The 2016 NCAA Division I baseball tournament began on Friday, June 3, 2016, as part of the 2016 NCAA Division I baseball season. The 64-team, double-elimination tournament concluded with the 2016

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 ...

(CWS) 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 ...

, starting on June 18, 2016, and ending on June 30, 2016. The 64 participating NCAA Division I

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, ...

teams were selected out of 298 eligible teams. Thirty-one teams were awarded an automatic bid, as champions of their conferences; the remaining 33 teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee. Teams were divided into sixteen regionals of four teams, which conducted a double-elimination tournament. Regional champions faced each other in Super Regionals, a best-of-three-game series to determine the eight participants of the College World Series. The

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) set a conference record and tied the all-time mark of having ten teams in the championship field. A tournament-high seven regional hosts came from the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC), followed by six of the ten ACC schools; however, only

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

(ACC) and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

(SEC) advanced to Omaha, and they were the first and second teams eliminated, respectively. For the first time since the tournament expanded from 48 teams in 1999, the

NCAA 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. ...

did not select any Pac-12 schools to host a regional, and

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

, ( Texas Tech) was the westernmost regional host city picked by the selection committee. In the CWS after Texas Tech lost to

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

rival

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

, none of the three national seeds who had reached Omaha had won their opening game. Tech eventually became the fourth team to be eliminated. While

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

and TCU advanced through the winners' bracket to set up a possible all–Big 12 championship,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

and Coastal Carolina won both elimination games to advance to the best-of-three final series. With each team winning a game in the championship series to force a winner-take-all Game 3, the tournament reached the maximum of 17 games for the first time; the finals expanded in 2003 to a best-of-three format as opposed to a single, winner-take-all championship game. Coastal Carolina won the deciding game, 4–3, becoming the first team since 1956 to win the title in its first CWS appearance. Coastal Carolina won six elimination games in NCAA post-season play – one in a Regional, three in the CWS double-elimination bracket, and two in the Championship Series. The runner-up, Arizona, won six elimination games – three in a Regional and three in the CWS double-elimination bracket, but lost their 7th, the last game of the Championship Series. This was the first, and as of 2025, only, national championship won by the Coastal Carolina athletic program in any sport. In addition, this remains the only team national championship won in any sport by a member of the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

(hours after Coastal Carolina won the title game, they officially left the Big South and became members of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

Bids

Automatic bids

By conference

National seeds

The following eight teams automatically host a Super Regional if they advance to that round: #

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

‡ # Miami (FL) #

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

‡ # Texas Tech #

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

‡ # Clemson † # ‡ Bold indicates

participant
† indicates teams that were eliminated in the Regional Tournament
‡ indicates teams that were eliminated in the Super Regional Tournament

Regionals and Super Regionals

''Bold indicates winner. Seeds for regional tournaments indicate seeds within regional. Seeds for super regional tournaments indicate national seeds only.''

Gainesville Super Regional

Baton Rouge Super Regional

College Station Super Regional

Lubbock Super Regional

Coral Gables Super Regional

Starkville Super Regional

Louisville Super Regional

This regional had high drama when

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

trailed Louisville 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th inning in game 2 of the super regional final. The Gauchos loaded the bases off all-American reliever Zack Burdi and then back up catcher Sam Cohen hit a pinch hit grand slam to send the Gauchos to Omaha for the first time.

Columbia Super Regional

College World Series

The College World Series was held at TD Ameritrade Park in

Participants

Bracket

''Seeds listed below indicate national seeds only''

Game results

All-Tournament Team

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

Final standings

''Seeds listed below indicate national seeds only''

Record by conference

The columns RF, SR, WS, NS, CS, and NC respectively stand for the Regional Finals, Super Regionals, College World Series, National Semifinals, Championship Series, and National Champion. Nc is non–conference records, i.e., with the records of teams within the same conference having played each other removed.

