The 2021 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) at the Division I level, began on February 19, 2021. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the

2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament The 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was the 74th edition of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The 64-team tournament began on Friday, June 4, 2021, as part of the 2021 NCAA Division I baseball season and concluded with the 2021 ...

and

2021 College World Series The 2021 College World Series was the final stage of the 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament held from June 19–30 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. This marked the 74th edition of the College World Series and 71st time the event is being held ...

. The College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA tournament and held annually 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

TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Charles Schwab Field Omaha (formerly TD Ameritrade Park Omaha) is a ballpark in Omaha, Nebraska. Opened in 2011, the city-owned stadium replaced historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, which was about south. The Baseball field, diamond is aligned so ...

, ended on June 30, 2021. The

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

won the tournament, and were named national champions. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the season was delayed one week, and some teams opted out of playing at all for the 2021 season. The

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

announced on February 18 that no conference competitions would take place, to include conference championships.

Realignment

For 2021 season

* Four schools began transitions from

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

to Division I on July 1, 2020. ** Bellarmine, already a D-I member in men's lacrosse, joined D-I for all other sports as a new member of the

ASUN 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. ...

. ** Dixie State and Tarleton State joined the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC). **

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Sc ...

, already a de facto D-I member in men's volleyball and women's water polo (which do not have D-II championship events) as an associate member of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

, moved the rest of its athletic program to the Big West. *

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It ...

dropped baseball when the season was canceled after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

was declared leading to baseball's second elimination because the athletic department's budget was reduced by $3 million. * Chicago State dropped baseball in June 2020, effective immediately. * Furman announced in May 2020 that the

Paladins The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers (), are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, wh ...

baseball team would be terminated due to budget concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. * La Salle and North Carolina Central dropped baseball after this season. *

NJIT New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a Public university, public research university in Newark, New Jersey, United States, with a graduate-degree-granting satellite campus in Jersey City. Founded in 1881 with the support of local indust ...

moved from the ASUN to the

America East Conference The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachu ...

. *

Cal State Bakersfield California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Ba ...

moved from the WAC to the Big West.

Future moves

The following schools changed conferences effective with the 2022 season: * Five schools left 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 ...

. Abilene Christian, Lamar,

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two indi ...

, and Stephen F. Austin joined the WAC, and

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state ...

joined the ASUN. * The

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

lost three members. Bethune–Cookman and

Florida A&M Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

joined the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

, and North Carolina A&T joined 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), ...

. * The

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

lost

Eastern Kentucky Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and Jacksonville State to the ASUN. *

Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, nort ...

, a WAC baseball associate through the 2021 season, left for single-sport membership in the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

. * St. Thomas, formerly of

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC ) is an List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division III, Division III. All 13 of the mem ...

, also joined the Summit League after successfully obtaining an NCAA waiver for a direct transition to D-I.

Ballpark changes

* The 2021 season was the first for

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Elliot Ballpark Elliot Ballpark is a baseball stadium on the campus of the University of Connecticut (UConn) in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It is the home field of the UConn Huskies baseball team of NCAA Division I's Big East Conference. The stadium is d ...

, replacing

J. O. Christian Field J. O. Christian Field was a baseball stadium in Storrs, Connecticut. It was the home field of the Connecticut Huskies baseball team of the NCAA Division I's American Athletic Conference (The American) from 1968 through 2019. The stadium held seat ...

. *

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 ...

began play in

O'Brate Stadium O'Brate Stadium is a baseball park in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The home field of the Oklahoma State University Cowboys college baseball team, it is named after Cecil O'Brate. It was scheduled to host its first game on March 20, 2020 against TCU. F ...

, replacing

Allie P. Reynolds Stadium Allie P. Reynolds Stadium is a former baseball park in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The home field of the Oklahoma State University Cowboys college baseball team, it was named after former OSU and New York Yankees baseball great Allie Reynolds. History ...

. *

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 ...

began play in

Florida Ballpark Condron Family Ballpark at Alfred A. McKethan Field is the college baseball stadium of the University of Florida, and serves as the home field for the Florida Gators baseball team. Condron Ballpark is located on the university's Gainesville, Fl ...

, replacing

Alfred A. McKethan Stadium Alfred A. McKethan Stadium at Perry Field was the college baseball stadium of the University of Florida, serving as the home field for the Florida Gators baseball team until being replaced by Condron Ballpark in 2020. McKethan Stadium was locate ...

. *

Omaha 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 ...

began play in

Tal Anderson Field Tal Anderson Field is a college baseball park in the central United States, located in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the home field of the University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks of the Summit League in NCAA Division I. Opened in 2021 in the Midt ...

, replacing J. J. Isaacson Field at Seymour Smith Park.

Season outlook

Conference standings

Conference winners and tournaments

Of the 32 Division I all-sports

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

s, 31 sponsor baseball, with the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

the only exception. All but one of these conferences played in the 2021 season; the

opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns. Several conferences canceled or modified their conference tournaments for 2021, with the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

, Mid-American,

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

and West Coast joining the

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

and

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

in forgoing a tournament to end the regular season. For those conferences holding a tournament, the teams in each conference that won their regular season title were given the top seeds in each tournament. The winners of these tournaments received automatic invitations to the

. Conferences that do not hold a tournament award their automatic bids to the regular-season champion.

Coaching changes

This table lists programs that changed head coaches at any point from the first day of the 2021 season until the day before the first day of the 2022 season.

References

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