The 1955 NCAA baseball tournament was played at the end of the
1955 NCAA baseball season to determine the national champion of
college baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...
. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the
College World Series
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...
, a double-elimination tournament in its ninth year. Eight regional districts sent representatives to the College World Series with preliminary rounds within each district serving to determine each representative. These events would later become known as regionals. Each district had its own format for selecting teams, resulting in 25 teams participating in the tournament at the conclusion of their regular season, and in some cases, after a conference tournament.
The College World Series was held in
Omaha, NE
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...
from June 10 to June 16. The ninth tournament's champion was
Wake Forest, coached by
Taylor Sanford. The
Most Outstanding Player was
Tom Borland
Thomas Bruce Borland (February 14, 1933 – March 2, 2013), nicknamed "Spike", was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played portions of the 1960 and 1961 seasons for the Boston Red Sox. Borland batted and threw left-handed, ...
of
Oklahoma A&M.
Tournament
District 1
Games played at
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
.
District 2
Games played in
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...
.
District 3
District 3 consisted of two separate 3 game series. The first series was played between Wake Forest and Rollins, with the winner moving on to play West Virginia in a three-game series. The winner of that series moved on to the College World Series.
Games played at
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...
.
District 4
District 4 consisted of two separate 3 game series. The first series was played between Alma and Western Michigan, with the winner moving on to play Ohio State in a three-game series. The winner of that series moved on to the College World Series.
Games played at
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...
.
District 5
Games played in
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...
.
District 6
Games played at
Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
.
District 7
Games played at
Greeley, Colorado
Greeley is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States Census, an increase of 17.12% since the 2010 ...
.
District 8
District 8 consisted of two tiers of play. The first tier was a four-team double-elimination tournament with the winner moving on to play Southern California in a three-game series. The winner of that series moved onto the College World Series.
Games played at
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
.
Games played at
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
College World Series
Participants
Bracket and Results
Game results
Tournament Notes
* In 1996, coach
Rod Dedeaux
Raoul Martial "Rod" Dedeaux (February 17, 1914 – January 5, 2006) was an American college baseball coach who compiled what is widely recognized as among the greatest records of any coach in the sport's Amateur baseball in the United States, amat ...
of USC was named to the College World Series All-Time Team (1947–95) by the ''Oklahoma World-Herald'' as part of the 50th CWS celebration.
* In 1996,
Tom Borland
Thomas Bruce Borland (February 14, 1933 – March 2, 2013), nicknamed "Spike", was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played portions of the 1960 and 1961 seasons for the Boston Red Sox. Borland batted and threw left-handed, ...
of Oklahoma A&M, now known as Oklahoma State, was named to the 1940s-50s All-Decade Team by a panel of 60 voters representing CWS head coaches, media, and chairs of the Division I Baseball Committee.
*
Freed Messner of Western Michigan hit the only pinch-hit
grand slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
home run in CWS history in the top of the 8th of Game 13 in a 10-7 loss to Wake Forest. It was also Messner's only hit of the CWS (1-12).
* Two-hitters were pitched by: Lawrence Bossidy of Colgate in a 1-0 loss to Wake Forest; Carl Thomas of Arizona in a 6-0 defeat of Springfield; Ken Kinnamon and Don Anderson of Oklahoma A&M in a 5-4 loss to Western Michigan; and Sam Frankel and Lawrence Bossidy of Colgate in a 4-2 loss to Oklahoma A&M.
* Wake Forest's championship was the last time that a member of the
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
won the CWS until the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
in 2015.
* 21,843 fans watched the CWS (10 sessions).
* The championship game was umpired by
Walter Doyle,
Walter Harbour,
George Hametz, and
John Hergert.
* The following records were set or tied:
** Most Stolen Bases, Team, CWS - 17, Oklahoma A&M, 5 games
** Most Shutouts, All Teams, CWS - 6, Arizona (2), Wake Forest (3), Western Michigan, tied
** Most Doubles, Individual, Single Game - 3,
Jack Bryant
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
, 2B, Wake Forest, tied (6 others)
** Most Sacrifice Bunts, Individual, Single Game - 3,
Leland Davis, SS, Western Michigan, tied
** Most Stolen Bases, Team, Single Game - 7, Wake Forest, tied (4 others)
** Fewest Assists, Team, Single Game - 3, Oklahoma A&M, tied (6 others)
** Most Errors, Team, Single Game - 9, Northern Colorado, tied
** Most Shutouts, Team, CWS - 3, Wake Forest, 6 games
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1955 Ncaa Baseball Tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
NCAA Division I Baseball Championship
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1955 in Los Angeles
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