The Road To Omaha statue outside TD Ameritrade Park awaits eight CWS teams (Kirk Markus photo).

Just five days remain until the selections are announced for this year’s NCAA Division One Baseball Tournament. We always receive questions about how selections are made and just how the whole process works.

The tournament starts in just over a week with a field of 64 and culminates with the College World Series in Omaha in June. With all that in mind, here’s a look at how selections will be made this weekend, who is on the selection committee and the formats for the Regional, Super Regional and CWS rounds of the NCAA baseball tournament.

• 64 teams will qualify for the NCAA Baseball Championship.
• 30 of the 64 teams that qualify for the tournament will receive automatic bids based on winning conference championships. Most of those automatic bids go to teams that win their conference tournaments.
• The minimum requirement for at-large selection is an above .500 record against Division One competition.
• The West Coast Conference, Big West and Pac-10 do not sponsor postseason tournaments, so their automatic bids go to the regular-season champion.
• Since there are only 30 automatic bids, 34 at-large spots in the tournament are selected by the NCAA baseball committee.
• The committee uses the Rating Percentage Index (RPI), a computer program that provides the committee with (1) the institution’s Division I winning percentage, (2) opponents’ success and (3) opponents’ strength of schedule. The RPI is an additional tool used in the evaluation of at-large teams. Please note that the adjusted RPI takes into account a bonus/penalty structure. Bonus and penalty values only will be used for non-conference games.
• Regular-season conference standings and/or conference postseason competition shall be considered by the committee when selecting at-large teams.
• The committee may consider comparing data of individual teams, including, but not limited to, overall record, Division I record, overall RPI rank, non-conference record and RPI rank, conference regular-season record and conference tournament results, road record and RPI, last 15 games’ record, its record against teams ranked 1-25, 26-50, 51-100, 101-150 and below 150 in the RPI, head-to-head record, common opponents’ record and input from regional advisory committees.

The same criteria is also used to determine seeding for Regionals and the top-eight national seeds. RPI was said to have been de-emphasized last year, but it is still a huge factor in the selection and seeding process.

The top-eight national seeds essentially are the eight teams that (at least in theory) should make it to the College World Series. Top-eight seeds are guaranteed they would not have to play each other until the CWS.

Regional host sites will be announced on Sunday, May 27, while the field of 64 will be announced on Monday, May 28 (Memorial Day). Selections will be televised on ESPNU.

CLICK HERE to see the list of 30 automatic qualifiers.

The 2012 NCAA Selection Committee

Kyle Kallander – Big South Conference Commissioner
Gary Overton – East Carolina Assistant Athletic Director
David Heeke – Central Michigan Athletic Director
John Hardt – Bucknell Athletic Director
Larry Gallo – North Carolina Associate Athletic Director
Dennis Farrell – Big West Conference Commissioner
Chris Monasch – St.John’s Athletic Director
Mark LaBarbera – Valparaiso Athletic Director
Eric Hyman – South Carolina Athletic Director
Randy L. Buhr – Washington State Associate Athletic Director

The Road To Omaha leads to TD Ameritrade Park and The Dugout – located right across the street from TDA’s home plate entrance. The Dugouthas a ton of authentic college baseball caps – just like the ones the players wear on the field.

If you’re going to Omaha for the College World Series make sure to make your first stop The Dugout for all officially licensed CWS apparel. If you can’t make it to Omaha just follow our red links to The Dugout!

Here’s how the tournament is formatted:

Regionals

• 16 four-team Regional tournaments take place at different locations around the country.
• Ordinarily, all Regional and Super Regional tournaments are located on or near the campus of one of the competing institutions; however, a Regional or Super Regional tournament may be scheduled at a neutral site provided advance approval is obtained from the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet.
• The committee shall attempt to place Regional tournaments so that maximum national balance can be obtained, preferably at least one Regional in each of the eight Division I baseball regions.
• Except for the 16 No. 1 Regional seeds, the pairings for the Regionals, whenever possible, will be based on closest geographical location of the teams to the tournament sites. Teams may be moved outside their regions, if necessary, to balance the bracket, or if the proximity to an opponent outside the region would be comparable and a better competitive matchup would occur.
• Two teams from the same conference cannot be placed in the same Regional.
• Teams from the same conference that are seeded first in their respective Regional will be placed on the bracket to avoid potentially meeting in a Super Regional.
• Typically, #1 seeds host Regionals, but it is possible for a #2 seed to host.
• Teams are seeded 1-4 within each Regional, with the #1 seed playing the #4 seed and the #2 seed playing the #3 seed on the first day of the tournament.
• The tournament is played out in a double-elimination format, with the winner advancing to one of eight Super Regionals.
• As noted below, one change made a couple years back is that the potential game-7 of a Regional (i.e. both teams have one loss) is played on Monday, whereas it used to be played on Sunday night (barring weather rescheduling, there never will be more than two games played in one day at a Regional site).

