1978 NCAA Division I baseball season

Number of teams239

ChampionsUSC (11th title)

Runners-upArizona State (10th CWS Appearance)

Winning coachRod Dedeaux (11th title)

1978 NCAA Division I baseball season

Number of teams	239
NCAA tournament
College World Series
Champions	USC (11th title)
Runners-up	Arizona State (10th CWS Appearance)
Winning coach	Rod Dedeaux (11th title)
MOP	Rod Boxberger (USC)
Seasons
← 1977 1979 →

The 1978 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 1978. The season progressed through the regular season and concluded with the 1978 College World Series. The College World Series, held for the thirty-second time in 1978, 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. Southern California claimed the championship for the eleventh time.^[1]

This is a partial list of conference champions from the 1978 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.^[1]^[2]

Conference	Regular season winner	Conference tournament	Tournament venue • city	Tournament winner
Atlantic Coast Conference	Clemson	1978 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament	Beautiful Tiger Field • Clemson, SC	Clemson
Big Eight Conference	East - Oklahoma West - Missouri	1978 Big Eight Conference baseball tournament	All Sports Stadium • Oklahoma City, OK	Oklahoma State
Big Ten Conference	Michigan	No tournament
EIBL	Harvard	No tournament
Mid-American Conference	Eastern Michigan	No tournament
Pacific-8 Conference	North - Washington State South - Southern California	No tournament
Southeastern Conference	East - Florida West - Auburn	1978 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament	Perry Field • Gainesville, FL	Auburn
Southern Conference	Marshall	No tournament
Southwest Conference	Texas A&M	1978 Southwest Conference baseball tournament	Disch–Falk Field • Austin, TX	Baylor
Western Athletic Conference	North - BYU South - Arizona State	1978 Western Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Series	Packard Stadium • Tempe, AZ	Arizona State
Yankee Conference	UMass New Hampshire	No tournament

Conference standings

The following is an incomplete list of conference standings:

1978 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 25 Clemson ‍†‍‡‍^y	10	–	2	.833	39	–	14	.736
No. 3 North Carolina ‍‍‍^y	9	–	3	.750	38	–	17	.691
Wake Forest ‍‍‍	7	–	5	.583	23	–	14	.622
Maryland ‍‍‍	5	–	6	.455	14	–	14	.500
NC State ‍‍‍	5	–	7	.417	23	–	16	.590
Virginia ‍‍‍	4	–	8	.333	18	–	14	.563
Duke ‍‍‍	1	–	10	.091	12	–	22	.353

† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[3] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1978 Big Ten Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf.						Overall
Team	W		L		T	PCT	W		L		T	PCT
No. 6 Michigan ‍†‍‍^y	13	–	3	–	0	.813	30	–	17	–	0	.638
Michigan State ‍‍‍	11	–	5	–	0	.688	33	–	21	–	0	.611
Wisconsin ‍‍‍	10	–	6	–	0	.625	23	–	21	–	1	.522
Iowa ‍‍‍	9	–	6	–	0	.600	28	–	17	–	0	.622
Minnesota ‍‍‍	7	–	7	–	0	.500	25	–	17	–	0	.595
Ohio State ‍‍‍	9	–	9	–	0	.500	24	–	23	–	0	.511
Indiana ‍‍‍	5	–	8	–	0	.385	20	–	23	–	0	.465
Northwestern ‍‍‍	6	–	10	–	0	.375	17	–	18	–	1	.486
Illinois ‍‍‍	6	–	12	–	0	.333	25	–	22	–	1	.531
Purdue ‍‍‍	3	–	13	–	0	.188	16	–	26	–	0	.381

† – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[4]^[5] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1978 NCAA Division I baseball independents standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 4 Miami (FL) ‍‍‍^y		–		–	50	–	12	.806
No. 28 Hawaii ‍‍‍		–		–	38	–	14	.731
No. 11 Gonzaga ‍‍‍^y		–		–	33	–	14	.702
Detroit ‍‍‍		–		–	33	–	16	.673
Mercer ‍‍‍		–		–	32	–	16	.667
Stetson ‍‍‍		–		–	33	–	17	.660
Richmond ‍‍‍		–		–	21	–	12	.636
Virginia Tech ‍‍‍		–		–	27	–	17	.614
Air Force ‍‍‍		–		–	22	–	15	.595
Northern Iowa ‍‍‍		–		–	17	–	16	.515
Lafayette ‍‍‍		–		–	11	–	12	.478
Campbell ‍‍‍		–		–	12	–	15	.444
Villanova ‍‍‍		–		–	11	–	18	.379
Notre Dame ‍‍‍		–		–	12	–	25	.324
Hofstra ‍‍‍		–		–	7	–	18	.280

