The 1996 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

in the United States organized by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) began in the spring of 1996. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the

1996 College World Series The 1996 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1996 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Serie ...

. The College World Series, held for the fiftieth time in 1996, consisted of one team from each of eight regional competitions and was held in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, at

Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was a baseball stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, the former home to the annual NCAA Division I College World Series and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A Omaha Royals (now Omaha Storm Chasers, Storm Chasers). It was the ...

as a double-elimination tournament.

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

claimed the championship for the third time.

Realignment

*The

Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members di ...

dissolved, with its members moving primarily to

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. * Notre Dame departed the

Midwestern Collegiate Conference The Horizon League is a collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in and near the Great Lakes region and in pa ...

for the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

, while Xavier and La Salle moved to the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

. *

Fordham Fordham may refer to: Education * Fordham Preparatory School, an all-male, Jesuit high school in New York City * Fordham University, a Jesuit university in New York City ** Fordham Rams, athletic teams of the above university ** Fordham University ...

and

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

also joined the Atlantic 10, from the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

and the Metro Conference, respectively. * VCU joined the

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

from the Metro Conference. * Stephen F. Austin dissolved their baseball program. It would not resume until the 2006 season.

Format changes

*The

Trans America Athletic Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

divided into three divisions of four teams each, the Eastern, Southern, and Western. *The Big East divided into two divisions, named National and American. *The

Southland Conference The Southland Conference (SLC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in ...

divided into two divisions of four teams each, named Louisiana and Texas.

Conference winners

This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1996 season. The NCAA sponsored regional competitions to determine the College World Series participants. Each of the eight regionals consisted of six teams competing in double-elimination tournaments, with the winners advancing to Omaha. In order to provide all conference champions with an automatic bid, 12 conference champions participated in a play-in round. The six winners joined the other 18 conference champions with automatic bids, 24 teams earned at-large selections.

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

College World Series

The 1996 season marked the fiftieth NCAA baseball tournament, which culminated with the eight team

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

. The College World Series was held in

. The eight teams played a double-elimination format, with LSU claiming their third championship with a 9–8 win over Miami (FL) in the final.

Realignment

Format changes

Conference winners

Conference standings

College World Series

Bracket

Award winners

All-America team

References