Here’s the Regional format:

Day 1
Game 1 — No. 1 seed vs. No. 4
Game 2 — No. 2 vs. No. 3

Day 2
Game 3 — Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Day 3
Game 5 — Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 6 — Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5

Day 4
Game 7 — If necessary, same teams as in Game 6

Super Regionals

• Two teams will play a best 2-of-3 format to determine the Super Regional winner.
• Super Regional competition takes place at on-campus sites or alternate sites that are approved by the baseball committee.
• Consideration for hosting shall be given to the higher seed, including the eight national seeds, if a suitable hosting proposal has been received (e.g., meets financial guarantee and quality of facility criteria). If the higher seed has not submitted a proposal, the lower-seeded team will host if its proposal is acceptable.
• If the Super Regional matchup is between equally-seeded teams, the committee shall review the hosting proposals according to the site selection criteria (e.g., quality and availability of the facility, revenue potential and other available accommodations) to determine the host. If only one of the teams has submitted a
  proposal, that team shall host if the proposal is acceptable.
• Winners of the eight Super Regional tournaments will qualify for the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
• The 2012 College World Series begins on Friday, June 15 and runs through Monday/Tuesday June 25/26.

Note: While the tournament starts with 16 #1 seeds, for the purposes of Super Regional pairings only the top-eight national seeds are taken into consideration. According to the NCAA, the other eight #1 Regional seeds all “become a nine seed” when it comes to pairing which Regionals will face off in the Super Regional round. Super Regional pairings are made based on geography rather than actual seed.

Here’s the Super Regional format:

Day 1: Game 1 — Team A vs. Team B
Day 2: Game 2 — Team A vs. Team B
Day 3: Game 3 — if necessary, Team A vs. Team B

College World Series

• The eight winners of the Super Regional competitions will advance to the College World Series.
• Two four-team brackets will play a double-elimination tournaments to determine the bracket champions (similar to the regional format). The winner of each of those brackets advances to the CWS Finals.
• The CWS Finals best 2-of-3 format consists of single games Sun., Mon. and Tues. (if necessary), June 24-26.

Information is listed below on this page for all college baseball Division One conference tournaments as well as information on conference that do not have postseason conference tournaments. Keep track of all of the action on this page leading up to next Monday’s (5/28) NCAA Tournament selection day.

A total of 30 automatic NCAA Tournament bids will be claimed this week. We will post them here as they are secured.

The Road To Omaha leads to TD Ameritrade Park and The Dugout – located right across the street from TDA’s home plate entrance. The Dugout has a ton of authentic college baseball caps – just like the ones the players wear on the field.

If you’re going to Omaha for the College World Series make sure to make your first stop The Dugout for all officially licensed CWS apparel. If you can’t make it to Omaha just follow our red links to The Dugout!

2012 NCAA Tournament Automatic Bids (30)

Cornell (Ivy League)
Bethune-Cookman (MEAC)
Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference)
Army (Patriot League)
Prairie View A&M (SWAC)

America East Conference

Four team tournament May 23-25 on field of the highest seed

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Maine

ACC

Eight team tournament May 23-27 – Greensboro, NC

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Virginia

Atlantic Sun Conference

Six team tournament hosted by Stetson May 23-26 – Deland, FL

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Belmont

Atlantic 10 Conference

Four team tournament hosted by Fordham May 23-26 – Bronx, NY

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Charlotte

Big East Conference

Eight team tournament May 23-27 – Clearwater, FL

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Seton Hall

Big South Conference

Eight team tournament May 22-26 – High Point, NC

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Coastal Carolina

Big Ten Conference

Six team tournament May 23-26 – Columbus, OH

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Illinois

Big 12 Conference

Eight team tournament May 23-27 – Oklahoma City, OK

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Texas A&M

Big West Conference

No tournament – Automatic bid to regular season champion

Defending Champion: Cal State Fullerton

Colonial Athletic Association

Six team tournament May 23-26 – Harrisonburg, VA

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: James Madison

Conference USA

Eight team tournament May 23-27 – Pearl, MS

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Rice

Great West Conference

* Does not receive an automatic NCAA Tournament bid

May 22-26 – hosted by Utah Valley

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: North Dakota

Horizon League

Six team tournament May 23-26 – Chicago, IL

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Wright State

Ivy League

Best of three championship series May 5-6 – Ithaca, NY

2012 Automatic Bid: Cornell (Def. Dartmouth two games to one)

Defending Champion: Princeton

Metro Atlantic Conference

Four team tournament May 24-27 – Troy, NY

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Manhattan

Mid-American Conference

Eight team tournament May 23-26 – Avon, OH

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Kent State

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Eight team tournament May 16-20 – Norfolk, VA

