1998 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

1998 NCAA Division I
baseball tournament
Season	1998
Teams	48
Finals site	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium; Omaha, Nebraska;
Champions	Southern California (12th title)
Runner-up	Arizona State (18th CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Mike Gillespie (1st title)
MOP	Wes Rachels (Southern California)
	← 1997 ; NCAA Division I Baseball Championship; 1999 →;

The 1998 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1998 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 fifty-second year. Eight regional competitions were held to determine the participants in the final event. Each region was composed of six teams, resulting in 48 teams participating in the tournament at the conclusion of their regular season, and in some cases, after a conference tournament.^[1] The fifty-second tournament's champion was Southern California, coached by Mike Gillespie. The championship was the Trojans' record 12th, but their first since 1978, the last under coach Rod Dedeaux. The Most Outstanding Player was USC second baseman Wes Rachels.

Regionals

The opening rounds of the tournament were played at eight regional sites across the country, each consisting of a six-team field. Each regional tournament is double-elimination, however region brackets are variable depending on the number of teams remaining after each round. Regional games were scheduled for Thursday, May 21 through Sunday, May 24; however, one final Sunday game (Arizona State vs. Georgia Tech at Wichita) had to be played the next day due to rainout. The winners of each regional advanced to the College World Series.^[2]

In the final year of the 48-team tournament, six regionals required the full 11 games. Only Florida State and LSU advanced to the CWS unscathed, while Long Beach State won four games over three days after losing their first to North Carolina St.
Bold indicates winner.

East Regional at Clemson, SC


May 21			May 22–23			May 23			May 24			May 24



			1	Southern California	4

			3	VCU	14
1	Southern California	10				3	VCU	3

6	Fordham	6				5	The Citadel	2	3	VCU	0
			5	The Citadel	5
									4	South Alabama	6
			6	Fordham	1
2	Clemson	12
												4	South Alabama	3
5	The Citadel	3
			2	Clemson	1							1	Southern California	4

			4	South Alabama	2
3	VCU	1				4	South Alabama	2

4	South Alabama	2				1	Southern California	3
			1	Southern California	8

			2	Clemson	5

Atlantic I Regional at Coral Gables, FL


May 21			May 22–23			May 23			May 24			May 24



			1	Miami (FL)	5

			3	North Carolina	6
1	Miami (FL)	21				3	North Carolina	8

6	Bowling Green	6				5	FIU	2	3	North Carolina	4
			5	FIU	13
									2	South Carolina	2
			6	Bowling Green	7
2	South Carolina	21
												3	North Carolina	4
5	FIU	9
			2	South Carolina	9							1	Miami (FL)	7

			4	Texas Tech	8
3	North Carolina	2				2	South Carolina	2

4	Texas Tech	6				1	Miami (FL)	14
			1	Miami (FL)	13

			4	Texas Tech	0

Atlantic II Regional at Tallahassee, FL


May 21			May 22			May 23			May 23			May 24



1	Florida State	10

6	Liberty	7	1	Florida State	27

			3	Delaware	6

2	Auburn	15				1	Florida State	23

5	Rutgers	17				4	Oklahoma	2

			5	Rutgers	7							1	Florida State	16	—

			4	Oklahoma	9							2	Auburn	10	—

3	Delaware	3							2	Auburn	9

4	Oklahoma	6				2	Auburn	7	4	Oklahoma	8

			2	Auburn	3	5	Rutgers	4

			6	Liberty	2

Central Regional at College Station, TX


May 21			May 22–23			May 23			May 24			May 24



			1	Rice	11

			3	Washington	20
1	Rice	11				3	Washington	13

6	Oral Roberts	1				6	Oral Roberts	6	3	Washington	4
			5	UNC Charlotte	13
									2	Texas A&M	6
			6	Oral Roberts	20
2	Texas A&M	17
												2	Texas A&M	5
5	UNC Charlotte	0
			2	Texas A&M	4							4	Mississippi State	11

