1966 NCAA University Division baseball season

The 1966 NCAA University Division baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began in the spring of 1966. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1965 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the twentieth time in 1966, consisted of one team from each of eight geographical districts and was held in Omaha, Nebraska at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium as a double-elimination tournament. Ohio State claimed the championship.[1]

1966 NCAA University Division baseball season
NCAA Tournament
College World Series
Champions	Ohio State (1st title)
Runners-up	Oklahoma State (6th CWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Marty Karow (1st title)
MOP	Steve Arlin (Ohio State)
Seasons

Season headlines

• March 7 – Tulane's Stephen Martin became the first African American to play a varsity sport in the Southeastern Conference, debuting in the Green Wave's season opener against Spring Hill. In later years, Martin would be overlooked as an SEC integration pioneer because he was a walk-on and Tulane left the SEC immediately after the 1966 season.[2][3]

Conference winners

This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1966 season. Each of the eight geographical districts chose, by various methods, the team that would represent them in the NCAA Tournament. 11 teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championship while 17 teams earned at-large selections.[1][4]

Conference	Regular Season Winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	North Carolina
Big Eight Conference	Oklahoma State
Big Ten Conference	Ohio State
CIBA	Southern California
EIBL	Army
Mid-American Conference	Western Michigan
Pacific Coast Conference	Washington State
Southeastern Conference	Mississippi State
Southern Conference	East Carolina
Southwest Conference	Texas Baylor Texas A&M TCU

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1966 Big Ten Conference baseball standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T   PCT     W   L   T   PCT No. 1 Ohio State  ‍†‍‍^y 6 – 0 – 0   1.000     27 – 6 – 1   .809 No. 16 Minnesota  ‍‍‍ 11 – 2 – 0   .846     27 – 10 – 2   .718 No. 21 Michigan  ‍‍‍ 10 – 3 – 0   .769     22 – 11 – 0   .667 Michigan State  ‍‍‍ 8 – 5 – 0   .615     24 – 13 – 0   .649 Indiana  ‍‍‍ 6 – 5 – 0   .545     17 – 15 – 0   .531 Illinois  ‍‍‍ 5 – 7 – 0   .417     14 – 14 – 0   .500 Wisconsin  ‍‍‍ 6 – 9 – 0   .400     9 – 18 – 0   .333 Iowa  ‍‍‍ 4 – 7 – 0   .364     14 – 15 – 0   .483 Purdue  ‍‍‍ 2 – 9 – 0   .182     9 – 14 – 0   .391 Northwestern  ‍‍‍ 2 – 13 – 0   .133     7 – 21 – 3   .274 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of June 30, 1966[5][6]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1966 Southwest Conference baseball standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T   PCT     W   L   T   PCT No. 6 Texas  ‍†‍‍^y 9 – 6 – 0   .600     24 – 9 – 2   .714 Baylor  ‍†‍‍ 9 – 6 – 0   .600     18 – 10 – 0   .643 Texas A&M  ‍†‍‍ 9 – 6 – 0   .600     20 – 8 – 0   .714 TCU  ‍†‍‍ 9 – 6 – 0   .600     21 – 9 – 0   .700 Rice  ‍‍‍ 5 – 10 – 0   .333     14 – 11 – 0   .560 SMU  ‍‍‍ 4 – 11 – 0   .267     11 – 16 – 0   .407 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of June 30, 1966[7]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

The 1966 season marked the twentieth 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 Ohio State claiming their first championship with an 8–2 win over Oklahoma State in the final.[1]

	First Round					Second Round					Third Round
	Winner's Bracket
		Texas	5
		Arizona	1
							Texas	0
							St. John's	2
		St. John's	5
		Northeastern	3
												St. John's	7
												Ohio State	8
		Southern California	6
		North Carolina	2
							Southern California	2
							Ohio State	6
		Ohio State	4
		Oklahoma State	2
						Loser's Bracket
							Arizona	8
							Northeastern	1				Southern California	8
												Arizona	4
							North Carolina	1
							Oklahoma State	5				Texas	1
												Oklahoma State	6

	Semifinals					Finals					if needed
	Re-ordered Semi-finals
		Ohio State	1									Ohio State	8
		Southern California	5									Oklahoma State	2
							Ohio State	1
							Southern California	0
		St. John's	1
		Oklahoma State	6

Award winners

All-America team

Main article: 1966 College Baseball All-America Team

References

1. W.C. Madden & Patrick J. Stewart (2004). The College World Series:A Baseball History, 1947-2003. McFarland & Co. pp. 41–43. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
2. "Tulane Mourns the Passing of Integration Pioneer Stephen Martin Sr" (Press release). Tulane Green Wave. May 16, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
3. "Year-By-Year Record" (PDF). 2016 Tulane Baseball Media Guide. Tulane Green Wave. p. 134. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 30, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
4. "NCAA Men's College World Series Records" (PDF). NCAA. 2009. p. 7. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
5. 2012 Big Ten Baseball Record Book (PDF). Big Ten Conference. p. 101. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
6. "College Baseball Conference Standings -- 1966". Boyd's World. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
7. "College Baseball Conference Standings -- 1966". boydsworld.com. Retrieved July 16, 2020.