Media coverage

Radio

NRG Media provided nationwide radio coverage of the College World Series through its Omaha station KOZN, in association with

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

. It was streamed at
westwoodonesports.com
and on

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the privately held company TuneIn Inc. based in San Francisco, California. The comp ...

. Kevin Kugler and John Bishop called all games leading up to the Championship Series with Gary Sharp acting as the field reporter. The Championship Series was called by Kugler (Gms 1–2), Bishop (Gm 3), and Scott Graham. Ted Emrich acted as field reporter for Games 1 & 2.

Television

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

carried every game from the Regionals, Super Regionals, and College World Series across its networks. During the Regionals, ESPN offered a dedicated channel, ESPN Bases Loaded (carried in the same channel allotments as its "Goal Line" and "Buzzer Beater" services for football and basketball), which carried live look-ins and analysis across all games in progress, hosted by Brendan Fitzgerald and Matt Schick with Kyle Peterson providing analysis. The final game of the tournament aired on

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

, as the NCAA scheduled the game for an afternoon start, and there were scheduling conflicts with ESPN and

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

due to

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

and the

2016 Wimbledon Championships The 2016 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw commenced on 27 June 2016 and concluded on ...

Broadcast assignments

''Regionals'' * Mike Morgan and Carlos Peña:

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

* Trey Bender and Jerry Kindall:

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...

* Steve Lenox an
Wes Clements

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

Lyn Rollins
and

Ben McDonald Larry Benard "Ben" McDonald (born November 24, 1967) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. The first overall pick in the 1989 MLB Draft, he played for the Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers from 1989 through 1997. Bas ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

* Mark Neely and Greg Swindell:

Taylor Zarzour
and Nick Belmonte:

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the county seat, seat of government of Albemarle County, Virginia, Albemarle County, which surrounds the ...

* Roxy Bernstein and Keith Moreland:

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

* Clay Matvick and Gabe Gross:

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, United States, situated in East-Central Texas in the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin, ...

''Super Regionals'' *Dave Neal, Chris Burke, and Kaylee Hartung: Gainesville, Florida * Mike Couzens and Nick Belmonte: Baton Rouge, Louisiana *Roxy Bernstein and Wes Clements: Lubbock, Texas *Tom Hart, Kyle Peterson, and Laura Rutledge: College Station, Texas ''College World Series'' * Jon Sciambi, Alex Cora, Dallas Braden or Kyle Peterson, and Kaylee Hartung (select): Afternoons, Wed night * Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez, Kyle Peterson, and Kaylee Hartung: Evenings minus Wed ''Regionals'' * Dave Neal and Chris Burke:

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

* Mike Keith and Rusty Ensor:

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

* Matt Stewart and Jay Walker:

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

* Tom Hart and Mike Rooney:

Clemson, South Carolina Clemson () is a city in Pickens County, South Carolina, Pickens and Anderson County, South Carolina, Anderson counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Clemson is adjacent to Clemson University, - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university pr ...

* Doug Sherman and John Gregory:

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in and the county seat of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, Starkville's population is 24,360, making it the 16th-most populated city in Mississippi. Starkville is the largest ...

* Brett Dolan and Tom Holliday:

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...

Richard Cross Richard Cross is the name of: Politicians *Richard Cross (died c. 1438), MP for Reading (UK Parliament constituency) *R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross (1823–1914), British statesman and Conservative politician Others *Richard Cross (actor) (fl. ...

and David Dellucci:

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...

* Anish Shroff and Alex Cora:

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

''Super Regionals'' *Mike Morgan and Mike Rooney: Louisville, Kentucky *Mark Neely and Todd Walker: Columbia, South Carolina *Clay Matvick and Ben McDonald: Starkville, Mississippi *Anish Shroff and Alex Cora: Miami, Florida ''College World Series Championship Series'' *Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez, Kyle Peterson, Kaylee Hartung, and Alex Cora

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016 NCAA Division I baseball tournament NCAA Division I baseball tournament

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

Baseball competitions in Omaha, Nebraska June 2016 sports events in the United States