y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[6] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1978 Pacific-8 Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Northern Division
No. 16 Washington State ^x‍‍‍^y	15	–	3	.833	41	–	17	.707
Oregon ‍‍‍	7	–	9	.438		–		–
Oregon State ‍‍‍	6	–	9	.400	22	–	22	.500
Washington ‍‍‍	5	–	12	.294	29	–	16	.644
Southern Division
#1 Southern California ^xy ‍‍‍	15	–	3	.833	54	–	9	.857
No. 15 UCLA ‍‍‍	9	–	9	.500	39	–	20	.661
California ‍‍‍	6	–	12	.333	35	–	27	.565
Stanford ‍‍‍	6	–	12	.333	35	–	20	.636

x – Division champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[7] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1978 Southeastern Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Eastern Division
Florida ^x‍‍‍	18	–	4	.818	34	–	15	.694
Georgia ‍‍‍	11	–	12	.478	30	–	19	.612
Tennessee ‍‍‍	11	–	12	.478	25	–	21	.543
Vanderbilt ‍‍‍	10	–	13	.435	31	–	17	.646
Kentucky ‍‍‍	6	–	15	.286	20	–	25	.444
Western Division
No. 22 Auburn ^x‍‍‡‍^y	15	–	8	.652	33	–	21	.611
No. 14 Mississippi State ‍‍‍^y	13	–	8	.619	38	–	18	.679
Ole Miss ‍‍‍	12	–	11	.522	27	–	21	.563
Alabama ‍‍‍	10	–	11	.476	23	–	20	.535
LSU ‍‍‍	6	–	18	.250	12	–	34	.261

x – Division champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[8] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1978 Southern Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 17 Marshall ‍†‍‍^y	11	–	1	.917	27	–	13	.675
Appalachian State ‍‍‍	10	–	4	.714	24	–	10	.706
The Citadel ‍‍‍	9	–	5	.643	30	–	9	.769
Western Carolina ‍‍‍	8	–	5	.615	20	–	13	.606
Furman ‍‍‍	6	–	7	.462	13	–	18	.419
Chattanooga ‍‍‍	5	–	9	.357	25	–	18	.581
Davidson ‍‍‍	4	–	8	.333	15	–	26	.366
VMI ‍‍‍	0	–	14	.000	15	–	26	.366

y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[9] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1978 Southwest Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 12 Texas A&M ‍†‍‍^y	19	–	5	.792	39	–	16	.709
No. 18 Arkansas ‍‍‍	18	–	6	.750	31	–	13	.705
No. 8 Baylor ‍‍‡‍^y	15	–	9	.625	32	–	19	.627
No. 13 Houston ‍‍‍	14	–	10	.583	30	–	21	.588
Texas ‍‍‍	12	–	12	.500	36	–	16	.692
SMU ‍‍‍	9	–	15	.375	25	–	29	.463
Texas Tech ‍‍‍	8	–	16	.333	23	–	25	.479
TCU ‍‍‍	7	–	17	.292	18	–	29	.383
Rice ‍‍‍	6	–	18	.250	18	–	29	.383

† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[10] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

1978 Western Athletic Conference baseball standings
v t e	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Northern
BYU ^x‍‍‍	16	–	2	.889	37	–	15	.712
Wyoming ‍‍‍	8	–	10	.444	35	–	24	.593
Colorado State ‍‍‍	6	–	12	.333	20	–	26	.435
Utah ‍‍‍	6	–	12	.333	8	–	27	.229
Southern
No. 2 Arizona State ^x‍‍‡‍^y	15	–	3	.833	56	–	12	.824
Arizona ‍‍‍^y	13	–	5	.722	42	–	13	.764
New Mexico ‍‍‍	5	–	12	.294	31	–	24	.564
UTEP ‍‍‍	2	–	15	.118	26	–	26	.500

x – Division champion ‡ – Championship Series champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1978^[11] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball


Upper round 1		Upper round 2		Upper final		Semifinals		Final



Michigan	4

Baylor	0
		Michigan	3

		Southern California	11
Southern California	9

Miami (FL)	3
				Southern California	5

				Arizona State	2
Oral Roberts	11
						Southern California	3
North Carolina	0
		Oral Roberts	6			North Carolina	2

		Arizona State	7
Arizona State	13

St. John's	2

								Southern California	10

		Lower round 1		Lower round 2				Arizona State	3



				Oral Roberts	3

		Baylor	1	Miami (FL)	5
						Arizona State	11
		Miami (FL)	12
						Miami (FL)	3
				Michigan	6

		North Carolina	9	North Carolina	7

		St. John's	5

v t e NCAA Division I baseball seasons
Pre-regulation	1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906
IAAUS	1907 1908 1909 1910
NCAA Pre-Tournament Era	1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946
NCAA Tournament Era	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

1978 NCAA Division I baseball season

Conference standings

College World Series

Award winners

All-America team

References

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks