2018 NCAA Division I baseball tournament
The 2018 NCAA Division I baseball tournament began on Friday, June 1, 2018, as part of the 2018 NCAA Division I baseball season. The 64-team, double-elimination tournament concluded with the 2018 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, starting on June 16 and ended on June 28. The Oregon State Beavers defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks in the best-of-three final series to win the championship.
| Season | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 64 |
| Finals site |
|
| Champions | Oregon State Beavers (3rd title) |
| Runner-up | Arkansas Razorbacks (9th CWS Appearance) |
| Winning coach | Pat Casey (3rd title) |
| MOP | Adley Rutschman (Oregon State) |
| Television | ESPN |
The 64 participating NCAA Division I college baseball teams were selected out of an eligible 298 teams. Thirty-one teams will be awarded an automatic bid as champions of their conferences, and 33 teams will be 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 competed in Super Regionals, a best-of-three-game series, to determine the eight participants in the College World Series. For the first time, the Tournament seeded the top 16 teams instead of pairing teams generally along geographical lines.
In the championship series, Arkansas won the first game and held a 3–2 lead entering the top of the ninth inning in game 2. With two outs and a runner on third, Oregon State shortstop Cadyn Grenier popped a foul ball down the right field line that multiple Razorback players appeared to have a play on. Had the ball been caught, Arkansas would have won their first national championship in baseball; instead, the ball dropped between the first baseman, second baseman, and right fielder to continue the at-bat. Two pitches later, with the Beavers down to their final strike, Grenier singled in the tying run, and was followed by Trevor Larnach's two-run homer to give OSU a 5–3 lead and the eventual victory to even the series. The following day, Oregon State freshman Kevin Abel – who threw 23 pitches the previous night – notched a 129-pitch complete game shutout, allowing just two hits and retiring the final 20 Razorback hitters to secure the Beavers' third national title in baseball. Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman was named College World Series Most Outstanding Player after collecting 13 RBI's and a College World Series record 17 hits.