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Bethune-Cookman

2012 Champion: Bethune-Cookman (def. Delaware St. 8-3)

Missouri Valley Conference

Eight team tournament May 22-26 – Springfield, MO

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Creighton

Mountain West Conference

Four team tournament May 24-27 – Las Vegas, NV

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: New Mexico

Northeast Conference

Four team tournament May 17-19  – Norwich, CT

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Sacred Heart

Ohio Valley Conference

Six team tournament May 23-27 – Jackson, TN

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Austin Peay

Pac-12 Conference

No tournament – Automatic bid to regular season champion

Defending Champion: UCLA

Patriot League

Best of three semifinals May 12-13

No. 1 Army def. No. 4 Lafayette  (2-0) – West Point, NY

No. 2 Holy Cross def. No. 3 Navy (2-0) – Worcester, MA

Best of three championship series May 19-20 Army hosts Holy Cross

Defending Champion: Navy

SEC

Ten team tournament May 22-27 – Hoover, AL

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Florida

Southern Conference

Eight team tournament May 23-27 – Greenville, SC

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Georgia Southern

Southland Conference

Eight team tournament May 23-26 – San Marcos, TX

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Texas State

Southwestern Athletic Conference

Eight team tournament May 16-20 – Baton Rouge, LA

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Alcorn State

2012 Champion: Prairie View A&M (def. Mississippi Valley St. 7-4)

Summit League

Four team tournament May 24-26 – Tulsa, OK

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Oral Roberts

Sun Belt Conference

Eight team tournament May 23-27 – Bowling Green, KY

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Troy

West Coast Conference

No tournament – Automatic bid to regular season champion

Defending Champion: San Francisco

Western Athletic Conference

Four team tournament May 23-27 – Mesa, AZ

2012 Tournament Web Site

Defending Champion: Fresno State

Utah Valley's Goose Kallunki is among the national leaders in home runs, slugging percentage and RBIs.

Following is our latest look at select top 10 statistical leaders for the 2012 season in Division One baseball. With some postseason conference tournaments already concluded and the others beginning this week, these are the final stats from the regular season (although some conferences like the Pac-12 conclude their regular season this week and do not play a conference tournament). These are the official stats as compiled by the NCAA for games through Sunday, May 20.

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. They also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

Right now, The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

BATTING AVERAGE

1. Raph Rhymes – LSU .469
2. Danny Poma – Hofstra .435
3. Michael Felton – Campbell .431
4. Goose Kallunki – Utah Valley .429
5. Trenton Moses – Southeast Missouri St. .426
6. D.J. Peterson – New Mexico .422
7. Roger Bernal – UT Pan American .421
8. Albert Carpen – Chicago St. .416
9. Thomas Brown – Grambling .410
10. Royce Bolinger – Gonzaga .401
Mat Honchel – Miami (OH) .401

Goose Kallunki

RBIs

1. Goose Kallunki – Utah Valley 80
2. Michael Conforto – Oregon St. 69
3. D.J. Hicks – Central Florida 68
D.J. Peterson – New Mexico 68
5. Joel Hutter – Dallas Baptist 66
6. Sean Bignall – Arkansas Little Rock 64
Jared Hammer – Hofstra 64
8. Johnny Coy – Wichita St. 62
Jacob Wilson – Memphis 62
10. C.J. Gillman – Dayton 61

Brandon Miller

HOME RUNS

1. Brandon Miller – Samford 20
Matthew Scruggs – East Tennessee St. 20
3. Trenton Moses – Southeast Missouri St. 19
4. Sean Bignall – Arkansas Little Rock 18
Chris Cowell – Richmond 18
Zach Stephens – Tennessee Tech 18
Ben Waldrip – Jacksonville St. 18
8. Goose Kallunki – Utah Valley 17
Daniel Kassouf – Appalachian St. 17
Mac Williamson – Wake Forest 17

Trenton Moses

SLUGGING PERCENTAGE

1. Trenton Moses – Southeast Missouri St. .802
2. Goose Kallunki – Utah Valley .750
3. D.J. Peterson – New Mexico .726
4. Patrick Kivlehan – Rutgers .710
5. Sean Bignall – Arkansas Little Rock .696
Zach Stephens – Tennessee Tech .696
7. William Carmona – Stony Brook .690
Richie Rodriguez – Eastern Kentucky .690
9. Kris Bryant – San Diego .687
10. Ben Waldrip – Jacksonville St. .682

Trenton Moses

ON BASE PERCENTAGE

1. Trenton Moses – Southeast Missouri St. .549
2. Raph Rhymes – LSU  .522
3. James Ramsey – Florida St. .520
4. Albert Carpen – Chicago St. .519
5. Danny Poma – Hofstra .504
6. Jamodrick McGruder – Texas Tech .500
7. Mike Martinez – Florida International .498
8. Zac Mitchell – Belmont .492
Johnny Field – Arizona .492
Forrestt Allday – Central Arkansas .492

Danny Poma

DOUBLES

1. Danny Poma – Hofstra 31
2. Bill Cullen – Virginia Commonwealth 25
Mitchell Garver – New Mexico 25
Jimmy Rider – Kent St. 25
5. Chris Serritella – Southern Illinois 24
Mike Zuninio – Florida 24
7. Jeff Cammans – Rhode Island 23
Chris Diaz – North Carolina St. 23
Matt Frazer – West Virginia 23
10. Boomer Collins – Dallas Baptist 22
Eduardo Gonzalez – Alcorn St. 22
Ryan Haas – Delaware St. 22
Chad Pinder – Virginia Tech 22
Logan Vick – Baylor 22

Nathan Burns

TRIPLES

1. Nathan Burns – Florida International 9
Tim Colwell – North Dakota St. 9
Bill Cullen – Virginia Commonwealth 9
Travis Jankowski – Stony Brook 9
5. Jake Arrington – Sam Houston St. 8
Thomas Brittle – Clemson 8
Austin Elkins – Dallas Baptist 8
Derek Fisher – Virginia 8
Nolan Gaige – Albany 8
Jake Gonzalez – Houston Baptist 8
Tony Kemp – Vanderbilt 8
Jamodrick McGruder – Texas Tech 8
Josh Melendez – New Mexico 8
Adrian Schenk – Northern Colorado 8
Casey Selsor – UT San Antonio 8

Trea Turner

STOLEN BASES

1. Trea Turner – North Carolina St. 54
2. Jonathon Murphy – Jacksonville 40
3. Jamodrick McGruder – Texas Tech 39
4. Michael Faulkner – Arkansas St. 38
5. Richard Amion – Alabama St. 36
Brock Hebert – Southeastern Louisiana 36
7. Glen Walker – Jackson St. 35
8. Brian Blasik – Dayton 34
Travis Jankowski – Stony Brook 34
Ian Miller – Wagner 34

Nick Petree

ERA

Pitchers must have 1.0 IP for every game played by team & minimum of 50.0 IP

1. Nick Petree – Missouri St. 0.91
2. Aaron Burke – Coastal Carolina 1.21
3. Joe Popielarczyk – UMass 1.24
4. Clay Murphy – Missouri St. 1.37
5. Ricky Holden – UNC Wilmington 1.43
6. James Pazos – San Diego 1.49
7. Matt Fyffe – Eastern Kentucky 1.51
8. Preston Morrison – TCU 1.55
9. Corey Knebel – Texas 1.56
10. Carlos Rodon – North Carolina St. 1.59

Quintavious Drains

WINS

1. Quintavious Drains – Jackson St. 11
Josh Martin – Samford 11
Chris Rowley – Army 11
4. Travis Ballew – Texas St. 10
Trent Blank – Baylor 10
Mike Compton – Florida St. 10
Lance Day – UT Arlington 10
Jordan Elliott – Delaware St. 10
Jeremy Gendlek – Utah Valley 10
Kurt Heyer – Arizona 10
Alex Keudell – Oregon 10
Nick Petree – Missouri St. 10
Brady Rodgers – Arizona St. 10
Desmond Russell – Jackson St. 10
Chris Stratton – Mississippi St. 10
Ross Stripling – Texas A&M 10
Michael Trionfo – Towson 10
Trevor Williams – Arizona St. 10

Marcus Stroman

STRIKEOUTS

1. Marcus Stroman – Duke 136
2. Andrew Heaney – Oklahoma St. 132
3. Kevin Gausman – LSU 118
4. Chris Stratton – Mississippi St. 115
5. Travis Ballew – Texas St. 114
Carlos Rodon – North Carolina St. 114
7. Mark Appel – Stanford 108
8. Chris Beck – Georgia Southern 107
Daniel Minor – Texas A&M Corpus Christi 107
Brandon Yarusi – Wofford 107

Stefan Lopez

SAVES

1. Stefan Lopez – Southeastern Louisiana 19
Michael Wagner – San Diego 19
3. Robbie Powell – Stetson 18
4. Michael Morin – North Carolina 17
5. Michael Lorenzen – Cal State Fullerton 16
Jimmie Sherfy – Oregon 16
7. Owen Jones – Portland 15
8. Chris O’Grady – George Mason 14
Nathan Hyatt – Appalachian St. 14
Scott Griggs – UCLA 14

The Ducks, winners of eight straight and 14 of their last 15 games, sit on top of the Pac-12 Conference with a 19-8 record. Last week, Oregon beat Southern California one game and then swept a 3-game series against Seattle. The 41 wins is the most in school history.

