The 2008 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was held from May 30 through June 25, 2008 and was part of the 2008 NCAA Division I baseball season. The 64 NCAA Division I college baseball teams were selected out of an eligible 286 teams on May 26, 2008. Thirty teams were awarded an automatic bid as champions of their conference, and 34 teams were selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee. Thirty-eight of the 64 selected teams participated in the 2007 tournament. The 2008 tournament culminated with 8 teams advancing to the College World Series at historic Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 14. The Fresno State Bulldogs beat the Georgia Bulldogs in the best-of-three championship series to win the NCAA Men's Division I Baseball Championship. Fresno State became the lowest seeded team (4th in the Regionals) to win the National Championship in NCAA history, and the fifth consecutive baseball team to win the title that was not one of the eight national seeds. They were considered a "Cinderella" team throughout the tournament. This was only the third national championship of any kind in school history, following the 1968 NCAA Men's Tennis Tournament and the 1998 NCAA Division I softball national champions. Fresno State sophomore third baseman Tommy Mendonca won the Most Outstanding Player Award. Tommy hit four home runs and had 11 RBIs and also made a number of spectacular plays in the field. The first day of the 2008 CWS was moved to Saturday (June 14) from the traditional Friday. Also, if all games were needed in the first double-elimination round, it would take eight days to complete rather than seven. The NCAA cited the need to be more flexible in the super-regional round in case of inclement weather. It also allowed for greater potential ticket revenue, in part because the extra "if-necessary" day would now be ticketed separately if both games are played.

Bids

Automatic bids

Conference champions from 30 Division I conferences earned automatic bids to regionals. The remaining 34 spots were awarded to schools as at-large invitees.

Bids by conference

National seeds

Bold indicates CWS participant.

Regionals and super regionals

Regional schedule

Regional rounds were held Friday, May 30 through Monday, June 2. Each regional followed a similar format, with 2 games played on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and one on Monday if needed. Best-of-three super regionals were held Friday, June 6 through Monday, June 9. Four series were played Friday-Sunday and four series were played Saturday-Monday.

Brackets

Bold indicates winner.

• indicates extra innings.

Coral Gables Super Regional

Hosted by Miami (FL) at Mark Light Field

Athens Super Regional

Hosted by Georgia at Foley Field

Fullerton Super Regional

Hosted by Cal State Fullerton at Goodwin Field

Tallahassee Super Regional

Hosted by Florida State at Dick Howser Stadium

Cary Super Regional

Hosted by North Carolina at USA Baseball National Training Complex

Baton Rouge Super Regional

Hosted by LSU at Alex Box Stadium

Houston Super Regional

Hosted by Rice at Reckling Park

Tempe Super Regional

Hosted by Arizona State at Packard Stadium

College World Series

Participants

Bracket

Championship series

Monday, June 23

Game 14, 6:00 PM

Tuesday, June 24

Game 15, 6:35 PM

Wednesday, June 25

Game 16, 6:00 PM

All-Tournament Team

The following players were members of the College World Series All-Tournament Team.

Record by conference

The columns RF, SR, WS, NS, CS, and NC respectively stand for the regional finals, super regionals, College World Series teams, national semifinals, championship series, and national champion.

Tournament notes

Round 1

Round 2

Super regionals

CWS records tied or broken

Television/radio/online coverage

Regionals

Super regionals

Mike Gleason and Will Kimmey made up the studio team (in Bristol, Connecticut) for both regional and super-regional rounds.

College World Series