1988 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

The 1988 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1988 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Series, a double-elimination tournament in its forty-second year. Eight regional competitions were held to determine the participants in the final event. Each region was composed of six teams, resulting in 48 teams participating in the tournament at the conclusion of their regular season, and in some cases, after a conference tournament.^[1] The forty-second tournament's champion was Stanford coached by Mark Marquess. The Most Outstanding Player was Lee Plemel of Stanford.

1988 NCAA Division I
baseball tournament

Season	1988
Teams	48
Finals site	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium Omaha, NE
Champions	Stanford (2nd title)
Runner-up	Arizona State (15th CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Mark Marquess (2nd title)
MOP	Lee Plemel (Stanford)
← 1987  NCAA Division I Baseball Championship 1989 →

Regionals

The opening rounds of the tournament were played across eight regional sites across the country, each consisting of a six-team field.^[2] Each regional tournament is double-elimination, however region brackets are variable depending on the number of teams remaining after each round. In 1988, for the first time, the NCAA seeded all six teams in each regional.^[1] The winners of each regional advanced to the College World Series.

Bold indicates winner.

Northeast Regional at New Britain, CT

	First round					Second round					Third round					Final
						1	Clemson	1
						4	Rutgers	6
	1	Clemson	3								4	Rutgers	1
	6	Fordham	2								2	Stanford	8
						6	Fordham	5
						2	Stanford	7
	2	Stanford	3													2	Stanford	6	16
	5	St. John's	5													3	Kentucky	5	2
						5	St. John's	5
						3	Kentucky	12
	3	Kentucky	6								3	Kentucky	8
	4	Rutgers	2								1	Clemson	7
						5	St. John's	1
						1	Clemson	11

East Regional at Tallahassee, FL

	Round 1					Round 2					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
						1	Florida	3
						3	NC State	13
	1	Florida	7								3	NC State	1
	6	George Mason	0								5	Stetson	4			5	Stetson	7
						5	Stetson	2
																2	Florida State	2
						6	George Mason	1
	2	Florida State	10
																					5	Stetson	0
	5	Stetson	3
						2	Florida State	8													1	Florida	8
						4	Tulane	6
	3	NC State	0								2	Florida State	3
	4	Tulane	1								1	Florida	9
						4	Tulane	5
						1	Florida	9

Atlantic Regional at Coral Gables, FL

	Round 1					Round 2					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
	1	Miami (FL)	4
	6	Towson	0			1	Miami (FL)	18
						4	James Madison	8
	2	Georgia Tech	9								1	Miami (FL)	4
	5	VCU	6								2	Georgia Tech	2
						2	Georgia Tech	7													1	Miami (FL)	10	—
						3	South Carolina	6													3	South Carolina	3	—
	3	South Carolina	3													2	Georgia Tech	0
	4	James Madison	2								3	South Carolina	5			3	South Carolina	5
						6	Towson	4			5	Towson	1
						5	VCU	2

Central Regional at Austin, TX

	Round 1					Round 2					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
	1	Texas	7
	6	Southern	3			1	Texas	16
						3	New Orleans	10
	2	California	13								1	Texas	7
	5	Penn	3								2	California	8
						2	California	8*													2	California	6	—
						4	Michigan	7*													1	Texas	5	—
	3	New Orleans	4													1	Texas	5
	4	Michigan	6								4	Michigan	7			4	Michigan	4
						6	Southern	6			5	Penn	6
						5	Penn	10

Midwest Regional at Stillwater, OK

	Round 1					Round 2					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
	1	Oklahoma State	14
	6	McNeese State	4			1	Oklahoma State	13
						4	Arkansas	7
	2	Wichita State	6								1	Oklahoma State	5
	5	Southwestern Louisiana	2								2	Wichita State	8
						2	Wichita State	10													2	Wichita State	7	15
						3	Loyola Marymount	6													1	Oklahoma State	12	5
	3	Loyola Marymount	8													1	Oklahoma State	8
	4	Arkansas	3								3	Loyola Marymount	12			3	Loyola Marymount	6
						6	McNeese State	11			6	McNeese State	4
						5	Southwestern Louisiana	6

South Regional at Starkville, MS

	First round					Second round					Third round					Final
						6	Middle Tennessee	6
						4	Missouri	10
	1	Texas A&M	0								4	Missouri	2
	6	Middle Tennessee	3								1	Texas A&M	6
						1	Texas A&M	8
						5	Western Carolina	6
	2	Mississippi State	7*													3	Cal State Fullerton	6	—
	5	Western Carolina	4*													1	Texas A&M	3	—
						2	Mississippi State	1
						3	Cal State Fullerton	5
	3	Cal State Fullerton	6								3	Cal State Fullerton	5*
	4	Missouri	3								2	Mississippi State	3*
						6	Middle Tennessee	4
						2	Mississippi State	12

West I Regional at Fresno, CA

	Round 1					Round 2					Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
	1	Fresno State	10*
	6	Minnesota	8*			1	Fresno State	9
						3	BYU	4
	2	Washington State	8								1	Fresno State	17
	5	Santa Clara	5								4	USC	18
						2	Washington State	9													4	USC	12	3
						4	USC	10													1	Fresno State	17	14
	3	BYU	8													1	Fresno State	7
	4	USC	9								2	Washington State	6			2	Washington State	6
						6	Minnesota	3			5	Santa Clara	5
						5	Santa Clara	6

West II Regional at Tempe, AZ

	First round					Second round					Third round					Final
						6	Evansville	1
						4	UNLV	2
	1	Arizona State	0								4	UNLV	8
	6	Evansville	1								1	Arizona State	27
						1	Arizona State	13
						2	Oklahoma	6
	2	Oklahoma	1													1	Arizona State	11	10
	5	Pepperdine	10													5	Pepperdine	4	5
						5	Pepperdine	11
						3	Central Michigan	8
	3	Central Michigan	10								5	Pepperdine	5*
	4	UNLV	7								3	Central Michigan	4*
						6	Evansville	6
						3	Central Michigan	7

College World Series

After 38 seasons as a full double-elimination tournament, the format changed for 1988. Teams were split into two four-team double-elimination brackets, with the winners of each bracket meeting in a one-game championship. This format was used through 2002.

