2003 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

2003 NCAA Division I
baseball tournament

Season	2003
Teams	64
Finals site	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium Omaha, Nebraska
Champions	Rice (1st title)
Runner-up	Stanford (15th CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Wayne Graham (1st title)
MOP	John Hudgins (Stanford)

The 2003 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament was held May 30 through June 23, 2003. Sixty-four NCAA Division I college baseball teams met after having played their way through a regular season, and for some, a conference tournament, to play in the NCAA Tournament. The tournament culminated with 8 teams in the College World Series at historic Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.

ESPN, which held the rights to the College World Series, began televising super regional games in 2003. As part of the contract with ESPN, four super regionals would begin on Friday and run through Sunday, while the other four super regionals would begin Saturday and run through Monday.

The 2003 College World Series saw a format change and the championship was decided by a best-of-three series. From 1947 through 1988, the College World Series was a true double elimination tournament. From 1989 through 2002, there were two double elimination pools, with the winner of each facing off in a one game championship.

In the 2003 championship series, Rice defeated Stanford two games to one. John Hudgins became the 16th player to win the College World Series Most Outstanding Player Award from a losing team.

Bids

Automatic Bids

Conference champions from 30 Division I conferences earned automatic bids to regionals. The remaining 34 spots were awarded to schools as at-large invitees.

Conference School Berth Type America East Northeastern Tournament Champion ACC Georgia Tech Tournament Champion Atlantic Sun Jacksonville Tournament Champion A-10 Richmond Tournament Champion Big East Notre Dame Tournament Champion Big South Coastal Carolina Tournament Champion Big Ten Ohio State Tournament Champion Big 12 Texas Tournament Champion Big West Long Beach State Regular Season Champion CAA VCU Tournament Champion Conference USA Southern Miss Tournament Champion Horizon League UIC Tournament Champion Ivy League Princeton Championship Series Winner MAAC Le Moyne Tournament Champion MAC Eastern Michigan Tournament Champion Mid-Con Oral Roberts Tournament Champion MEAC Bethune-Cookman Tournament Champion Missouri Valley Wichita State Tournament Champion MWC UNLV Tournament Champion NEC Central Connecticut Tournament Champion OVC Murray State Tournament Champion Pac-10 Stanford Regular Season Champion Patriot League Bucknell Tournament Champion SEC Alabama Tournament Champion SoCon Western Carolina Tournament Champion Southland McNeese State Tournament Champion SWAC Southern Tournament Champion Sun Belt Middle Tennessee Tournament Champion WCC Pepperdine Championship Series Winner WAC Rice Regular Season Champion

Bids by conference

Conference	Total	Schools
Southeastern	8	Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina
Atlantic Coast	5	Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State
Big 12	5	Baylor, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M
Conference USA	4	East Carolina, Houson, Southern Miss, Tulane
Pacific-10	4	Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford, Washington
Atlantic Sun	3	Florida Atlantic, Jacksonville, Stetson
Big West	3	Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Riverside
Sun Belt	3	Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, South Alabama
Big East	2	Notre Dame, Rutgers
Big Ten	2	Minnesota, Ohio State
Colonial Athletic	2	UNC Wilmington, VCU
Missouri Valley	2	Southwest Missouri State, Wichita State
Southland	2	Lamar, McNeese State
West Coast	2	Pepperdine, San Diego
America East	1	Northeastern
Atlantic 10	1	Richmond
Big South	1	Coastal Carolina
Horizon	1	UIC
Independent	1	Miami (FL)
Ivy	1	Princeton
Metro Atlantic	1	Le Moyne
Mid-American	1	Eastern Michigan
Mid-Continent	1	Oral Roberts
Mid-Eastern	1	Bethune-Cookman
Mountain West	1	UNLV
Northeast	1	Central Connecticut
Ohio Valley	1	Murray State
Patriot	1	Bucknell
Southern	1	Western Carolina
Southwestern Athletic	1	Southern
Western Athletic	1	Rice

Tournament Notes

• UC Riverside, Illinois-Chicago, and UNC Wilmington were making their first NCAA tournament appearance.

CWS records tied or broken

• Total attendance: 260,091
• Largest margin of victory in a championship game: 12
• Stanford became the first team to lose three games at one College World Series.

National seeds

Bold indicates CWS participant.

1. Florida State
2. LSU
3. Georgia Tech
4. Auburn
5. Rice
6. Stanford
7. Cal State Fullerton
8. Miami (FL)

Regionals and super regionals

Bold indicates winner.

Houston Super Regional

The Houston Super Regional was hosted by Rice at Reckling Park. Template:CWSBracket

College World Series

Participants

School	Conference	Record (Conference)	Head Coach	CWS Appearances	CWS Best Finish	CWS Record
Cal State Fullerton	Big West	48–14 (15–6)	George Horton	11 (last: 2001)	1st (1979, 1984, 1995)	25–18
LSU	SEC	45–20 (20–9)	Smoke Laval	11 (last: 2000)	1st (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000)	29–13
Miami (FL)	n/a	44–15–1 (n/a)	Jim Morris	19 (last: 2001)	1st (1982, 1985, 1999, 2001)	43–30
Southwest Missouri State	MVC	40–24 (19–11)	Keith Guttin	0 (last: none)	none	0–0
Rice	WAC	53–11 (25–5)	Wayne Graham	3 (last: 2002)	5th (1999)	1–6
South Carolina	SEC	44–20 (19–11)	Ray Tanner	6 (last: 2002)	2nd (1975, 1977, 2002)	13-12
Stanford	Pac-10	46–15 (18–6)	Mark Marquess	14 (last: 2002)	1st (1987, 1988)	33–24
Texas	Big 12	48–18 (19–8)	Augie Garrido	29 (last: 2002)	1st (1949, 1950, 1975, 1983, 2002)	68–49

Championship Series

Saturday 6/21 Game #1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Stanford	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	1
Rice	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	8	1
WP: David Aardsma (7–3)   LP: Ryan McCally (7–3) Attendance: 23,741

Sunday 6/22 Game #2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rice	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	3	10	2
Stanford	1	0	2	0	0	0	5	0	X	8	9	0
WP: John Hudgins (14–3)   LP: Wade Townsend (11–2) Attendance: 17,907

Monday 6/23 Game #3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Stanford	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	5	2
Rice	3	1	0	0	0	7	0	3		14	14	0
WP: Philip Humber (11–3)   LP: Mark Romanczuk (12–2) Attendance: 18,494 Notes: Rice wins first national championship in any team sport in school history

All Tournament Team

Position	Player	School
Pitcher	John Hudgins	Stanford
	Jeff Niemann	Rice
Catcher	Ryan Garko	Stanford
First Base	Curtis Thigpen	Texas
Second Base	Enrique Cruz	Rice
Third Base	Johnny Ash	Stanford
Shortstop	Justin Turner	Cal State Fullerton
Outfield	Chris Kolkhorst	Rice
	Danny Putnam	Stanford
	Carlos Quentin	Stanford
Designated Hitter	P.J. Pilittere	Cal State Fullerton