2021 NCAA Division I baseball season explained

The 2021 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 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 and 2021 College World Series. The College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA tournament and held annually in Omaha, Nebraska, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, ended on June 30, 2021. The Mississippi State Bulldogs 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 announced on February 18 that no conference competitions would take place, to include conference championships.^[1]

Realignment

For 2021 season

• Four schools began transitions from NCAA Division II 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.^[2]
  • Dixie State^[3] and Tarleton State^[4] joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).
  • UC San Diego, 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, moved the rest of its athletic program to the Big West.^[5]
• Boise State dropped baseball when the season was canceled after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared leading to baseball's second elimination because the athletic department's budget was reduced by $3 million.^[6]
• Chicago State dropped baseball in June 2020, effective immediately.^[7]
• Furman announced in May 2020 that the Paladins baseball team would be terminated due to budget concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8]
• La Salle and North Carolina Central dropped baseball after this season.^{[9] [10]}
• NJIT moved from the ASUN to the America East Conference.^[11]
• Cal State Bakersfield moved from the WAC to the Big West.^[5]

Future moves

The following schools changed conferences effective with the 2022 season:

• Five schools left the Southland Conference. Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston, and Stephen F. Austin joined the WAC,^[12] and Central Arkansas joined the ASUN.^[13]
• The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference lost three members. Bethune–Cookman^[14] and Florida A&M^[15] joined the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and North Carolina A&T joined the Big South Conference.^[16]
• The Ohio Valley Conference lost Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State to the ASUN.^[13]
• Northern Colorado, a WAC baseball associate through the 2021 season, left for single-sport membership in the Summit League.^[17]
• St. Thomas, formerly of NCAA Division III's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, also joined the Summit League after successfully obtaining an NCAA waiver for a direct transition to D-I.^[18]

Ballpark changes

• The 2021 season was the first for UConn at Elliot Ballpark, replacing J. O. Christian Field.^[19]
• Oklahoma State began play in O'Brate Stadium, replacing Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.^[20]
• Florida began play in Florida Ballpark, replacing Alfred A. McKethan Stadium.^[21]
• Omaha began play in Tal Anderson Field, replacing J. J. Isaacson Field at Seymour Smith Park.

Season outlook

ESPN/USA Today Coaches^[22] Ranking Team 1 Florida (24) 2 UCLA (2) 3 Vanderbilt (4) 4 Texas Tech 5 Ole Miss 6 Louisville (1) 7 Mississippi State 8 Arkansas 9 LSU 10 Texas 11 TCU 12 NC State 13 UC Santa Barbara 14 Virginia 15 Miami (FL) 16 Tennessee 17 Georgia Tech 18 Oklahoma State 19 Arizona 20 South Carolina 21 Florida State 22 23 East Carolina 24 Georgia 25 Wake Forest

Collegiate Baseball News ^[23] Ranking Team 1 Florida 2 Vanderbilt 3 UCLA 4 Texas Tech 5 Ole Miss 6 Miami (FL) 7 LSU 8 9 Mississippi State 10 Arizona 11 Louisville 12 Georgia 13 NC State 14 Virginia 15 Arizona State 16 East Carolina 17 Oklahoma State 18 Michigan 19 TCU 20 Texas 21 South Carolina 22 Arkansas 23 Coastal Carolina 24 Dallas Baptist 25 Clemson

D1Baseball^[24] Ranking Team 1 Florida 2 UCLA 3 Texas Tech 4 Vanderbilt 5 Louisville 6 Ole Miss 7 Mississippi State 8 Arkansas 9 Texas 10 TCU 11 12 LSU 13 NC State 14 15 Georgia Tech 16 Virginia 17 Wake Forest 18 South Carolina 19 Tennessee 20 Oklahoma State 21 Miami (FL) 22 Arizona 23 24 Florida State 25 East Carolina

Baseball America^[25] Ranking Team 1 Florida 2 UCLA 3 Texas Tech 4 Ole Miss 5 Virginia 6 Vanderbilt 7 Louisville 8 Mississippi State 9 Florida State 10 11 Miami 12 Texas 13 TCU 14 Arkansas 15 Arizona 16 Duke 17 NC State 18 South Carolina 19 Tennessee 20 Michigan 21 UC Santa Barbara 22 Georgia Tech 23 24 UCF 25 Alabama

NCBWA^[26] Ranking Team 1 Florida 2 UCLA 3 Vanderbilt 4 Texas Tech 5 Ole Miss 6 Louisville 7 Mississippi State 8 Arkansas 9 Texas 10 Miami (FL) 11 NC Stateт 12 TCUт 13 LSU 14 UC Santa Barbara 15 Virginia 16 Florida State 17 Arizona 18 Georgia Tech 19 East Carolina 20 Tennessee 21 22 23 South Carolina 24 Georgia 25

Conference standings

Conference winners and tournaments

Of the 32 Division I all-sports athletic conferences, 31 sponsor baseball, with the Big Sky Conference the only exception. All but one of these conferences played in the 2021 season; the Ivy League opted out of the season due to COVID-19 concerns. Several conferences canceled or modified their conference tournaments for 2021, with the Big Ten, Mid-American, Mountain West and West Coast joining the Big West and Pac-12 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 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. Conferences that do not hold a tournament award their automatic bids to the regular-season champion.

