1976 NCAA Division I baseball season

The 1976 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 1976. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1976 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the thirtieth time in 1976, 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 claimed the championship for the first time.^[1]

1976 NCAA Division I baseball season
Number of teams	219
NCAA tournament
College World Series
Champions	Arizona (1st title)
Runners-up	Eastern Michigan (2nd CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Jerry Kindall (1st title)
MOP	Steve Powers (Arizona)
Seasons

Conference winners

This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1976 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. 18 teams earned automatic bids by winning their conference championship while 16 teams earned at-large selections.^[1][2]

Conference	Regular season winner	Conference tournament	Tournament venue • city	Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	Clemson	1976 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament	Beautiful Tiger Field • Clemson, SC	Clemson
Big Eight Conference	Missouri	1976 Big Eight Conference baseball tournament	All Sports Stadium • Oklahoma City, OK	Missouri
Big Ten Conference	Michigan	No tournament
EIBL	Columbia	No tournament
Mid-American Conference	Eastern Michigan	No tournament
Pacific-8 Conference	North - Washington State South - UCLA	No tournament
Southeastern Conference	Auburn	No tournament
Southern Conference	Furman	No tournament
Southwest Conference	Texas	No tournament

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1976 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 5 Clemson  ‍†‍‡‍y 10 – 2   .833 36 – 15   .706 Maryland  ‍‍‍ 8 – 4   .667 19 – 14   .576 North Carolina  ‍‍‍ 8 – 4   .667 19 – 17   .528 NC State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 6   .500 20 – 10   .667 Wake Forest  ‍‍‍ 5 – 7   .417 22 – 11   .667 Virginia  ‍‍‍ 4 – 8   .333 17 – 22   .436 Duke  ‍‍‍ 1 – 11   .083 7 – 23   .233 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1976[3] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1976 Mid-American Conference baseball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 2 Eastern Michigan  ‍†‍‍y 12 – 3   .800 46 – 16   .742 Ohio  ‍‍‍ 11 – 7   .611 25 – 20   .556 Toledo  ‍‍‍ 8 – 6   .571 33 – 11   .750 Miami  ‍‍‍ 10 – 8   .556 40 – 20   .667 Ball State  ‍‍‍ 9 – 9   .500 34 – 14   .708 Bowling Green  ‍‍‍ 8 – 8   .500 33 – 20   .623 Western Michigan  ‍‍‍ 8 – 10   .444 25 – 22   .532 Central Michigan  ‍‍‍ 7 – 11   .389 29 – 16   .644 Kent State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 11   .353 14 – 26   .350 Northern Illinois  ‍‍‍ 4 – 10   .286 15 – 22   .405 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1976[4] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball	1976 Pacific-8 Conference baseball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT Northern Division No. 6 Washington State x‍‍‍y 16 – 2 – 0   .889 43 – 15 – 0   .741 Oregon State ‍‍‍ 12 – 6 – 0   .667 31 – 15 – 0   .674 Oregon ‍‍‍ 6 – 12 – 0   .333 20 – 18 – 0   .526 Washington ‍‍‍ 2 – 16 – 0   .111 7 – 27 – 0   .206 California Intercollegiate Baseball Association No. 15 UCLA x‍‍‍ 16 – 8 – 0   .667 35 – 25 – 0   .583 Southern California ‍‍‍ 15 – 8 – 1   .646 33 – 36 – 2   .479 Stanford ‍‍‍ 14 – 10 – 0   .583 42 – 23 – 0   .646 California ‍‍‍ 9 – 14 – 1   .396 33 – 20 – 1   .620 UC Santa Barbara ‍‍‍ 5 – 19 – 0   .208 17 – 29 – 0   .370 x – Division champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1976[5] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball
1976 Western Athletic Conference baseball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Northern BYU  x‍‍‍ 15 – 3   .833 26 – 21   .553 Wyoming  ‍‍‍ 10 – 7   .588 22 – 29   .431 Utah  ‍‍‍ 8 – 9   .471 15 – 26   .366 Colorado State  ‍‍‍ 2 – 16   .111 18 – 26   .409 Southern No. 3 Arizona State  x‍‍‍y 17 – 1   .944 65 – 10   .867 No. 1 Arizona  ‍‍‍y 12 – 6   .667 56 – 17   .767 New Mexico  ‍‍‍ 4 – 14   .222 28 – 24   .538 UTEP  ‍‍‍ 3 – 15   .167 9 – 25   .265 x – Division champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1976[6] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

Main article: 1976 College World Series

The 1976 season marked the thirtieth 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 claiming their first championship with a 7–1 win over Eastern Michigan in the final.^[1]

	Upper round 1					Upper round 2					Upper final					Semifinals					Preliminary final					Final
	Clemson		9
	Auburn		4
						Clemson		2
						Eastern Michigan		310
	Eastern Michigan		3
	Maine		2
											Eastern Michigan		2
											Arizona State		1
	Arizona State		710
																Eastern Michigan		6
	Arizona		6
						Arizona State		9								Arizona		11
						Washington State		3
	Washington State		6
	Oklahoma		1																							Eastern Michigan		1
																					Arizona		5			Arizona		7
						Lower round 1					Lower round 2										Arizona State		1
											Washington State		3
						Auburn		8			Maine		6
																Arizona State		7
						Maine		9
																Maine		0
											Clemson		6
						Arizona		10			Arizona		10
						Oklahoma		2

Award winners

All-America team

Main article: 1976 College Baseball All-America Team