Poll Notes: In key top 30 games over the past week, Mississippi St. swept a 3-game series against Kentucky. The Wildcats have now lost four straight and slipped from second last week to 13th this week. Louisiana St. took two of three at South Carolina, Florida St. won two of three at home against N.C. State, Baylor won two of three against Texas, Rice took two of three against Central Florida and Texas A&M swept a 3-game series against Oklahoma St. Several teams have been hot. North Carolina has won 13 in a row as has Kent St. Stanford has captured seven straight along with Texas A&M while UCLA has won seven of its last eight. Three teams fell out of the top 30 this week in Oklahoma St. (0-4 last week), St. John’s (1-2) and Mississippi (0-4). New to the poll is Mississippi St., Miami (Fla.), and Kent St.

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.

(Top 30 Agate Follows)

DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 15th year with its 2012 weekly surveys. Polls will be circulated from Feb. 20-June 28 following the 66th annual NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., at the second-year TD Ameritade Stadium.

Two-time defending NCAA champ South Carolina holds the No. 1 position for the first time in 2012 on May 14, but Florida State (five times) and Florida (eight times during the first 13 surveys) have been No. 1. The ACC and SEC remain as the two conferences represented atop the poll in 2012, and FSU regained top spot this week.

The poll voters come from 42 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. This week’s poll has representation by 12 different conferences among the 297 baseball-playing schools in the 2012 NCAA Division I ranks, and there have been 21 circuits and independents in the surveys this season. Last year there were 16 different leagues (from 30 in NCAA Division I) among the Top 30 polls. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

Rank School Conference Overall Record Previous Rank
1 Florida State Atlantic Coast 43-12 3
2 Florida Southeastern 40-16 2
3 Baylor Big 12 42-12 5
4 Rice Conference USA 39-15 4
5 South Carolina SEC 39-15 1
6 Texas A&M Big 12 41-14 6
7 LSU SEC 42-14 9
8 North Carolina ACC 42-13 7
9 Oregon Pacific-12 41-14 10
10 UCLA Pac-12 38-14 12
11 Stanford Pac-12 36-14 11
12 Kentucky SEC 41-15 8
13 Arizona Pac-12 36-16 17
14 Arkansas SEC 39-17 18
15 Purdue Big Ten 41-12 14
16 UCF C-USA 41-14 13
17 NC State ACC 38-15 16
18 Virginia ACC 36-16-1 19
19 Cal State Fullerton Big West 33-18 15
20 Oregon State Pac-12 35-18 20
21 Miami (Fla.) ACC 34-19 21
22 Arizona State Pac-12 35-18 22
23 Louisville Big East 38-18 24
24 TCU Mountain West 35-17 25
25 San Diego West Coast 39-13 26
26 Mississippi State SEC 34-21 NR
27 Utah Valley Great West 43-12 30
28 Oklahoma Big 12 35-21 28
29 Ole Miss SEC 34-22 23
30 Stony Brook America East 43-11 NR

Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Appalachian State (38-14), Army (40-13), Cal Poly (33-20), Campbell (40-16), Clemson (32-24), Coastal Carolina (37-17), College of Charleston (37-18), Dallas Baptist (39-17), East Carolina (34-20-1), Indiana State (41-15), Kent State (37-17), Missouri State (37-18), New Mexico (33-22), New Mexico State (35-20), Pepperdine (32-20), Sam Houston State (36-18), Saint Louis (40-16), Texas (30-20), Tulane (37-18), UNC Wilmington (35-20), Vanderbilt (29-25).

Dropped Out: Texas (27), Sam Houston State (29).

By conference: SEC 7, Pac-12 6, ACC 5, Big 12 3, C-USA 2, America East 1, Big East 1, Big Ten 1, Big West 1, GWC 1, MWC 1, WCC 1.
-www.ncbwa.com-

The Dugout is where you’ll find authentic College Word Series shirts, hats and other gear year-round. Located right across the street from TD Ameritrade Park’s home plate entrance, they also have authentic hard to find college baseball caps of all your favorite teams.

The Dugout also has South Carolina, Florida and Clemson jerseys and other CWS apparel at drastically reduced prices! Get them now while they last, and make sure to tell ‘em you heard about it at Collegebaseball360.com!!

