2017 NCAA Division I baseball season explained

The 2017 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 2017. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2017 NCAA Division I baseball tournament and 2017 College World Series. The College World Series, consisted of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA tournament and held annually in Omaha, Nebraska, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, ended June 27, 2017.

Realignment

• Coastal Carolina left the Big South Conference for the Sun Belt Conference. The move officially took effect hours after Coastal won the College World Series. In doing so, the Sun Belt Conference split into East and West divisions for this season.
• North Dakota, a member of the Western Athletic Conference in baseball (as well as swimming and diving for both sexes), dropped baseball.

The 2017 season was also the last for one school's baseball program, and the last for two other programs in their then-current conferences. In addition, the last remaining Division I independent left for its full-time home of Division II.

• Buffalo dropped baseball at the end of the season.^[1]
• NYIT, which had been left independent after the 2013 collapse of the Great West Conference, dropped its baseball program to Division II, joining the school's full-time home of the East Coast Conference.^[2]
• Valparaiso left its home of the previous 10 seasons, the Horizon League, for the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC).^[3]
• Wichita State left the MVC, its conference home since 1945, to become a full but non-football member of the American Athletic Conference.^[4]

Season outlook

Collegiate Baseball News ^[5] Ranking Team 1 TCU 2 LSU 3 Florida 4 South Carolina 5 Oregon State 6 Vanderbilt 7 Arizona 8 Miami (FL) 9 Florida State 10 Cal State Fullerton 11 Louisville 12 Clemson 13 14 Louisiana–Lafayette 15 16 17 18 19 Coastal Carolina 20 Texas A&M 21 22 Ole Miss 23 24 25

Baseball America^[6] Ranking Team 1 TCU 2 Florida State 3 Florida 4 LSU 5 South Carolina 6 7 Louisville 8 Cal State Fullerton 9 Oregon State 10 Clemson 11 Vanderbilt 12 13 Louisiana–Lafayette 14 15 Coastal Carolina 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Arizona 23 24 25 Texas Tech

Coaches^[7] Ranking Team 1 TCU 24 2 Florida 4 3 LSU 2 4 South Carolina 5 Florida State 6 Vanderbilt 7 Oregon State 8 Louisville 9 Coastal Carolina 1 10 11 Cal State Fullerton 12 Clemson 13 14 15 Arizona 16 Louisiana–Lafayette 17 Miami (FL) 18 19 Texas Tech 20 Texas A&M 21 22 23 24 Ole Miss 25

NCBWA^[8] Ranking Team 1 TCU 2 Florida 3 LSU 4 Florida State 5 South Carolina 6 Vanderbilt 7 Oregon State 8 Louisville 9 10 11 Coastal Carolina 12 13 Clemson 14 Cal State Fullerton 15 Louisiana–Lafayette 16 Arizona 17 Texas Tech 18 Miami (FL) 19 20 Texas A&M 21 22 23 24 25

Conference standings

Conference winners and tournaments

Of the 31 Division I athletic conferences that sponsor baseball, 29 end their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament or a double-elimination tournament. The teams in each conference that win their regular season title are given the number one seed in each tournament. Two conferences, the Big West and Pac-12, do not hold a conference tournament. The winners of these tournaments, plus the Big West and Pac-12 regular-season champions, receive automatic invitations to the 2017 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

Conference	Regular season winner	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Coach of the Year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (city)	Tournament winner
		Toby Handley ^[9]	Tim Sinicki (Binghamton)
		Jake Scheiner (Houston) &<br>Hunter Williams ^[10]	Greg Lovelady (UCF)			Houston
		Logan Farrar (VCU)^[11]	Larry Sudbrook
	Atlantic – Louisville Coastal –	Brendan McKay (Louisville)^[12]	Dan McDonnell (Louisville)			Florida State
		Nick Rivera (

