The 1987 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1987 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 forty first 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 forty-first tournament's champion was Stanford, coached by Mark Marquess. The Most Outstanding Player was Paul Carey of Stanford.

National seeds For the first time, the NCAA selected eight national seeds and placed each in a different regional.

Bold indicates CWS participant.

Arkansas Cal State Fullerton Florida State Georgia Tech Oklahoma State Pepperdine Stanford Texas

Regionals

The opening rounds of the tournament were played across eight regional sites across the country, each consisting of six teams. The winners of each Regional advanced to the College World Series.

Bold indicates winner.

Atlantic Regional at Coral Gables, FL

Central Regional at Austin, TX

Mideast Regional at Starkville, MS

Northeast Regional at Atlanta, GA

South I Regional at Huntsville, AL

South II Regional at New Orleans, LA

West I Regional at Stanford, CA

West II Regional at Tempe, AZ

College World Series This was the last CWS to use a double-elimination format through the championship game. Under the format used from 1950 through 1987, the bracket was often adjusted after the field was pared to four teams in order to avoid rematches from earlier rounds. Starting in 1988 and continuing through 2002, the eight teams were divided into two four-team brackets, with the bracket winners meeting in a single championship game. In 2003, the single championship game was changed to a best-of-three series.

This CWS was best known for Stanford's dramatic 6-5 win over LSU in an elimination game. In that game, Stanford trailed 5-2 in the bottom of the 10th inning with 2 outs and nobody on base. Eventually, Freshman outfielder Paul Carey hit a walk off grand slam home run off LSU freshman (and future major leaguer) Ben McDonald to win the game.

Participants School Conference Record (conference) Head coach CWS appearances CWS best finish CWS record Arizona State Pac-10 40–25 (16–14) Jim Brock 13(last: 1984) 1st(1965, 1967, 1969, 1977, 1981) 46–21 Arkansas SWC 50–14–1 (17–4) Norm DeBriyn 2(last: 1985) 2nd(1979) 5–4 Florida State Metro 54–16 (19–4) Mike Martin 8(last: 1986) 2nd(1970, 1986) 12–16 SEC 42–19 (18–8) Steve Webber 0(last: none) none 0–0 LSU SEC 47–17 (12–10) Skip Bertman 1(last: 1986) 6th(1986) 1–2 Oklahoma State Big 8 56–11 (15–6) Gary Ward 14(last: 1986) 1st(1959) 30–27 Stanford Pac-10 48–16 (21–9) Mark Marquess 5(last: 1985) 3rd(1967) 7–10 Texas SWC 58–9 (18–3) Cliff Gustafson 23(last: 1985) 1st(1949, 1950, 1975, 1983) 55–40

Results

Bracket

Game results

Date Game Winner Score Loser Notes May 29 Game 1 Oklahoma State 8–3 Arizona State Game 2 LSU 6–2 (10 innings) Florida State May 30 Game 3 Texas 13–6 Arkansas Game 4 Stanford 3–2 May 31 Game 5 Florida State 3–0 Arizona State Arizona State eliminated Game 6 Arkansas 5–4 Georgia eliminated June 1/2 Game 7 Oklahoma State 8–7 LSU June 2 Game 8 Stanford 6–1 Texas June 3 Game 9 LSU 5–2 Arkansas Arkansas eliminated Game 10 Texas 6–4 (10 innings) Florida State Florida State eliminated June 4 Game 11 Oklahoma State 6–2 Stanford Oklahoma State qualified for final June 5 Game 12 Stanford 6–5 (10 innings) LSU LSU eliminated Game 13 Texas 6–5 Oklahoma State June 6 Game 14 Stanford 9–3 Texas Texas eliminated June 7 Final Stanford 9–5 Oklahoma State Stanford wins CWS The Oklahoma State-LSU game was suspended overnight due to severe thunderstorms.

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

Position Player School P Pat Hope Oklahoma State Gregg Patterson LSU C Adam Smith Oklahoma State 1B Jimmy Barragan Oklahoma State 2B Brad Beanblossom Oklahoma State 3B Scott Coolbaugh Texas SS David Esquer Stanford OF Paul Carey (MOP) Stanford Brian Cisarik Texas Jack Voigt LSU DH Mark Machtolf Stanford

Notable players Arizona State: Mike Benjamin, Blas Minor, Mike Schwabe, Tim Spehr Arkansas: Jimmy Kremers, Mike Oquist, Tim Sherrill Florida State: Rafael Bournigal, Matt Dunbar, Richie Lewis, Jerry Nielsen, Deion Sanders Georgia: Cris Carpenter, Steve Carter, Derek Lilliquist LSU: Albert Belle, Mark Guthrie, Barry Manuel, Ben McDonald, Russ Springer, Jack Voigt Oklahoma State: Monty Fariss, Tim Pugh, Robin Ventura Stanford: Ruben Amaro, Paul Carey, Steve Chitren, Toi Cook, David Esquer, Brian Johnson, Brian Keyser, Mark Machtolf, Jack McDowell, Al Osuna, Ed Sprague, Ron Witmeyer Texas: Scott Coolbaugh, Todd Haney, Mark Petkovsek

See also 1987 NCAA Division I softball tournament 1987 NCAA Division II baseball tournament 1987 NCAA Division III baseball tournament 1987 NAIA World Series

References