Rank  School (First Place Votes)  Record  Points

1. Florida St. (17)  43-12  745
2. Florida (5)  40-16  671
3. Baylor (3)  42-12  667
4. South Carolina 39-15  638
T-5. North Carolina (1) 42-13  625
T-5. LSU (2) 42-14  625
7. Rice 39-15  601
8. Texas A&M (2) 41-14  584
9. Oregon 41-14  571
10. UCLA (1) 38-14  518
11. Stanford 36-14  487
12. Kentucky 41-15  420
13. Arizona 36-16  366
T-14. Arkansas 39-17  324
T-14. North Carolina St. 38-15  324
16. Purdue 41-12  286
17. Central Florida 41-14  278
18. Cal State Fullerton 33-18  248
19. Virginia 36-16-1  245
20. Oregon St. 35-18  210
21. Miami 34-19  155
22. Louisville 38-18  110
23. San Diego 39-13  95
24. TCU 35-17  93
25. Mississippi St. 34-21  34

Dropped out: No. 22 Mississippi.

Others receiving votes: Oklahoma (35-21) 20; Mississippi (34-22) 17; Coastal Carolina (37-17) 15; Texas (30-20) 14; Indiana State (41-15) 13; Dallas Baptist (39-17) 11; Clemson (32-24) 9; New Mexico State (35-20) 9; Utah Valley State (43-12) 9; Missouri State (37-18) 8; Stony Brook (43-11) 8; North Carolina-Wilmington (35-20) 5; Pepperdine (32-20) 5; Tulane (37-18) 5; Vanderbilt (29-25) 5; Appalachian State (38-14) 1; Wake Forest (32-22) 1.

The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2012 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; Barry Davis, Rider; Greg DiCenzo, Holy Cross; Mike Gaski, UNC-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Carlton Hardy, Savannah State; Donny Harrel, Seattle University; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; John Musachio, Oakland (Mich.); Bobby Pierce, Troy; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, UNC-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Jim Schmitz, Eastern Illinois; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.

May Madness is here! Most of college baseball has crossed the regular season finish line and it’s now on to postseason conference tournaments. Most people don’t know this, but American Idol actually planned its own season finale to correspond with college baseball’s conference tournament week (that may or may not be true, but it sounds good).

A good deal of this week’s installment of the notebook looks at NCAA bids & ramifications, but there’s a lot of other stuff in there as well…and Jimmy Iovine won’t be critiquing it!

David Lee was named the MEAC Tournament Most Outstanding Performer (BC photo).

3…More NCAA Tournament tickets punched over the weekend. Bethune-Cookman (MEAC), Prairie View A&M (SWAC) and Sacred Heart (Northeast) each claimed conference tournament titles to join Cornell of the Ivy League as the three teams with tickets punched to the dance so far. That leaves 26 automatic bids to be claimed in the next week before selections come out a week from today (5/29). The next bid will go to the winner of today’s Patriot League final between Army and Holy Cross. Bethune-Cookman’s title was its seventh straight.

3…Conference regular season championships to be decided this week that will determine automatic NCAA bids. The Big West, Pac-12 and West Coast Conference races have all come down to the final weekend of their regular season and none of the three leagues sponsor postseason tournaments. Cal State Fullerton (33-18, 15-6 Big West)is secure for an at-large bid when it visits Long Beach State (27-25, 14-7). San Diego (39-13) and Pepperdine (32-20) share 14-7 marks in the WCC heading into their showdown in Malibu. The Pac-12 is more complicated with Oregon (41-14, 19-8) holding a one game lead over Arizona (36-16, 18-9) and a two game lead over UCLA (38-14, 17-10), Stanford (36-14, 17-10) and Arizona State (35-18, 17-10). The Ducks are at Oregon State, Arizona hosts ASU, UCLA hosts USC, and Stanford hosts Cal this weekend. Long Beach State has the least solid footing to receive an at-large bid of any of the above mentioned teams. (Arizona State is ineligible for this year’s NCAA Tournament.)

10…Wins with no losses by UCLA in midweek games this season. The latest such win for the Bruins came with Tuesday’s 6-3 decision over Cal State Fullerton. Such wins over the likes of Pepperdine and UC Irvine (along with their Pac-12 success) have put UCLA in position for a top eight national seed next week. They put their perfect midweek record on the line when they visit UC Irvine Tuesday night.

6…SEC teams that tasted midweek defeats on the same day last week. Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Auburn, and Tennessee each lost on Tuesday to Samford, Murray State, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Jacksonville State, and Middle Tennessee State, respectively.

Oregon's Brett Thomas

3…Sacrifice bunts in one game by Oregon clean-up batter Brett Thomas. The sophomore leads the Ducks with a .310 average and 13 doubles, but he dropped three bunts down to help Oregon score single runs in five different innings in a 5-4 win over Seattle en-route to a series sweep.

15…Conference regular season championships for LSU, an SEC record, after taking two of three games from South Carolina to close the regular season. The Tigers (42-14, 19-11) claimed their first outright SEC crown since 2003.

5…Straight wins by Vanderbilt to close the regular season. The Commodores did not have a winning streak of more than three games prior to winning the last two games of the LSU series last week and then sweeping Ole Miss this past weekend. After starting 2012 with a 1-7 record Vanderbilt’s 29-25 overall mark (16-14 SEC) heading into the SEC Tournament guarantees a winning record, which is the minimal requirement for an NCAA at-large berth.