^[13] || Chris Hayes
(Jacksonville)^[13] || 2017 Atlantic Sun Conference baseball tournament || Melching Field at Conrad Park • DeLand, FL || Florida Gulf Coast|-|Big 12 Conference || TCU
Texas Tech || Hunter Hargrove
(Texas Tech) &<br>Evan Skoug
(TCU)^[14] || Steve Rodriguez
|| 2017 Big 12 Conference baseball tournament || Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark • Oklahoma City, OK || |-|Big East Conference || || Rylan Bannon
^[15] || Ed Blankmeyer
^[15] || 2017 Big East Conference baseball tournament || TD Ameritrade Park • Omaha, NE || Xavier|-|Big South Conference || || D. J. Artis
^[16] || Tom Riginos
(Winthrop)^[16] || 2017 Big South Conference baseball tournament || Lexington County Baseball Stadium • Lexington, SC || |-|Big Ten Conference || Nebraska || Jake Adams
(Iowa)^[17] || Darin Erstad
(Nebraska)^[17] || 2017 Big Ten Conference baseball tournament || Bart Kaufman Field • Bloomington, Indiana || Iowa|-|Big West Conference || || Keston Hiura
^[18] || Troy Buckley
(Long Beach State)^[18] ||colspan=3|No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid|-|Colonial Athletic Association || || Casey Golden
^[19] || Mike Glavine
(Northeastern)^[19] || 2017 Colonial Athletic Association baseball tournament || Brooks Field • Wilmington, NC || |-|Conference USA || || Dylan Burdeaux
(Southern Miss)^[20] || Scott Berry
(Southern Miss)^[20] || 2017 Conference USA baseball tournament || MGM Park • Biloxi, MS || |-|Horizon League || || Rob Calabrese
(UIC)^[21] || Mike Dee
(UIC)^[21] || 2017 Horizon League baseball tournament || Les Miller Field at Curtis Granderson Stadium • Chicago, IL || UIC|-|Ivy League || Gehrig - &<br>
Rolfe - || Randell Kanamaru
(Columbia)^[22] || John Stuper
(Yale)^[22] || 2017 Ivy League Baseball Championship Series || Campus Sites || Yale|-|Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference || || Jake Lumley
^[23] || Pat Carey
^[23] || 2017 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference baseball tournament || Sal Maglie Stadium • Niagara Falls, NY || |-|Mid-American Conference || East –
West – || Tanner Allison
(Western Michigan)^[24] || Jeff Duncan
(Kent State)^[24] || 2017 Mid-American Conference baseball tournament || Sprenger Stadium • Avon, OH || Ohio|-|Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference || Northern -
Southern - || Alex Mauricio
(Norfolk State)^[25] || Ben Hall
^[25] || 2017 Mid–Eastern Athletic Conference baseball tournament || Perdue Stadium • Salisbury, MD || Bethune–Cookman|-|Missouri Valley Conference || || Jake Burger
(Missouri State)^[26] || Keith Guttin
(Missouri State)^[26] || 2017 Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament || Hammons Field • Springfield, MO || |-|Mountain West Conference || || Danny Sheehan
&<br>Jack Zoellner
(New Mexico)^[27] || Ray Birmingham
(New Mexico)^[27] || 2017 Mountain West Conference baseball tournament || Santa Ana Star Field • Albuquerque, NM || San Diego State|-|Northeast Conference || || Mickey Gasper
(Bryant)^[28] || Charlie Hickey
^[28] || 2017 Northeast Conference baseball tournament || Dodd Stadium • Norwich, CT || Central Connecticut|-|Ohio Valley Conference || || Ben Fisher
&<br>Niko Hulsizer
^[29] || Matt Bragga
(Tennessee Tech)^[29] || 2017 Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament || Choccolocco Park • Oxford, AL || Tennessee Tech|-|Pac-12 Conference || Oregon State || Nick Madrigal
(Oregon State)^[30] || Pat Casey
(Oregon State)^[30] || colspan=3|No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid|-|Patriot League || Navy || Travis Blue
(Navy)^[31] || Jim Foster
^[31] || 2017 Patriot League baseball tournament || Campus Sites || Holy Cross|-|Southeastern Conference || East – Florida
West – LSU || Brent Rooker
(Mississippi State)^[32] || Nick Mingione
(Kentucky)^[32] || 2017 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament || Hoover Metropolitan Stadium • Hoover, AL || LSU|-|Southern Conference || || Bryson Bowman
^[33] || Craig Gibson
(Mercer)^[33] || 2017 Southern Conference baseball tournament || Fluor Field at the West End • Greenville, SC || |-|Southland Conference || || Taylor Schwaner
^[34] || Justin Hill
(McNeese State)^[34] || 2017 Southland Conference baseball tournament || Constellation Field • Sugar Land, TX || |-| Southwestern Athletic Conference || East –
West – || Marshawn Taylor
(Grambling State)^[35] || James Cooper
(Grambling State)^[35] || 2017 Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament || Wesley Barrow Stadium • New Orleans, LA || |-| The Summit League || || Noah Cummings
(Oral Roberts)^[36] || Ryan Folmar
(Oral Roberts)^[36] || 2017 Summit League baseball tournament || J. L. Johnson Stadium • Tulsa, OK || Oral Roberts|-| Sun Belt Conference || East – Coastal Carolina
West – UT Arlington || Billy Cooke
(Coastal Carolina)^[37] || Darin Thomas
(UT Arlington)^[37] || 2017 Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament || J. I. Clements Stadium • Statesboro, GA || South Alabama|-|West Coast Conference ||
BYU
|| Riley Adams
^[38] || Mark Machtolf
(Gonzaga)^[38] || 2017 West Coast Conference baseball tournament || Banner Island Ballpark • Stockton, CA || BYU|-|Western Athletic Conference || || Garrison Schwartz
(Grand Canyon)^[39] || Andy Stankiewicz
(Grand Canyon)^[39] || 2017 Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament || Hohokam Stadium • Mesa, AZ || |}

