2021 College World Series

The 2021 College World Series was the final stage of the 2021 NCAA Division I baseball tournament held from June 19–30 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. This marked the 74th edition of the College World Series and 71st time the event is being held in Omaha, Nebraska, after the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

2021 College World Series
Team (Wins) Manager(s) Season Mississippi State (2) Chris Lemonis 50–18 (.735) Vanderbilt (1) Tim Corbin 49–18 (.731)
Dates	June 19–30
MOP	Will Bednar (Mississippi State)
Umpires	Ramon Armendariz, Perry Costello, Jeff Henrichs, Travis Katzenmeier, Jeff Macias, Steve Mattingly, Mike Morris, Billy Van Raaphorst
Broadcast
Television	ESPN (United States – English)
TV announcers	Karl Ravech (play-by-play), Eduardo Pérez, Kyle Peterson (color), Kris Budden (field reporter)
← 2019 College World Series 2022 →

The tournament featured eight teams in two double-elimination brackets with the two winners meeting in a best-of-three championship series.^[1]

Background

The 2021 tournament ends the one-year hiatus left by the cancellation of the 2020 tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Originally, the National Collegiate Athletic Association announced that attendance at championship events would be restricted for all spring sports, including this year's CWS at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, to 50% due to the ongoing pandemic, meaning just 12,000 spectators per game.^[2] However, on May 19, the NCAA announced that public health authorities would be in charge of placing restrictions on the baseball and softball championships. College World Series officials stated that crowds would return to full capacity.^[3]

Participants

School	Conference	Record (Conf)	Head coach	Super Regional	Previous CWS Appearances	CWS Best Finish	CWS W-L Record
NC State	ACC	35–18 (19–14)	Elliott Avent	Fayetteville	2 (last: 2013)	3rd (1968)	3–4
Stanford	Pac–12	38–15 (17–10)	David Esquer	Lubbock	16 (last: 2008)	1st (1987, 1988)	40–29
Arizona	Pac–12	45–16 (21–9)	Jay Johnson	Tucson	17 (last: 2016)	1st (1976, 1980, 1986, 2012)	43–30
Vanderbilt	SEC	45–15 (19–10)	Tim Corbin	Nashville	4 (last: 2019)	1st (2014, 2019)	16–7
Tennessee	SEC	50–16 (20–10)	Tony Vitello	Knoxville	4 (last: 2005)	2nd (1951)	8–8
Virginia	ACC	35–25 (18–18)	Brian O'Connor	Columbia	5 (last: 2015)	1st (2015)	12–8
Mississippi State	SEC	45–16 (20–10)	Chris Lemonis	Starkville	11 (last: 2019)	2nd (2013)	13–22
Texas	Big 12	47–15 (17–7)	David Pierce	Austin	36 (last: 2018)	1st (1949, 1950, 1975, 1983, 2002, 2005)	85–61

Bracket

Seeds listed below indicate national seeds only

	First round					Second round					Semifinals						Finals
		NC State	10
	9	Stanford	4
							NC State	1
						4	Vanderbilt	0
	5	Arizona	6
	4	Vanderbilt	712
												NC State	1	–
	Bracket 1
											4	Vanderbilt	3	–[A]
	9	Stanford	14
	5	Arizona	5
						9	Stanford	5
						4	Vanderbilt	6
																	4	Vanderbilt	8	2	0
																	7	Mississippi State	2	13	9
	3	Tennessee	0
		Virginia	6
							Virginia	5
						7	Mississippi State	6
	7	Mississippi State	2
	2	Texas	1
											7	Mississippi State	5	4
	Bracket 2
											2	Texas	8	3
	3	Tennessee	4
	2	Texas	8
						2	Texas	6
							Virginia	2

Bracket 1

June 19, 2021 1:10 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 1	Stanford	4–10	NC State	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 22,193
	LP: Brandon Beck (9–2)	Boxscore	WP: Reid Johnston (9–3) Sv: Evan Justice (12)

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June 19, 2021 6:09 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 2	Vanderbilt	7–6 (F/12)	Arizona	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 23,870
	WP: Chris McElvain (5–1)	Boxscore	LP: Vince Vannelle (5–3)

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June 21, 2021 1:08 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 5	Arizona	5–14	Stanford	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 19,341
	LP: Garrett Irvin (6–3)	Boxscore	WP: Alex Williams (5–2) Sv: Jacob Palisch (2)

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June 21, 2021 6:07 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 6	NC State	1–0	Vanderbilt	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 23,712
	WP: Sam Highfill (9–2) Sv: Evan Justice (13)	Boxscore	LP: Jack Leiter (10–4)

