1981 NCAA Division I baseball season

1981 NCAA Division I baseball season
Number of teams	248
NCAA tournament
College World Series
Champions	Arizona State (5th title)
Runners-up	Oklahoma State (9th CWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Jim Brock (2nd title)
MOP	Stan Holmes (Arizona State)
Seasons

The 1981 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began in the spring of 1981. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1981 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the thirty fifth time in 1981, consisted of one team from each of eight regional competitions and was held in Omaha, Nebraska at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium as a double-elimination tournament. Arizona State claimed the championship for the fifth time.

Conference winners

This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1981 season. The NCAA sponsored regional competitions to determine the College World Series participants. Seven regionals of four teams and one of six each competed in double-elimination tournaments, with the winners advancing to Omaha. 21 teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championship while 13 teams earned at-large selections.

Conference	Regular season Winner	Conference tournament	Tournament venue • city	Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	Clemson/NC State	1981 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament	Boshamer Stadium • Chapel Hill, NC	Clemson
Big Eight Conference	Missouri	1981 Big Eight Conference baseball tournament	All Sports Stadium • Oklahoma City, OK	Oklahoma State
Big Ten Conference	East - Michigan West - Minnesota	1981 Big Ten Conference baseball tournament	Ray Fisher Stadium • Ann Arbor, MI	Michigan
EIBL	Yale	No tournament
Mid-American Conference	Central Michigan	1981 Mid-American Conference baseball tournament	Bill Theunissen Stadium • Mount Pleasant, MI	Eastern Michigan
Midwestern City Conference	North - Xavier South - Oral Roberts	1981 Midwestern City Conference baseball tournament	Tulsa, OK	Oral Roberts
Pacific-10 Conference	North - Washington South - Arizona State	No tournament
Southeastern Conference	East - Florida West - Mississippi State/Alabama	1981 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament	Dudy Noble Field • Starkville, MS	Florida
Southern Conference	East Tennessee State/Marshall/Western Carolina	No tournament
Southwest Conference	Texas	1981 Southwest Conference baseball tournament	Disch–Falk Field • Austin, TX	Texas
Trans America Athletic Conference	East - Georgia Southern West - Hardin–Simmons	1981 Trans America Athletic Conference baseball tournament	Hunter Field • Abilene, TX	Mercer