College World Series

The 2017 College World Series began on June 17 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Award winners

Consensus All-American teams

See main article: 2017 College Baseball All-America Team.

Major player of the year awards

• Dick Howser Trophy

Brendan McKay, 1B/P, Louisville^[40]

• Baseball America

Brendan McKay, 1B/P, Louisville^[41]

• Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger: Brendan McKay, 1B/P, Louisville & Brent Rooker, 1B, Mississippi State^[42]
• American Baseball Coaches Association

Brendan McKay, 1B/P, Louisville^[43]

• Golden Spikes Award

Brendan McKay, 1B/P, Louisville^[44]

Major freshman of the year awards

• Baseball America Freshman Of The Year: Matt Wallner, OF/P, Southern Miss^[45]
• Collegiate Baseball Freshman Players of the Year

Kevin Milam, DH/P, Saint Mary's; Sean Mooney, P, St. John's; Braden Shewmake, 2B, Texas A&M; Kenyon Yovan, P, Oregon^[46]

Major coach of the year awards

• American Baseball Coaches Association

Kevin O'Sullivan, Florida^[47]

• Baseball America

Dan McDonnell, Louisville^[48]

• Collegiate Baseball Coach of the Year

Kevin O'Sullivan, Florida^[49]

• National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) National Coach of the Year

Pat Casey, Oregon State^[50]

• ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year:

Other major awards

• Senior CLASS Award (baseball) (outstanding Senior of the Year in baseball): Anthony Critelli, Holy Cross^[51]
• Johnny Bench Award (Catcher of the Year):
• Brooks Wallace Award (Shortstop of the Year): Logan Warmoth, North Carolina^[52]
• John Olerud Award (best two-way player): Brendan McKay, Louisville^[53]
• American Baseball Coaches Association Gold Glove:

Coaching changes

This table lists programs that changed head coaches at any point from the first day of the 2017 season until the day before the first day of the 2018 season.

Team	Former coach	Interim coach	New coach	Reason
Alabama		None		Fired
Bethune-Cookman				Resigned
California		None		Departed for Stanford
Cincinnati		None		Resigned
The Citadel		None		Retired
Dayton		None		Resigned
East Tennessee State		None		Departed for The Citadel
Louisiana-Monroe		None		Fired
Maryland		None		Departed for Virginia Tech
North Florida		None		Fired
Oklahoma		None		Fired
Pacific		None		Departed for California
San Jose State			Resigned
South Carolina		None		Resigned
South Florida		None		Departed for South Carolina
Stanford		None		Retired
Tennessee		None		Resigned
Texas-Rio Grande Valley		None		Resigned
Towson		None		Fired
UMass		None		Retired^[54]
Virginia Tech		None		Fired
Xavier		None		Departed for Cincinnati

Attendances

2016 teams with an average home attendance of at least 10,000:^[55]