32…Game winning streak by Utah Valley that ended with Tuesday’s 11-10 loss at Utah. The Wolverines (43-12, 28-0) have still won 36 of their last 37 games after closing Great West Conference play with a four game sweep of Northern Colorado. Their 32 game winning streak fell two short of the Division One record shared by Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999). They have a chance for more wins this week, but with an RPI of 67 last week their NCAA future is tenuous, because the Great West Conference does not receive an automatic bid.

Florida's Preston Tuck

1…Home run hit by Florida’s Preston Tucker for his school record-setting 320^th career hit in Thursday’s 6-0 win over Auburn. Tucker’s blast moved him past Mark Ellis on the Gator’s all-time hit list and also marked the second time this season he used a home run to set a school record. His home run back on Feb. 25 gave him Florida’s all-time RBI mark. Tucker and the Gators took two of three games from the Tigers to close the regular season.

19…ACC wins by North Carolina State – a school record – after Thursday’s 10-5 win over Florida State. Wolfpack freshman Carolos Rodon also improved to 9-0 to tie the school freshman record for wins in the victory, but the Seminoles still took the last two games of the series to clinch the number one seed in the ACC Tournament.

22…Straight home wins for Baylor, the longest active streak in the nation, after Thursday’s 16-5 dismantling of Texas. The 22 straight is a school record for home wins. Baylor also became the first Big 12 team to go unbeaten at home in a season with its 12-0 conference mark. The last two games of the series were played in Austin.

34…Years since the Bears had shutout the Longhorns in Austin prior to Friday’s  4-0 Baylor victory. Trent Blank (10-1) and Crayton Bare combined on the goose egg with 7.0 and 2.0 innings, respectively. Baylor has the top seed heading into the Big 12 Tournament.

27…Years since Indiana State had won a Missouri Valley Confererence championship prior to beating Missouri State 6-3 Thursday to clinch this year’s regular season crown. The Sycamores (41-15, 14-7) won the title outright, something they had never done before. They shared the 1985 championship with Wichita State. Dakota Bacus (7-3) tossed his third complete game of the season in Thursday’s clinching victory.

Missouri State's Nick Petree

72 1/3…Innings without giving-up an earned run that ended for Missouri State’s Nick Petree in that loss to the Sycamores when ISU plated a first inning run en-route to the MVC clinching victory. Petree (10-3) also carried a 38.0 inning scoreless streak into the crucial game. The last earned run he had surrendered came more than two months ago – March 9 against SIU-Edwardsville. Petree did lose once during the streak when two unearned runs led to a 2-1 loss to Bradley in April. Petree missed the 2010 season due to Tommy John surgery. He has a 0.91 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 99 1/3 innings this season.

43…Wins for Stony Brook, a school record, with Saturday’s double header sweep of Maine. The Seawolves (43-11, 21-3) won 19 of their last 20 games to close the regular season to set a new high water mark for program wins for a second straight season. Stony Brook is the number one seed in the America East Tournament. They play No. 4 seed and defending tournament champ Maine in the first round on Wednesday.

17…Consecutive conference championships by Rice, a streak that dates back to 1996, after taking two of three games from Central Florida over the weekend to claim the Conference USA regular season crown. The current streak includes tournament titles. Rice has won seven straight C-USA titles since joining the league in 2006. Rice and UCF split the first two games of their series, which set-up a winner take all regular season finale on Saturday for the first time in C-USA history.

13…Years since Wake Forest swept a regular season series from ACC power Clemson prior to taking all three games from the Tigers to close the regular season. Saturday’s 7-0 win capped the sweep. It snapped a string of 98 straight games Clemson had gone without being blanked. Wake(32-22, 13-17) has an RPI of 32 in the latest Warren Nolen rankings (official NCAA RPI due out later today) and is in good shape to receive at least an at-large NCAA bid.

3…WAC regular season champions after New Mexico State, Sacramento State and Nevada finished the regular season with identical 11-7 marks in league play.  New Mexico State is the No. 1 seed and Sacramento State is the No. 2 seed, with each receiving first round byes in the WAC Tournament.

613…Wins by Pat Casey at the helm of Oregon State after Sunday’s 7-5 win over Washington State. The 613 victories ties Casey with Jack Riley for the most in OSU history. Beaver Michael Conforto used a three-run home run to set the Oregon State single season record with 69 RBIs this year. He currently leads the Pac-12 and could become the first Beaver to do so since 1982.

2…Million-plus college baseball fans (paid attendance) who flocked to games in SEC stadiums in 2012. It’s the first time any conference has surpassed the two million mark in a season. LSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Florida drew more than 1.6 million of that total. Conference teams also averaged more than 5,000 per game for the first time ever.

