The 2016 NCAA Division I baseball tournament began on Friday, June 3, 2016, as part of the 2016 NCAA Division I baseball season. The 64-team, double-elimination tournament concluded with the 2016 College World Series (CWS) in Omaha, Nebraska, starting on June 18, 2016, and ending on June 30, 2016. The 64 participating NCAA Division I college baseball teams were selected out of 298 eligible teams. Thirty-one teams were awarded an automatic bid, as champions of their conferences; the remaining 33 teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee.
Teams were divided into sixteen regionals of four teams, which conducted a double-elimination tournament. Regional champions faced each other in Super Regionals, a best-of-three-game series to determine the eight participants of the College World Series. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) set a conference record and tied the all-time mark of having ten teams in the championship field. A tournament-high seven regional hosts came from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), followed by six of the ten ACC schools; however, only Miami (ACC) and Florida (SEC) advanced to Omaha, and they were the first and second teams eliminated, respectively. For the first time since the tournament expanded from 48 teams in 1999, the NCAA did not select any Pac-12 schools to host a regional, and Lubbock, Texas, (Texas Tech) was the westernmost regional host city picked by the selection committee.
In the CWS after Texas Tech lost to Big 12 rival TCU, none of the three national seeds who had reached Omaha had won their opening game. Tech eventually became the fourth team to be eliminated. While Oklahoma State and TCU advanced through the winners' bracket to set up a possible all–Big 12 championship, Arizona and Coastal Carolina won both elimination games to advance to the best-of-three final series.
With each team winning a game in the championship series to force a winner-take-all Game 3, the tournament reached the maximum of 17 games for the first time; the finals expanded in 2003 to a best-of-three format as opposed to a single, winner-take-all championship game. Coastal Carolina won the deciding game, 4–3, becoming the first team since 1956 to win the title in its first CWS appearance. Coastal Carolina won six elimination games in NCAA post-season play – one in a Regional, three in the CWS double-elimination bracket, and two in the Championship Series. The runner-up, Arizona, won six elimination games – three in a Regional and three in the CWS double-elimination bracket, but lost their 7th, the last game of the Championship Series.
This was the first, and as of 2025, only, national championship won by the Coastal Carolina athletic program in any sport. In addition, this remains the only team national championship won in any sport by a member of the Big South Conference (hours after Coastal Carolina won the title game, they officially left the Big South and became members of the Sun Belt Conference.)
Bids
Automatic bids
School Conference Record (Conf) Berth Last NCAA appearance America East 30–23 (19–5) Tournament 2014 (Stillwater Regional) Connecticut American 37–23 (14–9) Tournament 2013 (Blacksburg Regional) Clemson ACC 42–18 (16–14) Tournament 2015 (Fullerton Regional) Atlantic Sun 29–29 (9–12) Tournament 2011 (Columbia Regional) Atlantic 10 30–25 (18–6) Tournament 2005 (Long Beach Regional) TCU Big 12 42–15 (15–9) Tournament 2015 (Fort Worth Regional) Big East 30–28 (14–4) Tournament 2014 (Nashville Regional) Coastal Carolina Big South 44–15 (21–3) Tournament 2015 (College Station Regional) Big Ten 43–18–1 (15–9) Tournament 2009 (Tallahassee Regional) Big West 35–21 (17–7) Regular season 2015 (Fullerton Regional) Colonial 29–29 (14–9) Tournament 2013 (Raleigh Regional) Conference USA 40–18 (20–10) Tournament 2011 (Atlanta Regional) Horizon 44–15 (23–6) Tournament 2015 (Champaign Regional) Ivy League 24–19 (13–7) Championship series 2011 (Austin Regional) Metro Atlantic 32–24 (17–7) Tournament First Appearance Mid-American 22–32 (11–13) Tournament 1989 (Midwest Regional) Mid-Eastern 29–25 (17–7) Tournament 2014 (Coral Gables Regional) Missouri Valley 41–17 (15–5) Tournament 2015 (Dallas Regional) Mountain West 38–21 (20–10) Tournament 2013 (Fullerton Regional) Northeast 47–10 (26–4) Tournament 2014 (Baton Rouge Regional) Ohio Valley 39–19 (22–8) Tournament 2002 (Tuscaloosa Regional) Pac-12 25–27 (19–11) Regular season 2009 (Fullerton Regional) Patriot 42–14–1 (15–5) Tournament 2011 (Charlottesville Regional) Texas A&M Southeastern 45–14 (20–10) Tournament 2015 (College Station Regional) Southern 30–29 (15–9) Tournament 2007 (Chapel Hill Regional) Southland 41–20 (24–6) Tournament 2014 (Fort Worth Regional) Southwestern Athletic 38–15 (24–0) Tournament First Appearance Summit 38–19 (22–8) Tournament 2014 (Waco Regional) Louisiana–Lafayette Sun Belt 41–19 (21–9) Tournament 2015 (Houston Regional) West Coast 33–23 (18–9) Tournament First Appearance Western Athletic 37–21 (18–9) Tournament First Appearance
By conference
Conference Total Schools ACC10 Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (FL), NC State, Virginia, Wake Forest SEC7 Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt Conference USA4 Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Rice, Southern Miss Pac-124 Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Washington American3 East Carolina, Tulane, UConn Big Ten3 Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State Big 123 Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech Big West3 Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara Colonial2 UNC Wilmington, William & Mary Southland2 Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana Sun Belt 2 Louisiana–Lafayette, South Alabama West Coast2 Gonzaga, Saint Mary's (CA) America East1 Binghamton Atlantic 101 Rhode Island Atlantic Sun1 Stetson Big East1 Xavier Big South1 Coastal Carolina Horizon1 Wright State Ivy1 Princeton MAAC1 Fairfield Mid-American1 Western Michigan MEAC1 Bethune-Cookman Missouri Valley1 Dallas Baptist Mountain West1 New Mexico NEC1 Bryant Ohio Valley1 Southeast Missouri State Patriot1 Navy Southern1 Western Carolina SWAC1 Alabama State Summit1 Oral Roberts WAC1 Utah Valley
National seeds The following eight teams automatically host a Super Regional if they advance to that round: Florida Louisville ‡ Miami (FL) Texas A&M ‡ Texas Tech Mississippi State ‡ Clemson † ‡
Bold indicates College World Series participant † indicates teams that were eliminated in the Regional Tournament ‡ indicates teams that were eliminated in the Super Regional Tournament
Regionals and Super Regionals Bold indicates winner. Seeds for regional tournaments indicate seeds within regional. Seeds for super regional tournaments indicate national seeds only.
Gainesville Super Regional
Baton Rouge Super Regional
College Station Super Regional
Lubbock Super Regional
Coral Gables Super Regional
Starkville Super Regional
Louisville Super Regional This regional had high drama when UC Santa Barbara trailed Louisville 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th inning in game 2 of the super regional final. The Gauchos loaded the bases off all-American reliever Zack Burdi and then back up catcher Sam Cohen hit a pinch hit grand slam to send the Gauchos to Omaha for the first time.
Columbia Super Regional
College World Series The College World Series was held at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.
Participants School Conference Record (conference) Head coach Previous CWS Appearances Best CWS Finish CWS recordNot including this year Arizona Pac-12 44–21 (16–14) Jay Johnson 16(last: 2012) 1st(1976, 1980, 1986, 2012) 38–27 Coastal Carolina Big South 49–16 (21–3) Gary Gilmore none none 0–0 Florida SEC 52–14 (19–10) Kevin O'Sullivan 9(last: 2015) 2nd(2005, 2011) 14–19 Miami (FL) ACC 50–12 (21–7) Jim Morris 24(last: 2015) 1st(1982, 1985, 1999, 2001) 48–40 Oklahoma State Big 12 39–20 (16–8) Josh Holliday 19(last: 1999) 1st(1959) 38–36 TCU Big 12 47–16 (15–9) Jim Schlossnagle 3(last: 2015) 3rd(2010, 2015) 6–6 Texas Tech Big 12 44–16 (19–5) Tim Tadlock 1(2014) 7th(2014) 0–2 UC Santa Barbara Big West 42–18–1 (13–11) Andrew Checketts none none 0–0