Notes and References

1. UB Reduces its Intercollegiate Sports Teams from 20 to 16 . Buffalo Bulls . April 3, 2017 . April 6, 2017.
2. Baseball program to join East Coast Conference for 2017–2018 academic year . NYIT Bears . May 5, 2017 . February 24, 2018 .
3. It's Official. Welcome, Valparaiso . Missouri Valley Conference . May 25, 2017 . May 26, 2017 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170612111857/http://www.mvc-sports.com/mbasketball/news/2016-17/9590/its-official--welcome-valparaiso/#.WSfRuxPyu1s . June 12, 2017 .
4. Wichita State to Become Member of American Athletic Conference . American Athletic Conference . April 7, 2017 . April 7, 2017.
5. Web site: Collegiate Baseball Div. I Poll - Pre-season. December 19, 2016. Collegiate Baseball. December 20, 2016.
6. 2017 Preseason College Top 25. Baseball America. Teddy Cahill. January 23, 2017. January 30, 2017.
7. News: Baseball Coaches Poll. USA Today. January 26, 2017. January 30, 2017.
8. Web site: TCU Tops 2017 Preseason NCBWA Poll. NCBWA. January 31, 2017. February 1, 2017.
9. Binghamton, Stony Brook, UMBC Highlight #AEBASE Major Awards; All-Conference Teams Announced . America East Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 11, 2017.
10. Houston's Scheiner, Tulane's Williams Named American Players of the Year . American Athletic Conference . May 22, 2017 . June 11, 2017.
11. St. Bonaventure, VCU Win Atlantic 10 Baseball End-of-Year Awards . Atlantic 10 Conference . May 24, 2017 . June 11, 2017.
12. ACC Announces 2017 Baseball Season Honors . Atlantic Coast Conference . May 22, 2017 . June 8, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170601010700/http://www.theacc.com/news/acc-announces-2017-baseball-season-honors-05-22-2017 . 2017-06-01 . dead .
13. FGCU's Rivera, Stetson's Gilbert Take Home @ASUNBSB Postseason Honors . ASUN Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 12, 2017.
14. 2017 All-Big 12 Baseball Teams and Awards Announced . Big 12 Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 12, 2017.
15. Baseball Regular-Season Major Awards and All-BIG EAST Teams Announced . Big East Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 14, 2017.
16. Big South Announces 2017 Baseball Annual Awards . Big South Conference . May 22, 2017 . June 14, 2017.
17. Big Ten Announces Baseball All-Big Ten Honors and Individual Award Winners . Big Ten Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 14, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180301164349/http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/052317aaa.html . March 1, 2018 . dead .
18. Big West Announces Baseball Honors . Big West Conference . May 31, 2017 . June 14, 2017.
19. UNCW's Golden Highlights All-CAA Baseball Team . Colonial Athletic Association . May 23, 2017 . June 14, 2017.
20. Base: 2017 C-USA Awards . Conference USA . May 23, 2017 . June 14, 2017.
21. Horizon League Announces Baseball All-Conference Teams . Horizon League . May 23, 2017 . June 14, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170606134735/http://www.horizonleague.org/blog/horizon-league-announces-baseball-all-conference-teams . June 6, 2017 . dead . mdy-all .
22. Baseball All-Ivy, Postseason Awards Announced . Ivy League . May 18, 2017 . June 15, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170606175314/http://ivyleaguesports.com/sports/bsb/2016-17/releases/Baseball_All-Ivy-Postseason_Awards_Announced . June 6, 2017 . dead . mdy-all .
23. MAAC Announces 2017 Baseball Major Award Winners . Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 15, 2017.
24. All-MAC Baseball Teams & Specialty Award Winners Announced . Mid-American Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 9, 2017.
25. MEAC Announces 2017 Baseball All-Conference Honors . Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference . May 16, 2017 . June 19, 2017.
26. 2017 All-MVC Baseball Teams Announced . Missouri Valley Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 19, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170619133331/http://www.mvc-sports.com/baseball/news/2016-17/9587/2017-all-mvc-baseball-teams-announced/#.WUdo8BPyu1s . June 19, 2017 . dead . mdy-all .
