1955 NCAA Baseball Tournament facts for kids
| Season | 1955 |
|---|---|
| Teams | 25 |
| Finals site |
|
| Champions | Wake Forest (1st title) |
| Runner-up | Western Michigan (2nd CWS Appearance) |
| Winning coach | Taylor Sanford (1st title) |
| MOP | Tom Borland (Oklahoma A&M) |
The 1955 NCAA Baseball Tournament was a big baseball competition held at the end of the 1955 NCAA baseball season. Its main goal was to find the best college baseball team in the country!
This tournament ended with eight top teams playing in the College World Series. This special event was a "double-elimination" tournament, meaning a team had to lose twice to be out. It was the ninth time this series had been held.
Teams from eight different areas, called "districts," sent their best players to the College World Series. These districts had their own smaller games to pick their champion. Later, these smaller games became known as "regionals." In total, 25 teams played in the tournament after their regular season games, and sometimes after their conference tournaments too.
The College World Series took place in Omaha, NE from June 10 to June 16. The team that won the ninth tournament was Wake Forest. Their coach was Taylor Sanford. The player who stood out the most, called the Most Outstanding Player, was Tom Borland from Oklahoma A&M.
Contents
How Teams Got to the College World Series
To reach the College World Series, teams first had to win their "district" tournaments. There were eight districts across the country. Each district had its own way of playing games to decide which team would move on. For example, some districts had a few teams play against each other, while others had just two teams play a series of games. This system helped narrow down the 25 teams to the final eight who would compete for the national championship.
College World Series
The College World Series is the final part of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. It's where the best teams from all over the country come together to play for the championship title.
Teams That Played
Here are the eight teams that made it to the 1955 College World Series:
| School | Conference | Head coach |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Border | Frank Sancet |
| Colgate | Independent | Red O'Hora |
| Colorado State | RMC | Pete Butler |
| Oklahoma A&M | MVC | Toby Greene |
| Springfield | Independent | Archie Allen |
| Southern California | CIBA | Rod Dedeaux |
| Wake Forest | ACC | Taylor Sanford |
| Western Michigan | MAC | Charlie Maher |
Game Schedule and Scores
The College World Series used a "double-elimination" format. This means a team had to lose two games before they were out of the tournament. The teams played until only one champion remained!
| First round | Second round | Third round | |||||||||||
| Winner's bracket | |||||||||||||
| Oklahoma A&M | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Springfield | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Oklahoma A&M | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Western Michigan | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Western Michigan | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Arizona | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Western Michigan | 9 | ||||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Colorado State | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Southern California | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Colorado State | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 10 | ||||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Colgate | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Loser's bracket | |||||||||||||
| Springfield | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Arizona | 6 | Colorado State | 0 | ||||||||||
| Arizona | 20 | ||||||||||||
| Southern California | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Colgate | 6 | Oklahoma A&M | 4 | ||||||||||
| Colgate | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Semifinals | Finals | if needed | |||||||||||
| Re-ordered Semifinals | |||||||||||||
| Western Michigan | 7 | Western Michigan | 6 | ||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 10 | Wake Forest | 7 | ||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Oklahoma A&M | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Arizona | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Oklahoma A&M | 512 | ||||||||||||
Game Results Table
This table shows the results of each game played during the College World Series.
| Date | Game | Winner | Score | Loser | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 10 | Game 1 | Oklahoma A&M | 5–1 | Springfield | |
| Game 2 | Western Michigan | 4–1 | Arizona | ||
| Game 3 | Colorado State | 2–1 | Southern California | ||
| Game 4 | Wake Forest | 1–0 | Colgate | ||
| June 12 | Game 5 | Arizona | 6–0 | Springfield | Springfield eliminated |
| Game 6 | Colgate | 6–4 | Southern California | Southern California eliminated | |
| Game 7 | Western Michigan | 5–4 | Oklahoma A&M | ||
| Game 8 | Wake Forest | 10–0 | Colorado State | ||
| June 13 | Game 9 | Arizona | 20–0 | Colorado State | Colorado State eliminated |
| Game 10 | Oklahoma A&M | 4–2 | Colgate | Colgate eliminated | |
| Game 11 | Western Michigan | 9–0 | Wake Forest | ||
| June 14 | Game 12 | Oklahoma A&M | 5–4 (12 innings) | Arizona | Arizona eliminated |
| Game 13 | Wake Forest | 10–7 | Western Michigan | ||
| June 15 | Game 14 | Wake Forest | 2–0 | Oklahoma A&M | Oklahoma A&M eliminated |
| June 16 | Final | Wake Forest | 7–6 | Western Michigan | Wake Forest wins CWS |
