The 2003 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was held May 30 through June 23, to conclude the 2003 NCAA Division I baseball season. 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 1950 through 1987, the College World Series was a true double elimination tournament. From 1988 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. ConferenceSchoolBerth type America East Tournament champion ACC Tournament champion Atlantic Sun Tournament champion A-10 Tournament champion Big East Tournament champion Big South Tournament champion Big Ten Tournament champion Big 12 Texas Tournament champion Big West Regular-season champion CAA Tournament champion Conference USA Tournament champion Horizon League Tournament champion Ivy League Championship series winner MAAC Tournament champion MAC Tournament champion Mid-Con Tournament champion MEAC Tournament champion Missouri Valley Tournament champion MWC Tournament champion NEC Tournament champion OVC Tournament champion Pac-10 Stanford Regular-season champion Patriot League Tournament champion SEC Tournament champion SoCon Tournament champion Southland Tournament champion SWAC Tournament champion Sun Belt Tournament champion WCC Championship series winner WAC Rice Regular-season champion
Bids by conference Conference Total Schools Southeastern 8 , , , Florida, LSU, , , Atlantic Coast 5 Clemson, , , , Big 12 5 , Missouri, , Texas, Conference USA 4 , , , Pacific-10 4 Arizona, , Stanford, Atlantic Sun 3 , , Big West 3 Cal State Fullerton, , Sun Belt 3 , , Big East 2 , Big Ten 2 , Colonial Athletic 2 , Missouri Valley 2 , Southland 2 , West Coast 2 , America East 1 Atlantic 10 1 Big South 1 Horizon 1 Independent 1 Miami (FL) Ivy 1 Metro Atlantic 1 Mid-American 1 Mid-Continent 1 Mid-Eastern 1 Mountain West 1 Northeast 1 Ohio Valley 1 Patriot 1 Southern 1 Southwestern Athletic 1 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.
LSU
Rice Stanford Cal State Fullerton Miami (FL)
Regionals and super regionals Bold indicates winner.
Tallahassee Super Regional
Baton Rouge Super Regional
Columbia Super Regional
Columbus Super Regional
Houston Super Regional The Houston Super Regional was hosted by Rice at Reckling Park.
Palo Alto Super Regional
Fullerton Super Regional
Coral Gables Super Regional
College World Series
Participants School Conference Record (conference) Head coach CWS appearances Best CWS finish CWS recordNot including this year 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 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 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
Bracket
Championship series
Saturday 6/21 Game #1
Sunday 6/22 Game #2
Monday 6/23 Game #3
All-Tournament Team
The following players were members of the College World Series All-Tournament Team. Position Player School P John Hudgins (MOP)StanfordJeff NiemannRice C Ryan GarkoStanford 1B Curtis ThigpenTexas 2B Enrique CruzRice 3B Johnny AshStanford SS Justin TurnerCal State Fullerton OF Chris KolkhorstRiceDanny PutnamStanfordCarlos QuentinStanford DH P. J. PilittereCal State Fullerton
References