27. MW Announces 2017 All-Conference Baseball Team and Individual Awards . Mountain West Conference . May 25, 2017 . June 19, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170617105107/http://www.themw.com/news/mw-announces-2017-all-conference-baseball-team-and-individual-awards-05-25-2017 . June 17, 2017 . dead . mdy-all .
28. Bryant Snags Three Major Baseball Awards on NEC Tournament Eve . Northeast Conference . May 24, 2017 . June 25, 2017.
29. Eastern Kentucky's Fisher, Morehead State's Hulsizer, Jacksonville State's McGuire Highlight 2017 All-OVC Baseball Honors . Ohio Valley Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 25, 2017.
30. Pac-12 announces baseball All-Conference honors . Pac-12 Conference . June 1, 2017 . June 25, 2017.
31. 2017 Baseball All-Patriot League Teams and Major Awards Announced . Patriot League . May 10, 2017 . June 25, 2017.
32. 2017 SEC Baseball Awards Announced . Southeastern Conference . May 23, 2017 . June 8, 2017.
33. Baseball All-Conference Teams Announced . Southern Conference . May 22, 2017 . July 29, 2017.
34. SLU's Schwaner Is Southland Baseball Player of Year . Southland Conference . May 23, 2017 . July 29, 2017.
35. SWAC Announces Baseball Postseason Honors . Southwestern Athletic Conference . May 15, 2017 . July 30, 2017.
36. ORU's Cummings, Ausua Named #SummitBSB Player & Pitcher of the Year . The Summit League . May 23, 2017 . July 30, 2017.
37. Sun Belt Conference Announces End of Season Baseball Honors . Sun Belt Conference . May 22, 2017 . July 30, 2017.
38. WCC Announces 2017 Baseball All-Conference Teams . West Coast Conference . May 23, 2017 . July 30, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170730152207/http://wccsports.com/news/wcc-announces-2017-baseball-all-conference-teams-05-23-2017 . July 30, 2017 . dead . mdy-all .
39. WAC Baseball Postseason Honors Announced . https://web.archive.org/web/20170613112708/http://wacsports.com/news/2017/5/23/BSB_0523175742.aspx . dead . June 13, 2017 . Western Athletic Conference . May 23, 2017 . July 30, 2017 .
40. Louisville's McKay Wins 2017 Dick Howser Trophy . . June 17, 2017 . June 19, 2017.
41. 2017 College Player of the Year: Brendan McKay Excels on All Fronts . Teddy . Cahill . Baseball America . June 8, 2017 . June 12, 2017.
42. Collegiate Baseballs NCAA Div. I All-Americans . . June 1, 2017 . June 19, 2017.
43. 2017 ABCA National Players of the Year announced . American Baseball Coaches Association . June 28, 2017 . June 29, 2017.
44. Louisville's Brendan McKay Wins 2017 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award . . June 29, 2017 . July 2, 2017 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170630121932/http://web.usabaseball.com/article.jsp?ymd=20170629&content_id=239476650&vkey=news_gsa . June 30, 2017 .
45. Freshman of the Year: Wallner Keeps Making Strong First Impressions . Teddy . Cahill . Baseball America . June 26, 2017 . June 29, 2017.
46. News: Collegiate Baseball Freshmen AA Team . Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. June 16, 2017 . June 19, 2017.
47. 2017 ABCA/Diamond National Coaches of the Year announced . American Baseball Coaches Association . July 5, 2017 . July 7, 2017.
48. Baseball America Names McDonnell National Coach of the Year . Atlantic Coast Conference . July 10, 2017 . July 15, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170729172522/http://www.theacc.com/news/baseball-america-names-mcdonnell-national-coach-of-the-year-07-10-2017 . July 29, 2017 . dead . mdy-all .
49. News: Florida's O'Sullivan CB's National Coach Of Year . . June 29, 2017 . September 5, 2017.
50. Oregon State's Casey Is 2017 NCBWA Coach of the Year . . June 17, 2017 . June 19, 2017.
51. Holy Cross' Anthony Critelli wins the 2017 Senior CLASS Award® in Baseball . Premier Sports Management . June 16, 2017 . June 19, 2017.
52. North Carolina's Logan Warmoth wins 2017 Brooks Wallace Award . College Baseball Hall of Fame . June 13, 2017 . July 29, 2017.
53. Brendan McKay wins third straight John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award . College Baseball Hall of Fame . June 12, 2017 . June 19, 2017.
54. Matt Reynolds Named Head Baseball Coach . UMass Athletics . May 26, 2017 . June 11, 2017.
55. Web site: AJC: UGA Sports News.