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1981 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Clemson  ‍†‍‡‍y 10 – 4   .714 34 – 24   .586 NC State  ‍†‍‍ 10 – 4   .714 33 – 12   .733 Maryland  ‍‍‍ 7 – 3   .700 23 – 13   .639 Virginia  ‍‍‍ 8 – 5   .615 28 – 20   .583 Duke  ‍‍‍ 6 – 6   .500 29 – 10   .744 North Carolina  ‍‍‍ 6 – 7   .462 38 – 15   .717 Wake Forest  ‍‍‍ 3 – 9   .250 17 – 13   .567 Georgia Tech  ‍‍‍ 1 – 13   .071 14 – 24   .368 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1981 Big Eight Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 30 Missouri  ‍†‍‍y 17 – 6   .739 43 – 16   .729 No. 2 Oklahoma State  ‍‍‡‍y 12 – 6   .667 52 – 17   .754 Kansas  ‍‍‍ 12 – 11   .522 32 – 19   .627 Nebraska  ‍‍‍ 11 – 11   .500 42 – 22   .656 Oklahoma  ‍‍‍ 11 – 13   .458 40 – 15   .727 Kansas State  ‍‍‍ 8 – 12   .400 34 – 21   .618 Iowa State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 18   .250 34 – 22   .607 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1981 Big Ten Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT East Michigan  x‍‍‡‍y 10 – 4   .714 41 – 20   .672 Purdue  ‍‍‍ 8 – 6   .571 34 – 30   .531 Ohio State  ‍‍‍ 7 – 9   .438 34 – 18   .654 Michigan State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 8   .429 23 – 28   .451 Indiana  ‍‍‍ 5 – 9   .357 23 – 25   .479 West Minnesota  x‍‍‍ 13 – 3   .813 37 – 16   .698 Illinois  ‍‍‍ 11 – 3   .786 35 – 26   .574 Iowa  ‍‍‍ 8 – 6   .571 44 – 21   .677 Wisconsin  ‍‍‍ 3 – 13   .188 24 – 36   .400 Northwestern  ‍‍‍ 3 – 13   .188 17 – 33   .340 x – Division champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1981 Eastern 8 Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT East Rutgers  x‍‍‡‍ 5 – 3 – 0   .625 18 – 19 – 1   .487 UMass  ‍‍‍ 4 – 4 – 0   .500 22 – 17 – 0   .564 Rhode Island  ‍‍‍ 3 – 5 – 0   .375 14 – 18 – 0   .438 West West Virginia  x‍‍‍ 6 – 2 – 0   .750 17 – 18 – 0   .486 Pittsburgh  ‍‍‍ 7 – 3 – 0   .700 25 – 8 – 0   .758 George Washington  ‍‍‍ 3 – 3 – 0   .500 18 – 20 – 0   .474 Duquesne  ‍‍‍ 0 – 8 – 0   .000 13 – 12 – 0   .520 x – Division champion ‡ – Championship Series champion As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1981 Mid-American Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT Central Michigan  ‍†‍‍ 13 – 3 – 0   .813 37 – 13 – 0   .740 Western Michigan  ‍‍‍ 14 – 3 – 1   .806 32 – 21 – 1   .602 Miami  ‍‍‍ 12 – 5 – 1   .694 22 – 27 – 1   .450 Eastern Michigan  ‍‍‡‍y 9 – 7 – 0   .563 37 – 29 – 0   .561 Toledo  ‍‍‍ 8 – 9 – 0   .471 30 – 20 – 0   .600 Northern Illinois  ‍‍‍ 6 – 10 – 2   .389 19 – 26 – 2   .426 Kent State  ‍‍‍ 5 – 8 – 0   .385 13 – 18 – 1   .422 Bowling Green  ‍‍‍ 5 – 8 – 0   .385 13 – 18 – 1   .422 Ohio  ‍‍‍ 5 – 13 – 0   .278 12 – 34 – 0   .261 Ball State  ‍‍‍ 4 – 12 – 0   .250 18 – 22 – 0   .450 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1981 Pacific-10 Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Northern Washington  x‍‍‍ 12 – 6   .667 34 – 18   .654 Oregon State  ‍‍‍ 11 – 7   .611 29 – 14   .674 Washington State  ‍‍‍ 11 – 7   .611 27 – 25   .519 Oregon  ‍‍‍ 2 – 16   .111 16 – 21   .432 Southern No. 1 Arizona State  x‍‍‍y 26 – 4   .867 55 – 13   .809 Stanford  ‍‍‍y 16 – 14   .533 43 – 22   .662 Southern California  ‍‍‍ 15 – 15   .500 34 – 24   .586 Arizona  ‍‍‍ 14 – 16   .467 30 – 22   .577 California  ‍‍‍ 12 – 18   .400 31 – 31   .500 UCLA  ‍‍‍ 7 – 23   .233 21 – 35   .375 x – Division champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1981 Southeastern Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Eastern