			4	Mississippi State	3
3	Washington	4				2	Texas A&M	9

4	Mississippi State	7				4	Mississippi State	10
			1	Rice	14

			4	Mississippi State	15

Midwest Regional at Wichita, KS


May 21			May 22–23			May 23			May 24			May 25



			1	Wichita State	2

			4	Arkansas	3
1	Wichita State	7				4	Arkansas	0

6	SE Missouri State	4				2	Georgia Tech	2	2	Georgia Tech	6
			2	Georgia Tech	14
									5	Oklahoma State	5
			6	SE Missouri State	5
2	Georgia Tech	4
												2	Georgia Tech	1
5	Oklahoma State	13
			5	Oklahoma State	13							3	Arizona State	3

			3	Arizona State	8
3	Arizona State	8				5	Oklahoma State	5

4	Arkansas	4				3	Arizona State	13
			1	Wichita State	4

			3	Arizona State	6

South I Regional at Gainesville, FL


May 21			May 22–23			May 23			May 24			May 24



			1	Florida	5

			3	Baylor	10
1	Florida	12				3	Baylor	7

6	Monmouth	8				5	Illinois	8	5	Illinois	13
			5	Illinois	12
									2	Wake Forest	4
			6	Monmouth	2
2	Wake Forest	14
												5	Illinois	6
5	Illinois	12
			2	Wake Forest	6							1	Florida	7

			4	Richmond	5
3	Baylor	10				2	Wake Forest	9

4	Richmond	12				1	Florida	12
			1	Florida	15

			4	Richmond	3

South II Regional at Baton Rouge, LA


May 21			May 22			May 23			May 23			May 24



1	LSU	18

6	Nicholls State	4	1	LSU	15

			4	SW Louisiana	6

2	Cal State Fullerton	16				1	LSU	13

5	Harvard	1				2	Cal State Fullerton	11

			2	Cal State Fullerton	10							1	LSU	14	—

			3	Tulane	6							2	Cal State Fullerton	3	—

3	Tulane	11							5	Harvard	3

4	SW Louisiana	5				5	Harvard	15	2	Cal State Fullerton	11

			5	Harvard	6	3	Tulane	11

			6	Nicholls State	5

West Regional at Stanford, CA


May 21			May 22–23			May 23			May 24			May 24



			6	Loyola Marymount	9

			3	Long Beach State	19
1	Stanford	2				3	Long Beach State	5

6	Loyola Marymount	6				1	Stanford	1	3	Long Beach State	10
			1	Stanford	19
									4	NC State	6
			5	Minnesota	1
2	Alabama	8
												3	Long Beach State	5
5	Minnesota	2
			2	Alabama	10							2	Alabama	3

			4	NC State	13
3	Long Beach State	3				4	NC State	2

4	NC State	12				2	Alabama	9
			2	Alabama	13

			6	Loyola Marymount	5

College World Series

The 1998 CWS was infamous for producing several high-scoring games, which was termed by media covering the Series as "Gorilla Ball" (or "Geaux-rilla Ball" among LSU fans), which placed a premium on home runs. LSU, which won the 1996 and 1997 national championships and set an NCAA record in 1997 by hitting 188 home runs, hit eight home runs in its first game (by seven different players) vs. USC, and added six more in its second game vs. Mississippi State to bring its season total to 157. Needing one victory to advance to the championship game for the third consecutive year, LSU fell twice to USC, hitting just one home run in 18 innings. USC and Pac-10 rival Arizona St. set numerous offensive records in the championship game, won by the Trojans 21–14.

Prior to the 1999 season, the NCAA adopted restrictions on aluminum bats, requiring the difference between the length and weight ("drop") of the bat to be no more than three (e.g. a 34-inch bat could not weigh less than 31 ounces). This reduced home run output slightly, but it was not until more sweeping changes in 2011 before aluminum bats would perform more like their wood counterparts.