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June 23, 2021 6:08 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 9	Vanderbilt	6–5	Stanford	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 22,804
	WP: Luke Murphy (4–1)	Boxscore	LP: Brandon Beck (9–3)

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June 25, 2021 2:07 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 11	NC State	1–3	Vanderbilt	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 20,538
	LP: Garrett Payne (0–1)	Boxscore	WP: Kumar Rocker (14–3) Sv: Luke Murphy (9)

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June 26, 2021 1:07 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 13	NC State	WO	Vanderbilt	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha

Bracket 2

June 20, 2021 1:09 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 3	Tennessee	0–6	Virginia	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 22,130
	LP: Chad Dallas (11–2)	Boxscore	WP: Andrew Abbott (9–6) Sv: Matt Wyatt (1)

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June 20, 2021 6:09 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 4	Texas	1–2	Mississippi State	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 23,885
	LP: Ty Madden (7–5)	Boxscore	WP: Will Bednar (8–1) Sv: Landon Sims (11)

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June 22, 2021 1:07 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 7	Texas	8–4	Tennessee	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 19,150
	WP: Tanner Witt (5–0)	Boxscore	LP: Sean Hunley (7–5)

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June 22, 2021 6:07 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 8	Virginia	5–6	Mississippi State	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 22,803
	LP: Stephen Schoch (4–2)	Boxscore	WP: Cade Smith (3–0) Sv: Landon Sims (12)

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June 24, 2021 6:07 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 10	Virginia	2–6	Texas	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 23,173
	LP: Matt Wyatt (4–2)	Boxscore	WP: Cole Quintanilla (5–0 Sv: Aaron Nixon (9)

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June 25, 2021 6:56 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 12	Mississippi State	5–8	Texas	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 24,003
	LP: Brandon Smith (4–4)	Boxscore	WP: Aaron Nixon (4–3)

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June 26, 2021 6:08 pm CDT (UTC-5) Game 14	Mississippi State	4–3	Texas	TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Attendance: 21,883
	WP: Landon Sims (5–0)	Boxscore	LP: Cole Quintanilla (5–1)

Finals

Game 1

June 28, 2021 6:00 p.m. (CDT) at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Mississippi State	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Vanderbilt	7	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	X	8	5	0
WP: Jack Leiter (11–4)   LP: Christian MacLeod (6–6)   Sv: Nick Maldonado (9) Home runs: MSU: Kamren James (12) VAN: Jayson Gonzalez (9) Attendance: 24,052 Boxscore

Game 2

June 29, 2021 6:00 p.m. (CDT) at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Vanderbilt	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	4	3
Mississippi State	1	0	4	1	2	0	5	0	X	13	14	0
WP: Preston Johnson (4–0)   LP: Christian Little (3–2) Home runs: VAN: CJ Rodriguez (5), Maxwell Romero Jr. (4) MSU: None Attendance: 24,122 Boxscore

Game 3

June 30, 2021 6:00 p.m. (CDT) at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Mississippi State	1	2	0	0	2	0	4	0	0	9	12	0
Vanderbilt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3
WP: Will Bednar (9–1)   LP: Kumar Rocker (14–4)   Sv: Landon Sims (13) Home runs: MSU: Kellum Clark (5), Logan Tanner (15) VAN: None Attendance: 24,052 Boxscore

Composite line score

2021 College World Series Finals (2–1): Mississippi State wins.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Mississippi State	3	2	4	2	4	0	9	0	0	24	31	0
Vanderbilt	7	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	10	10	6
Home runs: MSU: Kellum Clark (1), Kamren James (1), Logan Tanner (1) VAN: Jayson Gonzalez (1), CJ Rodriguez (1), Maxwell Romero Jr. (1) Total attendance: 72,226   Average attendance: 24,075

All-Tournament Team

The following players were members of the College World Series All-Tournament Team.^[5]

Position	Player	School
P	Will Bednar (MOP)	Mississippi State
	Jack Leiter	Vanderbilt
C	Logan Tanner	Mississippi State
1B	Luke Hancock	Mississippi State
2B	Tim Tawa	Stanford
3B	Zack Gelof	Virginia
SS	Lane Forsythe	Mississippi State
OF	Tanner Allen	Mississippi State
	Brock Jones	Stanford
	Rowdey Jordan	Mississippi State
DH	Ivan Melendez	Texas

Notes

1. Game declared no contest due to COVID-19 protocols with NC State. Vanderbilt advanced in the tournament.^[4]