Division No. 15 Florida  x‍‍‡‍y 16 – 7   .696 42 – 17   .712 Kentucky  ‍‍‍ 13 – 9   .591 39 – 16   .709 Tennessee  ‍‍‍ 10 – 13   .435 22 – 27   .449 Vanderbilt  ‍‍‍ 9 – 12   .429 26 – 25   .510 Georgia  ‍‍‍ 8 – 15   .348 23 – 23   .500 Western Division No. 6 Mississippi State  x‍‍‍y 17 – 6   .739 46 – 17   .730 Alabama  x‍‍‍ 17 – 6   .739 41 – 15   .732 Ole Miss  ‍‍‍ 8 – 14   .364 24 – 24   .500 LSU  ‍‍‍ 7 – 14   .333 23 – 30   .434 Auburn  ‍‍‍ 7 – 16   .304 27 – 27   .500 x – Division champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1981 Southern Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 17 East Tennessee State  ‍†‍‍y 12 – 4   .750 44 – 17   .721 Western Carolina  ‍‍‍ 12 – 4   .750 25 – 14   .641 Marshall  ‍‍‍ 12 – 4   .750 22 – 17   .564 The Citadel  ‍‍‍ 11 – 5   .688 31 – 13   .705 Appalachian State  ‍‍‍ 8 – 8   .500 35 – 17   .673 Davidson  ‍‍‍ 7 – 9   .438 18 – 26   .409 Chattanooga  ‍‍‍ 6 – 10   .375 28 – 24   .538 Furman  ‍‍‍ 4 – 12   .250 11 – 33   .250 VMI  ‍‍‍ 0 – 16   .000 3 – 37   .075 y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1981 Southwest Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT No. 3 Texas ‍†‍‡‍y 16 – 5 – 1   .750 61 – 11 – 0   .847 Arkansas ‍‍‍ 12 – 9 – 0   .571 31 – 21 – 0   .596 Houston ‍‍‍ 11 – 9 – 0   .550 32 – 20 – 0   .615 Rice ‍‍‍ 11 – 10 – 0   .524 34 – 23 – 0   .596 Texas A&M ‍‍‍ 10 – 10 – 0   .500 35 – 16 – 0   .686 TCU ‍‍‍ 9 – 12 – 0   .429 27 – 19 – 0   .587 Texas Tech ‍‍‍ 8 – 13 – 0   .381 26 – 21 – 0   .553 Baylor ‍‍‍ 6 – 15 – 0   .286 21 – 24 – 0   .467 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1981 Trans America Athletic Conference baseball standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT East Georgia Southern x‍†‍‍ 9 – 0 – 0   1.000 41 – 22 – 1   .648 Mercer ‍‍‡‍ 3 – 4 – 0   .429 39 – 12 – 1   .760 Arkansas–Little Rock ‍‍‍ 0 – 6 – 0   .000 22 – 25 – 0   .468 West Hardin–Simmons x‍‍‍ 8 – 4 – 0   .667 20 – 28 – 0   .417 Centenary ‍‍‍ 8 – 4 – 0   .667 33 – 29 – 0   .532 Northeast Louisiana ‍‍‍ 6 – 6 – 0   .500 33 – 22 – 0   .600 Northwestern State ‍‍‍ 2 – 10 – 0   .167 16 – 42 – 0   .276 x – Division champion † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion As of June 30, 1981 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

Main article: 1981 College World Series

The 1981 season marked the thirty fifth NCAA baseball tournament, which culminated with the eight team College World Series. The College World Series was held in Omaha, Nebraska. The eight teams played a double-elimination format, with Arizona State claiming their fifth championship with a 7–4 win over Oklahoma State in the final.

	Upper round 1					Upper round 2					Upper final					Semifinals					Preliminary final					Final
	Mississippi State		4
	Michigan		1
						Mississippi State		3
						Arizona State		4
	Arizona State		11
	Texas		2
											Arizona State		10
											Oklahoma State		1113
	Oklahoma State		810
																Oklahoma State		8
	South Carolina		5
						Oklahoma State		12								Texas		1513
						Miami (FL)		6
	Miami (FL)		6
	Maine		1																							Oklahoma State		4
																					Texas		3			Arizona State		7
						Lower round 1					Lower round 2										Arizona State		12
											Miami (FL)		4
						Michigan		5			Texas		5
																Arizona State		10
						Texas		6
																South Carolina		7
											Mississippi State		5
						South Carolina		12			South Carolina		6
						Maine		7

Award winners

All-America team

Main article: 1981 College Baseball All-America Team