1981 NCAA Division I baseball season

1981 NCAA Division I baseball season
Number of teams	248
NCAA Tournament
College World Series
Champions	Arizona State
Runners-up	Oklahoma State
MOP	Stan Holmes (Arizona State)
Seasons
← 1980	1982 →

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 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     –   – 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 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 #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 [[{{{school}}}|California]] 12 – 18   .400     31 – 31   .500 [[{{{school}}}|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 #15 Florida x‡y 16 – 7   .696     42 – 17   .712 [[{{{school}}}|Kentucky]] 13 – 9   .591     39 – 16   .709 [[{{{school}}}|Tennessee]] 10 – 13   .435     22 – 27   .449 [[{{{school}}}|Vanderbilt]] 9 – 12   .429     26 – 25   .510 [[{{{school}}}|Georgia]] 8 – 15   .348     23 – 23   .500 Western Division #6 Mississippi State xy 17 – 6   .739     46 – 17   .730 Alabama x 17 – 6   .739     41 – 15   .732 [[{{{school}}}|Ole Miss]] 8 – 14   .364     24 – 24   .500 [[{{{school}}}|LSU]] 7 – 14   .333     23 – 30   .434 [[{{{school}}}|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 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 [[{{{school}}}|Arkansas–Little Rock]] 0 – 6 – 0   .000     22 – 25 – 0   .468 West Hardin–Simmons x 8 – 4 – 0   .667     20 – 28 – 0   .417 [[{{{school}}}|Centenary]] 8 – 4 – 0   .667     33 – 29 – 0   .532 [[{{{school}}}|Northeast Louisiana]] 6 – 6 – 0   .500     33 – 22 – 0   .600 [[{{{school}}}|Northwestern State]] 2 – 10 – 0   .167     16 – 42 – 0   .276 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion As of June 30, 1981; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

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.

	First Round					Second Round					Third Round
	Winner's Bracket
		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
		[[{{{school}}}|South Carolina]]	5
							Oklahoma State	12
							Miami (FL)	6
		[[{{{school}}}|Miami (FL)]]	6
		[[{{{school}}}|Maine]]	1
						Loser's Bracket
							Michigan	5
							Texas	6				Miami (FL)	4
												Texas	5
							South Carolina	12
							Maine	7				Mississippi State	5
												South Carolina	6

	Semifinals					Finals					if needed
	Re-ordered Semi-finals
		Oklahoma State	8									Oklahoma State	4
		Texas	1513									Arizona State	7
							Texas	3
							Arizona State	12
		Arizona State	7
		South Carolina	10