The 2020 NCAA Division I baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began on February 14, 2020. On March 12, it was announced that the 2020 NCAA tournament would be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The decision whether to continue with an abbreviated season was left to individual schools and conferences.
Realignment Akron restarted its program within the Mid-American Conference. Akron previously dropped baseball after the 2015 season. Savannah State moved all sports to NCAA Division II, departing the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and returning to its former home of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Boise State restarted its program within the Mountain West Conference, but dropped it again in July due to a reduction in the athletic department's budget. Boise State previously dropped baseball after the 1980 season. Merrimack upgraded all sports, including baseball, to NCAA Division I from NCAA Division II, joining the Northeast Conference.
Format changes The MEAC dissolved its divisions.
Ballpark changes The 2020 season was to be the first for UConn at Elliot Ballpark, replacing J. O. Christian Field. The team was originally scheduled to play its first game there on March 29 against Seton Hall. Oklahoma State originally planned to inaugurate O'Brate Stadium on March 20, 2020, replacing Allie P. Reynolds Stadium after the first 14 home games of the 2020 season. The first scheduled game at the new ballpark was against the TCU Horned Frogs. Oklahoma State's season was canceled on March 13. The 2020 season was the last for Florida at McKethan Stadium, before the season was canceled on March 17. The team's last game at the venue was on March 10, a loss against the rival Florida State Seminoles. The 2020 season was expected to be the last that Marshall would play off-campus. The Thundering Herd scheduled most of its 2020 home games at Kennedy Center Field, part of a YMCA recreation camp about 7 miles from its Huntington, West Virginia campus; the remainder were at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, West Virginia, more than 50 miles from campus. Ground was broken on a new on-campus ballpark in October 2019, and the new facility is scheduled to open for 2021.
Season outlook
ESPN/USA Today Coaches RankingTeam1Vanderbilt2Louisville3Texas Tech4Georgia5Arkansas6Mississippi State7Miami (FL)8UCLA9Auburn10Florida11Michigan12LSU13Arizona State14Florida State15Stanford1617Oklahoma State18NC State192021Texas A&M2223Ole Miss2425Oregon State Collegiate Baseball News RankingTeam1Louisville2Vanderbilt3Texas Tech4Miami (FL)5Arizona State6Mississippi State7Georgia8Auburn9Arkansas10Michigan11LSU12UCLA1314Florida15Florida State16NC State1718Arizona19Oklahoma State20TCU21Texas A&M22Texas23South Alabama24Louisiana25StanfordD1BaseballRankingTeam1Louisville2Vanderbilt3Miami (FL)4Florida5Georgia6Texas Tech7Arkansas8Auburn9Arizona State10Mississippi State11LSU12Florida State13Michigan14UCLA1516NC State17Stanford181920Texas A&M2122Oklahoma State2324Oklahoma25Ole MissBaseball AmericaRankingTeam1Vanderbilt2Louisville3Arizona State4Florida5Miami (FL)6Texas Tech7Georgia8Michigan9Mississippi State10UCLA11Arkansas12Florida State13Auburn14LSU1516Oklahoma State17NC State1819Oklahoma202122Arizona23Dallas Baptist2425NCBWARankingTeam1Vanderbilt2Louisville3Texas Tech4Georgia5Miami (FL)6Arkansas7Arizona State8Florida9Mississippi State10Auburn11UCLA12Michigan13LSU14Florida State1516Stanford17NC State18Oklahoma State192021Texas A&M222324Oklahoma25Ole Miss
Conference standings
Aborted conference tournaments The below conferences would have ended their regular seasons with a single-elimination tournament or a double-elimination tournament; all were cancelled when the NCAA ended the spring sports season on March 12.
ConferenceTournament Venue (City)America East Conference LeLacheur Park • Lowell, MAAmerican Athletic Conference Spectrum Field • Clearwater, FLAtlantic 10 Conference The Diamond • Richmond, VAAtlantic Coast Conference BB&T Ballpark • Charlotte, NCAtlantic Sun Conference Swanson Stadium • Fort Myers, FLBig 12 Conference Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark • Oklahoma City, OKBig East Conference Prasco Park • Mason, OHBig South Conference Segra Stadium • Fayetteville, NCBig Ten Conference TD Ameritrade Park • Omaha, NEBig West Conference No tournament; regular-season champion would have earned automatic bidColonial Athletic Association Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park • Harrisonburg, VAConference USA MGM Park • Biloxi, MSHorizon League Regular-season champion home stadiumIvy League Campus sitesMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference Richmond County Bank Ballpark • Staten Island, NY Mid-American Conference Sprenger Stadium • Avon, OHMid-Eastern Athletic Conference Jackie Robinson Ballpark • Daytona Beach, FLMissouri Valley Conference Duffy Bass Field • Normal, ILMountain West Conference William Peccole Park • Reno, NVNortheast Conference Senator Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium • Norwich, CTOhio Valley Conference Rent One Park • Marion, ILPac-12 Conference No tournament; regular-season champion would have earned automatic bidPatriot League Campus sitesSoutheastern Conference Hoover Metropolitan Stadium • Hoover, ALSouthern Conference Fluor Field at the West End • Greenville, SCSouthland Conference Whataburger Field • Corpus Christi, TXSouthwestern Athletic Conference Wesley Barrow Stadium • New Orleans, LAThe Summit League J. L. Johnson Stadium • Tulsa, OKSun Belt Conference Springs Brooks Stadium • Conway, SCWest Coast Conference Banner Island Ballpark • Stockton, CAWestern Athletic Conference Hohokam Stadium • Meza, AZ
College World Series
The 2020 College World Series was scheduled to start on June 12 in Omaha, Nebraska, but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic and the NCAA prematurely ending spring sports for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Coaching changes This table lists programs that changed head coaches at any point from the first day of the 2020 season until the day before the first day of the 2021 season. TeamFormercoachInterimcoachNewcoachReason Boise State Gary Van Tol Program discontinued
References