ 6 – 4 – 1   .591 16 – 10 – 1   .611 Minnesota  ‍‍‍ 6 – 6 – 0   .500 15 – 10 – 0   .600 Wisconsin  ‍‍‍ 5 – 5 – 1   .500 14 – 8 – 1   .630 Northwestern  ‍‍‍ 5 – 6 – 0   .455 11 – 9 – 0   .550 Michigan State  ‍‍‍ 4 – 6 – 0   .400 17 – 9 – 0   .654 Iowa  ‍‍‍ 4 – 8 – 0   .333 11 – 13 – 0   .458 Michigan  ‍‍‍ 4 – 8 – 0   .333 13 – 10 – 0   .565 Purdue  ‍‍‍ 2 – 9 – 0   .182 10 – 12 – 1   .457 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the College World Series As of June 30, 1951 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1951 Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT Princeton  ‍†‍‍y 7 – 2 – 0   .778 20 – 6 – 0   .769 Brown  ‍‍‍ 6 – 2 – 0   .750 12 – 5 – 0   .706 Columbia  ‍‍‍ 6 – 3 – 0   .667 10 – 7 – 0   .588 Cornell  ‍‍‍ 5 – 3 – 0   .625 13 – 5 – 0   .722 Navy  ‍‍‍ 5 – 3 – 0   .625 10 – 11 – 0   .476 Penn  ‍‍‍ 4 – 5 – 0   .444 9 – 10 – 0   .474 Harvard  ‍‍‍ 3 – 5 – 0   .375 7 – 9 – 0   .438 Army  ‍‍‍ 3 – 6 – 0   .333 8 – 14 – 1   .370 Yale  ‍‍‍ 2 – 6 – 0   .250 16 – 14 – 0   .533 Dartmouth  ‍‍‍ 1 – 7 – 0   .125 4 – 22 – 1   .167 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the College World Series
1951 Missouri Valley Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT East Bradley  x‍‍‍ 5 – 2   .714 20 – 5   .800 Detroit  ‍‍‍ 2 – 3   .400 8 – 11   .421 Drake  ‍‍‍ 1 – 3   .250 7 – 7   .500 Saint Louis  ‍‍‍ 1 – 3   .250 –   – West Houston  x‍‍‡‍ 7 – 1   .875 16 – 9   .640 Tulsa  ‍‍‍ 4 – 2   .667 9 – 8   .529 Oklahoma A&M  ‍‍‍ 2 – 4   .333 9 – 8   .529 Wichita State  ‍‍‍ 1 – 5   .167 4 – 9   .308 x – Division champion ‡ – Tournament champion As of June 30, 1951	1951 Pacific Coast Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT North Division Oregon State  ‍†‍‍ 10 – 4 – 0   .714 23 – 6 – 0   .793 Washington State  ‍‍‍ 11 – 5 – 0   .688 30 – 11 – 0   .732 Washington  ‍‍‍ 10 – 6 – 0   .625 14 – 7 – 1   .659 Oregon  ‍‍‍ 7 – 9 – 0   .438 14 – 14 – 0   .500 Idaho  ‍‍‍ 0 – 14 – 0   .000 3 – 17 – 0   .150 California Intercollegiate Baseball Association USC  ‍†‍‍y 11 – 5 – 0   .688 22 – 10 – 0   .688 UCLA  ‍‍‍ 10 – 6 – 0   .625 24 – 13 – 0   .649 Stanford  ‍‍‍ 9 – 9 – 0   .500 21 – 13 – 0   .618 California  ‍‍‍ 6 – 10 – 0   .375 22 – 16 – 0   .579 Santa Clara  ‍‍‍ 5 – 11 – 0   .313 0 – 0 – 0   – † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament	1951 Southeastern Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT Tennessee  ‍†‍‍y 16 – 1 – 0   .941 20 – 3 – 0   .870 Alabama  ‍‍‍ 13 – 4 – 1   .750 17 – 5 – 1   .761 Ole Miss  ‍‍‍ 10 – 4 – 0   .714 15 – 4 – 0   .789 Florida  ‍‍‍ 9 – 7 – 0   .563 16 – 9 – 0   .640 LSU  ‍‍‍ 6 – 6 – 0   .500 10 – 6 – 0   .625 Auburn  ‍‍‍ 8 – 8 – 0   .500 14 – 11 – 0   .560 Tulane  ‍‍‍ 7 – 9 – 0   .438 10 – 11 – 0   .476 Mississippi State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 9 – 0   .400 11 – 9 – 0   .550 Georgia Tech  ‍‍‍ 8 – 12 – 0   .400 11 – 12 – 0   .478 Kentucky  ‍‍‍ 5 – 9 – 1   .367 8 – 10 – 1   .447 Georgia  ‍‍‍ 6 – 11 – 0   .353 12 – 13 – 0   .480 Vanderbilt  ‍‍‍ 0 – 13 – 1   .036 0 – 18 – 1   .026 x – Division champion y – Invited to the College World Series As of June 18, 1951 Rankings from Coaches' Poll
1951 Southwest Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Texas A&M  ‍†‍‍y 11 – 4   .733 21 – 11   .656 Texas  ‍‍‍ 11 – 4   .733 17 – 6   .739 TCU  ‍‍‍ 8 – 7   .533 10 – 11   .476 SMU  ‍‍‍ 6 – 9   .400 10 – 12   .455 Baylor  ‍‍‍ 6 – 9   .400 10 – 10   .500 Rice  ‍‍‍ 3 – 12   .200 8 – 13   .381 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the College World Series As of June 30, 1951 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

Main article: 1951 College World Series

The 1951 season marked the fifth NCAA Baseball Tournament, which consisted of the eight team College World Series. The College World Series was held in Omaha, Nebraska, which set a record for attendance of 27,789. Districts used a variety of selection methods to the event, from playoffs to a selection committee. District playoffs were not considered part of the NCAA Tournament, and the expansion to eight teams resulted in the end of regionals as they existed from 1947 through 1949. The eight teams played a double-elimination format, with Oklahoma claiming their first championship with a 3–2 win over Tennessee in the final.

	Upper round 1				Upper round 2				Upper final								Final
	Southern California	4
	Princeton	1
					Southern California	8
					Utah	2
	Utah	7
	Tennessee	1
									Southern California	1
									Oklahoma	4
	Oklahoma	910
	Ohio State	8
					Oklahoma	7
					Springfield	1
	Springfield	5
	Texas A&M	1															Oklahoma	3
																	Tennessee	2
	Lower round 1				Lower round 2				Lower round 3				Lower final
					Tennessee	2
	Princeton	2			Springfield	0							Tennessee	9
	Tennessee	3							Tennessee	5			Southern California	8
									Utah	4
					Texas A&M	8
	Ohio State	2			Utah	15
	Texas A&M	3

Award winners

All-America team

Main article: 1951 College Baseball All-America Team