Bracket Seeds listed below indicate national seeds only
Game results Date Game Winner Score Loser Winning pitcher Losing pitcher Save Notes June 18 Game 1 Oklahoma State 1–0 UC Santa Barbara Thomas Hatch (9–2) Shane Bieber (12–4) — Game 2 Arizona 5–1 Miami (FL) Nathan Bannister (12–2) Michael Mediavilla (11–2) — June 19 Game 3 TCU 5–3 Texas Tech Ryan Burnett (3–1) Robert Dugger (6–1) Durbin Feltman (9) Game 4 Coastal Carolina 2–1 Florida Andrew Beckwith (13–1) Logan Shore (12–1) — June 20 Game 5 UC Santa Barbara 5–3 Miami (FL) Noah Davis (7–4) Danny Garcia (9–5) Kyle Nelson (10) Miami (FL) eliminated Game 6 Oklahoma State 1–0 Arizona Tyler Buffett (9–3) Bobby Dalbec (10–5) Trey Cobb (6) June 21 Game 7 Texas Tech 3–2 Florida Davis Martin (10–1) Alex Faedo (13–3) Hayden Howard (9) Florida eliminated Game 8 TCU 6–1 Coastal Carolina Brian Howard (10–2) Alex Cunningham (9–4) Ryan Burnett (1) June 22 Game 9 Arizona 3–0 UC Santa Barbara J.C. Cloney (7–4) Justin Kelly (2–1) Cameron Ming (3) UC Santa Barbara eliminated June 23 Game 10 Coastal Carolina 7–5 Texas Tech Mike Morrison (8–1) Erikson Lanning (3–4) Bobby Holmes (4) Texas Tech eliminated June 24 Game 11 Arizona 9–3 Oklahoma State Kevin Ginkel (5–1) Jensen Elliot (9–5) Cameron Ming (4) Game 12 Coastal Carolina 4–1 TCU Andrew Beckwith (14–1) Michael Traver (1–3) — June 25 Game 13 Arizona 5–1 Oklahoma State Bobby Dalbec (11–5) Thomas Hatch (9–3) Alfonso Rivas III (3) Oklahoma State eliminatedGame 14 Coastal Carolina 7–5 TCU Alex Cunningham (10–4) Jared Janczak (7–4) — TCU eliminated June 27 Final Game 1 Arizona 3–0 Coastal Carolina J.C. Cloney (8–4) Zack Hopeck (3–4) — June 28 Final Game 2 Coastal Carolina 5–4 Arizona Bobby Holmes (7–2) Cameron Ming (3–3) — June 30 Final Game 3 Coastal Carolina 4–3 Arizona Andrew Beckwith (15–1) Bobby Dalbec (11–6) Alex Cunningham (1) Coastal Carolina wins CWS
All-Tournament Team The following players were members of the College World Series All-Tournament Team. Position Player School P Andrew Beckwith (MOP) Coastal Carolina J. C. Cloney Arizona C David Parrett Coastal Carolina 1B Ryan Aguilar Arizona 2B Cody Ramer Arizona 3B Zach Remillard Coastal Carolina SS Ryan Merrill TCU OF Anthony Marks Coastal Carolina Zach Gibbons Arizona Jared Oliva Arizona DH Luken Baker TCU
Final standings Seeds listed below indicate national seeds only Place School Record 1stCoastal Carolina11–3 2ndArizona11–4 3rdOklahoma State 7–2TCU7–3 5thUC Santa Barbara6–2 5 Texas Tech6–4 7th 1 Florida5–3 3 Miami5–3 9th Boston College4–2East Carolina4–2Florida State4–2 2 Louisville3–2 8 LSU3–3 6 Mississippi State3–2South Carolina4–3 4 Texas A&M4–2 17th Arizona State2–2 7 Clemson2–2Dallas Baptist3–2Georgia Tech2–2Long Beach State2–2Louisiana–Lafayette2–2Louisiana Tech2–2Minnesota2–2NC State3–2Rice3–2South Alabama2–2Tulane2–2UNC Wilmington2–2William & Mary2–2Wright State2–2Xavier2–2 33rdCal State Fullerton1–2Connecticut1–2Florida Atlantic1–2Gonzaga1–2Navy1–2New Mexico1–2Ohio State1–2Rhode Island1–2Sam Houston State1–2Southeastern Louisiana1–2Southern Miss1–2Utah1–2Virginia1–2Wake Forest1–2Washington1–2Western Carolina1–2 49thAlabama State0–2Bethune-Cookman0–2Binghamton0–2Bryant0–2Duke0–2Fairfield0–2Nebraska0–2Ole Miss0–2Oral Roberts0–2Princeton0–2Saint Mary's (CA)0–2Southeast Missouri State0–2Stetson0–2Utah Valley0–2Vanderbilt0–2Western Michigan0–2
Record by conference Conference# of BidsRecordWin %Nc RecordNc Win %RFSRWSNSCSNC Big South 1 11–3 11–3 1 1 1 1 1 1Pac-12 4 15–10 15–10 2 1 1 1 1 Big 12 3 20–9 19–8 3 3 3 2 Southeastern 7 19–17 19–17 5 5 1 Atlantic Coast 10 25–21 22–18 7 4 1 Big West 3 9–6 9–6 2 1 1 American 3 7–6 7–6 2 1 Conference USA 4 7–8 7–8 2 Colonial 2 4–4 4–4 2 Sun Belt 2 4–4 4–4 2 Big Ten 3 3–6 3–6 1 Southland 2 2–4 2–4 West Coast 2 1–4 1–4 Other 11–36 11–36 3