DALLAS (NCBWA) – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association has released the list of semifinalists for the 2012 Dick Howser Trophy, presented by Easton Foundations. The award, given to the top player in collegiate baseball, is based on two rounds of national voting.

This is the 26th year of the Dick Howser Trophy presented by Easton Foundations. The award will be presented at TD Ameritrade Stadium in downtown Omaha, the home of the College World Series for the second year. The award will be presented on Friday, June 15 at 11 a.m. CT, the opening day of the 2012 CWS.

The candidates hail from 17 different conferences and 32 different schools. The Big 12 leads the way with six semifinalists, followed by the Southeastern Conference with five, ACC with three and the Colonial Athletic Association, Conference USA, Southland, Southern and West Coast Conferences with two. Every position on the diamond but shortstop is represented, including 10 starting pitchers, five outfielders, four catchers, second basemen and relief pitchers, three first basemen, two third basemen and utility players and one designated hitter, among this diversified group.

2012 DICK HOWSER TROPHY SEMIFINALISTS

P Mark Appel, Stanford
RP Chris O’Grady, George Mason
RP Robert Benincasa, Florida State
3B D.J. Petersen, New Mexico
OF Sean Bignall, Arkansas-Little Rock
P Nick Petree, Missouri State
P Trent Blank, Baylor
C Kevin Plawecki, Purdue
2B Austin Elkins, Dallas Baptist
OF Danny Poma, Hofstra
1B Goose Kallunki, Utah Valley
OF James Ramsey, Florida State
OF Marty Gantt, College of Charleston
P Matt Reckling, Rice
UT Marco Gonzales, Gonzaga
P Carlos Rodon, N.C. State
P Andrew Heaney, Oklahoma State
P Chris Rowley, Army
2B Brock Hebert, Southeastern Louisiana
OF Raph Rhymes, LSU
1B D.J. Hicks, UCF
1B Zach Stephens, Tennessee Tech
DH Daniel Kassouf, Appalachian State
P Chris Stratton, Mississippi State
RP Stefan Lopez, Southeastern Louisana
P Ross Stripling, Texas A&M
UT Michael Lorenzen, Cal State Fullerton
P Michael Wacha, Texas A&M
C Josh Ludy, Baylor
RP Michael Wagner, San Diego
C Luke Maile, Kentucky
2B Alex Yarbrough, Ole Miss
2B Jamodrick McGruder, Texas Tech
C Mike Zunino, Florida
3B Trenton Moses, Southeast Missouri

The Dick Howser Trophy, given in memory of the former Florida State University All-America shortstop and major league player and manager, who died of brain cancer in 1987, is regarded by many as college baseball’s most prestigious award. Criteria for consideration of the trophy include performance on the field, leadership, moral character and courage, qualities that were exemplified by Dick Howser’s life.

A Florida native, Howser was twice an All-America shortstop at Florida State (1957-58), then coached the Seminoles in 1979, after a career as a major league player and coach. After one year in the college ranks, Howser returned to the majors to manage the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals and won the World Series with the Royals in 1985. The baseball stadium on the Florida State campus is named for Howser.
“The Dick Howser Trophy was founded shortly after his death by a few friends of Dick’s in the St. Petersburg Area that played, coached and worked with him,” said David Feaster of the Howser Trophy Committee. “All knew him personally and were aware of him as a tremendous player, coach and friend. The award was initially awarded at the Governors Baseball Dinner held each spring in St. Petersburg to welcome Spring Training to Fla. and as time progressed, we moved the presentation to Omaha, the center of college baseball, during the World Series. I have been involved with the award for over 20 years and have loved every minute of my involvement. I have had the opportunity to meet some great college players as well as some great young men. I am so proud of the Character quality we have in our award, which makes it unique. I am also proud of our selection process by the NCBWA which is the most democratic of any award and provides a true national scope.

Wichita, KS – The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission announced the twelve semifinalists for the 2012 Johnny Bench Award presented by BaseballSavings.com.  

The Johnny Bench Award semifinalists are (in alphabetical order):

• Derrick Chung, Sacramento State;
• Zachary Fisher, New Mexico State;
• Tucker Frawley, Coastal Carolina;
• Mitchell Garver, New Mexico;
• Tyler Heineman, UCLA;
• Joe Hudson, Notre Dame;
• Jeremy Lucas, Indiana State;
• Josh Ludy, Baylor;
• Jeff Melillo, Rutgers;
• Kevin Plawecki, Purdue;
• Jeremy Schaffer, Tulane and
• Mike Zunino, Florida.

Ballots will be sent to the national voting panel at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists. The finalists will be announced June 4, 2012. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced at the 15th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 28, 2012.