1966 NCAA University Division baseball season

1966 NCAA University Division baseball season
NCAA Tournament
College World Series
Champions	Ohio State
Runners-up	Oklahoma State
MOP	Steve Arlin (Ohio State)
Seasons

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.

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.

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.

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 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 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

College World Series

Main article: 1966 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.

	Upper round 1					Upper round 2					Upper final					Semifinals					Preliminary final					Final
	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
																Ohio State		1
	North Carolina		2
						Southern California		2								Southern California		5
						Ohio State		6
	Ohio State		4
	Oklahoma State		2																							Ohio State		8
																					Ohio State		1			Oklahoma State		2
						Lower round 1					Lower round 2										Southern California		0
											Southern California		8
						Arizona		8			Arizona		4
																St. John's		1
						Northeastern		1
																Oklahoma State		6
											Texas		1
						North Carolina		1			Oklahoma State		6
						Oklahoma State		5

Award winners

All-America team

Main article: 1966 College Baseball All-America Team