1998 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

1998 NCAA Division I
baseball tournament

Season	1998
Teams	48
Finals site	Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium Omaha, NE
Champions	Southern California (12th title)
Runner-up	Arizona State (18th CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Mike Gillespie (1st title)
MOP	Wes Rachels (Southern California)

The 1998 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament was played at the end of the 1998 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 fifty-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. The fifty-second tournament's champion was Southern California, coached by Mike Gillespie. The championship was the Trojans' record 12th, but their first since 1978, the last under coach Rod Dedeaux. The Most Outstanding Player was USC second baseman Wes Rachels.

Regionals

The opening rounds of the tournament were played at eight regional sites across the country, each consisting of a six-team field. Each regional tournament is double-elimination, however region brackets are variable depending on the number of teams remaining after each round. Regional games were scheduled for Thursday, May 21 through Sunday, May 24; however, one final Sunday game (Arizona State vs. Georgia Tech at Wichita) had to be played the next day due to rainout. The winners of each regional advanced to the College World Series.

In the final year of the 48-team tournament, six of the eight regionals required the full 11 games. Only Florida State and LSU advanced to the CWS unscathed.

Bold indicates winner.

Atlantic II Regional at Tallahassee, FL

	May 21					May 22					May 23					May 23					May 24
	1	Florida State	10
	6	Liberty	7			1	Florida State	27
						3	Delaware	6
	2	Auburn	15								1	Florida State	23
	5	Rutgers	17								4	Oklahoma	2
						5	Rutgers	7													1	Florida State	16	—
						4	Oklahoma	9													2	Auburn	10	—
	3	Delaware	3													2	Auburn	9
	4	Oklahoma	6								2	Auburn	7			4	Oklahoma	8
						2	Auburn	3			5	Rutgers	4
						6	Liberty	2

South II Regional at Baton Rouge, LA

	May 21					May 22					May 23					May 23					May 24
	1	LSU	18
	6	Nicholls State	4			1	LSU	15
						4	SW Louisiana	6
	2	Cal State Fullerton	16								1	LSU	13
	5	Harvard	1								2	Cal State Fullerton	11
						2	Cal State Fullerton	10													1	LSU	14	—
						3	Tulane	6													2	Cal State Fullerton	3	—
	3	Tulane	11													5	Harvard	3
	4	SW Louisiana	5								5	Harvard	15			2	Cal State Fullerton	11
						5	Harvard	6			3	Tulane	11
						6	Nicholls State	5

College World Series

The 1998 CWS was infamous for producing several high-scoring games, which was termed by media covering the Series as "Gorilla Ball" (or "Geaux-rilla Ball" among LSU fans), which placed a premium on home runs. LSU, which won the 1996 and 1997 national championships and set an NCAA record in 1997 by hitting 188 home runs, hit eight home runs in its first game vs. USC, and added six more in its second game vs. Mississippi State to bring its season total to 157. Needing one victory to advance to the championship game for the third consecutive year, LSU fell twice to USC, failing to hit a home run in either game. USC and Pac-10 rival Arizona St. set numerous offensive records in the championship game, won by the Trojans 21–14.

Prior to the 1999 season, the NCAA adopted restrictions on aluminum bats, requiring the difference between the length and weight ("drop") of the bat to be no more than three (e.g. a 34-inch bat could not weigh less than 31 ounces). This reduced home run output slightly, but it was not until more sweeping changes in 2011 before aluminum bats would perform more like their wood counterparts.

Participants

Seeding	School	Conference	Record (Conference)	Head coach	CWS appearances	CWS best finish	CWS record
1	Florida	SEC	46–16 (21–8)	Andy Lopez	3 (last: 1996)	3rd (1991)	5–6
2	Miami (FL)	n/a	50–10 (n/a)	Jim Morris	16 (last: 1997)	1st (1982, 1985)	34–28
3	Florida State	ACC	53–18 (18–4)	Mike Martin	15 (last: 1996)	2nd (1970, 1986)	19–30
4	Southern California	Pac-10	44–16 (21–9)	Mike Gillespie	18 (last: 1995)	1st (1948, 1958, 1961, 1963, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978)	67–21
5	LSU	SEC	46–17 (21–9)	Skip Bertman	9 (last: 1997)	1st (1991, 1993, 1996, 1997)	23–11
6	Arizona State	Pac-10	38–22 (18–11)	Pat Murphy	17 (last: 1994)	1st (1965, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1981)	52–29
7	Long Beach State	Big West	42–21–1 (23–7)	Dave Snow	3 (last: 1993)	3rd (1993)	4–6
8	Mississippi State	SEC	41–21 (14–15)	Pat McMahon	6 (last: 1997)	3rd (1985)	6–12

Results

Game results

Date	Game	Winner	Score	Loser	Notes
May 29	Game 1	Arizona State	11–10	Florida State
	Game 2	Miami (FL)	3–1	Long Beach State
May 30	Game 3	LSU	12–10	Southern California
	Game 4	Mississippi State	14–13	Florida
May 31	Game 5	Arizona State	9–2	Miami (FL)
	Game 6	Long Beach State	7–4	Florida State	Florida State eliminated
June 1	Game 7	LSU	10–8	Mississippi State
	Game 8	Southern California	12 – 10 (11 innings)	Florida	Florida eliminated
June 2	Game 9	Long Beach State	6–3	Miami (FL)	Miami (FL) eliminated
	Game 10	Southern California	7–1	Mississippi State	Mississippi State eliminated
June 3	Game 11	Arizona State	14–4	Long Beach State	Long Beach State eliminated
June 4	Game 12	Southern California	5–4	LSU
June 5	Game 13	Southern California	7–3	LSU	LSU eliminated
June 6	Final	Southern California	21–14	Arizona State	Southern California wins CWS

All-Tournament Team

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

Position	Player	Class	School
Pitcher	Jack Krawczyk	Senior	Southern California
	Alex Santos	Sophomore	Miami (FL)
Catcher	Eric Munson	Sophomore	Southern California
First baseman	Robb Gorr	Junior	Southern California
Second baseman	Wes Rachels	Senior	Southern California
Third baseman	Andrew Beinbrink	Junior	Arizona State
Shortstop	Michael Collins	Junior	Arizona State
Outfielder	Rudy Arguellas	Senior	Arizona State
	Cedrick Harris	Freshman	LSU
	Brad Ticehurst	Junior	Southern California
Designated hitter	Jason Lane	Junior	Southern California

Notable players

• Arizona State: Andrew Beinbrink, Willie Bloomquist, Ryan Mills
• Florida: Mark Ellis, Josh Fogg, David Ross, Brad Wilkerson
• Florida State: Kevin Cash
• Long Beach State: Mike Gallo
• LSU: Kurt Ainsworth, Randy Keisler
• Miami (FL): Pat Burrell, Bobby Hill, Aubrey Huff, Jason Michaels
• Mississippi State: Matt Ginter
• Southern California: Morgan Ensberg, Seth Etherton, Jason Lane, Eric Munson