Participants

Seeding	School	Conference	Record (conference)	Head coach	CWS appearances	CWS best finish	CWS record
1	Florida	SEC	46–16 (21–8)	Andy Lopez	3 (last: 1996)	3rd (1991)	5–6
2	Miami (FL)	n/a	50–10 (n/a)	Jim Morris	16 (last: 1997)	1st (1982, 1985)	34–28
3	Florida State	ACC	53–18 (18–4)	Mike Martin	15 (last: 1996)	2nd (1970, 1986)	19–30
4	Southern California	Pac-10	44–16 (21–9)	Mike Gillespie	18 (last: 1995)	1st (1948, 1958, 1961, 1963, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978)	67–21
5	LSU	SEC	46–17 (21–9)	Skip Bertman	9 (last: 1997)	1st (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997)	23–11
6	Arizona State	Pac-10	38–22 (18–11)	Pat Murphy	17 (last: 1994)	1st (1965, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1981)	52–29
7	Long Beach State	Big West	42–21–1 (23–7)	Dave Snow	3 (last: 1993)	3rd (1993)	4–6
8	Mississippi State	SEC	41–21 (14–15)	Pat McMahon	6 (last: 1997)	3rd (1985)	6–12

Results

Bracket

First round			Second round			Semifinals				Finals

1	Florida	13

8	Mississippi State	14
			8	Mississippi State	8

			5	LSU	10
4	Southern California	10

5	LSU	12
						5	LSU	4	3

						4	Southern California	5	7
1	Florida	10

4	Southern California	12¹¹
			8	Mississippi State	1

			4	Southern California	7



										4	Southern California	21

										6	Arizona State	14
2	Miami (FL)	3

7	Long Beach State	1
			2	Miami (FL)	2

			6	Arizona State	9
3	Florida State	10

6	Arizona State	11
						6	Arizona State	14	—

						7	Long Beach State	4	—
7	Long Beach State	7

3	Florida State	4
			2	Miami (FL)	3

			7	Long Beach State	6

Game results

Date	Game	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
May 29	Game 1	Arizona State	11–10	Florida State
May 29	Game 2	Miami (FL)	3–1	Long Beach State
May 30	Game 3	LSU	12–10	Southern California
May 30	Game 4	Mississippi State	14–13	Florida
May 31	Game 5	Arizona State	9–2	Miami (FL)
May 31	Game 6	Long Beach State	7–4	Florida State	Florida State eliminated
June 1	Game 7	LSU	10–8	Mississippi State
June 1	Game 8	Southern California	12 – 10 (11 innings)	Florida	Florida eliminated
June 2	Game 9	Long Beach State	6–3	Miami (FL)	Miami (FL) eliminated
June 2	Game 10	Southern California	7–1	Mississippi State	Mississippi State eliminated
June 3	Game 11	Arizona State	14–4	Long Beach State	Long Beach State eliminated
June 4	Game 12	Southern California	5–4	LSU
June 5	Game 13	Southern California	7–3	LSU	LSU eliminated
June 6	Final	Southern California	21–14	Arizona State	Southern California wins CWS

All-Tournament Team

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

Position	Player	School
P	Jack Krawczyk	USC
P	Alex Santos	Miami (FL)
C	Eric Munson	USC
1B	Robb Gorr	USC
2B	Wes Rachels (MOP)	USC
3B	Andrew Beinbrink	Arizona State
SS	Michael Collins	Arizona State
OF	Rudy Arguellas	Arizona State
	Cedrick Harris	LSU
	Brad Ticehurst	USC
DH	Jason Lane	USC

Notable players

Arizona State: Andrew Beinbrink, Willie Bloomquist, Ryan Mills
Florida: Mark Ellis, Josh Fogg, David Ross, Brad Wilkerson
Florida State: Kevin Cash
Long Beach State: Mike Gallo
LSU: Kurt Ainsworth, Randy Keisler
Miami (FL): Pat Burrell, Bobby Hill, Aubrey Huff, Jason Michaels
Mississippi State: Matt Ginter
Southern California: Morgan Ensberg, Seth Etherton, Jason Lane, Eric Munson

References

^ "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 195. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
^ "1998 NCAA Division I Baseball Regional Tournament Schedule & Results". ESPN. May 25, 1998. Retrieved January 11, 2009.

[NCAA-1] "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 195. Retrieved November 5, 2014.

[2] "1998 NCAA Division I Baseball Regional Tournament Schedule & Results". ESPN. May 25, 1998. Retrieved January 11, 2009.

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