Over a span of 22 years, from 1967 to 1991, the Riverside Baseball Invitational Tournament was the marquee college baseball event in Southern California. The Tournament drew some of the top Division I teams from across the nation to Riverside to take on the then Division II Highlanders and up to seven of their Division I peers in a tournament that saw games played at two different fields all day long.
The list of teams and players whoo tok the field in the RBI Tournament is a veritable "Who's Who" of college baseball's best: Names like Barry Bonds of Arizona State, Craig Biggio of Seton Hall, Bob Welch of Eastern Michigan, Hubie Brooks of Arizona State, Wally Joyner of BYU, Fred Lynn of USC and Jack Morris of BYU.
What really made the tournament fly, however, was the support of the Riverside community. Members of visiting teams were housed with families in the Riverside area, giving the fans an opportunity to bond and build friendships with the players. Some of those bonds continue to this day.
The tournament was not played in 1981, 1988 or 1990, and finally dropped from the schedule after the 1991 season. The cause of the tournament's demise was the inability to draw seven teams to come to play in the five-day event.
The challenge was made harder when the NCAA changed the way that it counted games played by Division I teams against Division II opponents by not counting them in their season totals. It was no longer worthwhile for big-time programs to participate in the tournament, and in 1991, after only drawing five opponents, the tournament hung up its spikes for what was thought to be the last time.
It was resurrected in 2002, however, with four teams participating in a round-robin format. UC Riverside took the tournament title with decisive wins over Oregon State, MIchigan and San Francisco.
In 2003, the Highlanders once again walked away with the tournament crown thanks to victories over Oral Roberts and Saint Mary's.
The 2004 season marked the "final" final season of the RBI Tournament. Oregon State and UC Riverside each finished with 2-1 records, but the Beavers took home the championship thanks to a head-to-head win over the Highlanders.
In all, UC Riverside won four tournament championships (1975, 1979, 2002, 2003), one more than second place USC who grabbed the hardware in 1969, 1970 and 1973.
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| Year |
Standings/Results |
MVP |
|
Year |
Standings/Results |
MVP |
| 1967 |
Standings/Results |
Johnny Lang (UCLA) |
XXX |
1982 |
|
Wally Joyner (BYU) |
| 1968 |
Standings/Results |
Gary Sanserino (UCLA) |
|
1983 |
|
Mike Miller (Washington St.) |
| 1969 |
|
Cal Meyer (USC) |
|
1984 |
|
Cory Snyder (BYU) |
| 1970 |
|
Steve Dunning (Stanford) |
|
1985 |
|
Quinn Williams (Oregon St.) |
| 1971 |
|
Roger Schmuck (ASU) |
|
1986 |
|
Dan Wagner (Tulane) |
| 1972 |
|
Rob Reece (Stanford) |
|
1987 |
|
Darryl Vice (Cal) |
| 1973 |
|
Ken Huizengo (USC) |
|
1989 |
Standings/Results |
John Finn (ASU) |
| 1974 |
|
Dave Baker (Stanford) |
|
1991 |
Standings/Results |
Ryan Hancock (BYU) |
| 1975 |
|
Kim Allen (UCR) |
|
2002 |
Standings/Results |
Brian Wahlbrink (UCR) |
| 1976 |
|
Floyd Bannister (ASU) |
|
2003 |
Standings/Results |
Brian Wahlbrink (UCR) |
| 1977 |
|
Dale Reis (UCR) |
|
2004 |
Standings/Results |
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| 1978 |
|
Russ Quetti (Maine) |
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| 1979 |
|
Mike Lynes (UCR) |
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| 1980 |
|
Ron Johnson (Washington) |
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