Participants

Seeding	School	Conference	Record (conference)	Head coach	CWS appearances	CWS best finish	CWS record
1	Arizona State	Pac-10	56–11 (21–9)	Jim Brock	14 (last: 1987)	1st (1965, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1981)	46–23
2	Fresno State	PCAA	56–10 (20–1)	Bob Bennett	1 (last: 1959)	3rd (1959)	3–2
3	Miami (FL)	n/a	50–12–1 (n/a)	Ron Fraser	9 (last: 1986)	1st (1982, 1985)	22–15
4	Wichita State	MVC	54–14–1 (16–4)	Gene Stephenson	1 (last: 1982)	2nd (1982)	3–2
5	Florida	SEC	47–17–1 (21–6)	Joe Arnold	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
6	Cal State Fullerton	PCAA	41–16 (12–8)	Larry Cochell	4 (last: 1984)	1st (1979, 1984)	10–6
7	Stanford	Pac-10	41–22 (18–12)	Mark Marquess	6 (last: 1987)	1st (1987)	12–11
8	California	Pac-10	40–23 (16–14)	Bob Milano	3 (last: 1980)	1st (1947, 1957)	10–2

Results

Of the 15 tournaments in which a single championship game was played, this was the only one where both teams entered the final with a loss.

Bracket

	First round					Second round					Semifinals						Finals
	1	Arizona State	4
	8	California	2
						1	Arizona State	4
						4	Wichita State	7
	4	Wichita State	5
	5	Florida	4
											4	Wichita State	3	1
											1	Arizona State	410	19
	8	California	5
	5	Florida	6
						1	Arizona State	10
						5	Florida	1
																	1	Arizona State	4
																	7	Stanford	9
	7	Stanford	10
	2	Fresno State	3
						7	Stanford	3
						6	Cal State Fullerton	5
	6	Cal State Fullerton	9
	3	Miami (FL)	3
											6	Cal State Fullerton	1	5
											7	Stanford	3	9
	2	Fresno State	4
	3	Miami (FL)	812
						7	Stanford	2
						3	Miami (FL)	1

Game results

Date	Game	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
June 3	Game 1	Arizona State	4–2	California
	Game 2	Wichita State	5–4	Florida
June 4	Game 3	Stanford	10–3	Fresno State
	Game 4	Cal State Fullerton	9–3	Miami (FL)
June 5	Game 5	Florida	6–5	California	California eliminated
	Game 6	Wichita State	7–4	Arizona State
June 6	Game 7	Miami (FL)	8–4 (12 innings)	Fresno State	Fresno State eliminated
	Game 8	Cal State Fullerton	5–3	Stanford
June 7	Game 9	Arizona State	10–1	Florida	Florida eliminated
	Game 10	Stanford	2–1	Miami (FL)	Miami (FL) eliminated
June 8	Game 11	Arizona State	4–3 (10 innings)	Wichita State
June 9	Game 12	Stanford	3–1	Cal State Fullerton
June 10	Game 13	Arizona State	19–1	Wichita State	Wichita State eliminated
	Game 14	Stanford	9–5	Cal State Fullerton	Cal State Fullerton eliminated
June 11	Final	Stanford	9–4	Arizona State	Stanford wins CWS

All-Tournament Team

The following players were members of the All-Tournament Team.

Position	Player	School
P	Rusty Kilgo	Arizona State
	Lee Plemel (MOP)	Stanford
C	Doug Robbins	Stanford
1B	Ron Witmeyer	Stanford
2B	Mark Standiford	Wichita State
3B	John Finn	Arizona State
SS	Pat Listach	Arizona State
OF	Ricky Candelari	Arizona State
	Henrique Herman	Cal State Fullerton
	Dan Rumsey	Arizona State
DH	Martin Peralta	Arizona State

Notable players

• Arizona State: Kevin Higgins, Pat Listach, Blas Minor, Tim Spehr
• Cal State Fullerton: Huck Flener, Brent Mayne
• California: Jeff Kent, Darren Lewis
• Florida: Jamie McAndrew, Herb Perry
• Fresno: Tom Goodwin, Steve Hosey, Erik Schullstrom, Eddie Zosky
• Miami (FL): Joe Grahe, Kurt Knudsen, Oscar Múñoz
• Stanford: Paul Carey, Steve Chitren, Brian Johnson, Brian Keyser, Mike Mussina, Stan Spencer, Ed Sprague, Ron Witmeyer
• Wichita State: Greg Brummett, P. J. Forbes, Dave Haas, Mike Lansing, Pat Meares, Eric Wedge

Tournament notes

• Arizona State sets a new tournament record scoring 27 runs in their victory over UNLV surpassing the record set by Arizona in the 1986 tournament when they scored 26 runs.

See also

• 1988 NCAA Division I softball tournament
• 1988 NCAA Division II baseball tournament
• 1988 NCAA Division III baseball tournament
• 1988 NAIA World Series