Conference	Regular season winner	Conference Player of the Year	Conference Coach of the Year	Conference tournament	Tournament venue (city)	Tournament winner
						NJIT
						South Florida
	Division 1 – Liberty Division 2 –					Jacksonville
						VCU
						Duke
						TCU
						UConn
						Presbyterian
				No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid
				No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid
						Northeastern
						Old Dominion
					Regular season champion home stadium	Wright State
	No conference competition for 2021 season.
						Rider
	Central Michigan			No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid
	Northern – Norfolk State Southern –					Norfolk State
						Dallas Baptist
				No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid
						Central Connecticut
						Southeast Missouri State
	Arizona			No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid
					Campus Sites	Army
						Arkansas
	Blue – Samford Red –					Samford
	Abilene Christian						McNeese State
	East – West –					Southern
						North Dakota State
	East – South Alabama West – Louisiana/UT Arlington					South Alabama
	Gonzaga			No tournament, regular season champion earns auto bid
	/					Grand Canyon

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.

Team	Former coach	Interim coach	New coach	Reason
Central Arkansas	Allen Gum	Nick Harlan		Retired
Chicago State	Steve Joslyn	N/A	Program discontinued
Furman	Brett Harker	N/A	Program discontinued
Rice	Matt Bragga
Texas A&M	Rob Childress

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ivy League Updates Intercollegiate Athletics Plan for Spring Competition and Training. Ivy League. February 18, 2021. February 18, 2021.
2. Web site: Bellarmine Knights celebrate July 1 rise to NCAA Division 1 . July 1, 2020 . Bellarmine Knights . January 31, 2021.
3. Dixie State accepts invitation to WAC; transitions into Division I athletics . January 12, 2019 . January 12, 2019.
4. Tarleton State University to Join Western Athletic Conference in 2020–21 . Western Athletic Conference . November 12, 2019 . December 1, 2019.
5. CSU Bakersfield, UC San Diego to Join Big West Conference . Big West Conference . November 27, 2017 . December 11, 2017.
6. News: Boise State baseball players 'heartbroken' after university's decision to cut program . December 18, 2020 . Idaho Statesman . July 4, 2020.
7. Web site: Chicago State University Board of Trustees Announces Discontinuation of Baseball. June 23, 2020 . Chicago State University Athletics. www.gocsucougars.com . June 25, 2020.
8. Web site: Matt. Connolly. Furman cuts two sports, including baseball, amid coronavirus budget hits. The State. May 18, 2020. May 18, 2020.
9. An Open Letter to the La Salle and Explorer Athletics Community . La Salle Explorers . September 29, 2020 . January 24, 2021.
10. NCCU Athletics Announces Sport Sponsorship Change . NCCU Athletics . February 11, 2021 . February 28, 2021.
11. Web site: NJIT Joins America East Conference . . May 29, 2021 . . en . June 15, 2020 . Highlanders will become the 10th full member institution of the America East, effective for the 2020–21 academic year..
12. WAC Announces Expedited Entrance for Four Texas Institutions . Western Athletic Conference . January 21, 2021 . January 25, 2021.
13. ASUN Conference Announces Three New Institutions; Adds Football as 20th Sport . ASUN Conference . January 29, 2021 . January 29, 2021.
14. SWAC Announces Addition of Bethune-Cookman as Full Member . Southwestern Athletic Conference . June 25, 2020 . June 27, 2020.
15. SWAC Announces Addition of Florida A&M as Full Member . Southwestern Athletic Conference . June 4, 2020 . June 8, 2020.
16. Big South Adds North Carolina A&T University as Full Member . Big South Conference . February 7, 2020 . March 4, 2021.
17. Northern Colorado to join The Summit League as a baseball affiliate . The Summit League . July 14, 2020 . July 15, 2020.
18. News: St. Thomas receives NCAA waiver to join The Summit League in 2021–22 . The Summit League . . July 15, 2020 . May 30, 2021.
19. Web site: McFarland . Shawn . UConn rings in brand new Elliot Ballpark with 2–0 win over Central Connecticut . . May 29, 2021 . . en . March 23, 2021.
20. Web site: Scott . Marshall . Cowboys Finally Moved into O'Brate, as New Era In OSU Baseball Begins . Pistols Firing . May 29, 2021 . . en . September 4, 2020.
21. Web site: Dirlam . Zach . Gators Open Florida Ballpark with Electric Win Over Miami . . May 29, 2021 . . en . February 19, 2021.
22. Web site: Baseball Coaches Poll. February 4, 2021. Baseball America. February 5, 2021.
23. Web site: Collegiate Baseball Div. I Poll - Pre-season. December 21, 2020. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. December 21, 2020.
24. Web site: 2021 D1Baseball Preseason Top 25 Rankings. D1Baseball. January 18, 2021. January 18, 2021.
25. Web site: 2021 College Top 25. Baseball America. January 25, 2021. January 25, 2021.
26. Web site: FLORIDA TOPS 2021 PRESEASON NCBWA POLL. NCBWA. sportswriters.net. February 2, 2021. February 3, 2021.