NCAA Baseball Regionals Recap
We haven’t seen a regional round in the NCAA Baseball tournament quite like the one we saw this past weekend into Monday in a long time as it was filled with tons of drama and upsets. The top two national seeds were knocked off in their regionals for the second year in a row while two different four seeds moved on to supers for the first time in the tournament’s history. Multiple other hosts were upset by two and three seeds while other top programs were tested on their way to the next round. Here are the top story lines to come from this past weekend of high stakes college baseball.
#1 UCLA and #2 Georgia Tech fall
Cal Poly and Saint Mary’s steal the show in Los Angeles
As if UCLA dropping it’s opener to four seed Saint Mary’s wasn’t shocking enough (it was the first time in the tournament’s history that a number one overall seed lost it’s regional opener), they were once again beat by Saint Mary’s later on in the loser’s bracket, completely missing out on the regional final against Cal Poly. In fact, if not for back-to-back home runs off the bats of Mulivai Levu and Roman Martin in the bottom of the ninth inning against Virginia Tech in UCLA’s first game in the loser’s bracket, the Bruins would have walked away without a single win in the tournament. This was a UCLA team that lost a total of six games throughout the regular season and never lost more than one game in a single weekend, yet here they are making an early exit from the tournament, which just goes to show the nature of the game of baseball, especially at the college level.
I don’t want to take away from what was a historic regular season from UCLA by harping on the disappointment of their postseason run, but would rather highlight the two teams that stepped up and took over the headlines this weekend in Los Angeles - that of course being Saint Mary’s and Cal Poly. These were both programs that were not going to make the field as at-large teams, but rather had to stage upsets of their own in their respective conference tournaments to get here in the first place. Cal Poly managed to take down UC Santa Barbara - the favorite to come out of the Big West conference - while Saint Mary’s took down WCC favorite Gonzaga on their way to a West Coast conference tournament title.
You can’t go without mentioning the bullpen in Saint Mary’s take down of UCLA in both of their one-run wins over the Bruins. Between their two victories, junior Cam Staton and freshman David Roberts combined for 7.2 innings of scoreless baseball, with Staton covering 6.2 innings of that load between Friday and Sunday. UCLA held a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning of Sunday’s elimination game, but the efforts of Staton and Roberts in the late innings allowed the Gaels to chip away before they tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, and then won it in the tenth. It was sophomore catcher Ian Armstrong who knocked in the tying run in the ninth via a base hit that capped of a 3-5 day for him, while sophomore first baseman Makoa Sniffen drove in the winning run in the tenth on a ground-ball that snuck between Roman Martin and Roch Cholowsky on the left side of the infield.
While taking down UCLA in back-to-back games might lead you to believe that Saint Mary’s would be playing in a super regional this weekend, it was actually the Cal Poly Mustangs that were the last team standing in Los Angeles. They did it in pretty convincing fashion as well, winning all three of their games without ever sniffing the loser’s bracket as they trailed for only a total of four and a half innings throughout the entire weekend. They took down two seed Virginia Tech by a score of 6-2 in the opener before beating Saint Mary’s 14-1 in the winner’s bracket and then again by a score of 5-2 in the regional final, keeping the Gaels from forcing a winner-take-all on Monday.
The pitching staff for Cal Poly was lights out, allowing just five runs across their three games. Junior starters Griffin Naess, Carson Turnquist, and Josh Volmerding combined for 17 innings, allowing just four earned runs while the bullpen combined for eight scoreless innings. This is surprisingly a group that was roughly middle of the pack in the Big West when it came to pitching, so it’s encouraging to see the pitching staff get hot at the right time considering this is a team really driven by their bats. The Mustangs ranked within the top two in the Big West this spring in home runs (60), batting average (.302), on-base percentage (.378), and slugging percentage, so they’re looking as good as they ever have in 2026 with the pitching staff rising to the occasion. If they can keep the wheels rolling, they could cruise their way through the Morgantown Super Regional where they are taking on the 16th overall seed West Virginia Mountaineers.
Oklahoma takes down Georgia Tech in back-to-back comeback wins
As if the top overall seed getting bounced in their regional wasn’t crazy enough, it might be even more shocking that Georgia Tech was beaten in the way they were. Because of their dominance in the ACC throughout the spring, a lot of people were left wondering if the Yellow Jackets should have been the number one overall seed considering their tougher strength of schedule compared to UCLA’s. However it didn’t matter in hindsight as both were sent packing.
Unlike UCLA, Georgia Tech started their regional on a heater, taking down Illinois-Chicago by a score of 22-5 before beating Oklahoma 9-3 in the winner’s bracket on their way to the regional final. It looked like cake the rest of the way for the Jackets as it would be Oklahoma to emerge from the loser’s bracket for a rematch with Georgia Tech in the regional final.
The Jackets led the Sooners 8-2 in the fourth inning of the first final as it looked like Oklahoma was dead in the water. However, the Sooners offense exploded with eight runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 10-8 lead before the bullpen combined for five scoreless innings to close out the game, keeping their season alive as they were headed for a winner-take-all match-up on Monday afternoon. Once again, the high-powered Georgia Tech offense jumped out to a healthy lead, going into the seventh inning up 7-3 on Oklahoma. The bullpen for the Sooners once again stepped up, holding off the Jackets for the remainder of the game as the offense scored two in the seventh, one in the eighth, and one in the ninth to send the game to extras.
First year Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey caught some flack for his management of his pitching staff as he left reliever Mason Patel in for 100+ pitches across 6.1 innings which ultimately ended in him surrendering the three runs across the seventh and eighth innings that gave the Sooners late life. Ramsey would go on to make another controversial decision, bringing in Friday night ace Tate McKee to try to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead after McKee had thrown 100+ pitches of his own two nights prior against the same Oklahoma lineup. McKee would go on to surrender the game-tying run in the ninth via a base-hit off the bat of Jaxon Willits, and narrowly escaped with runners on first and third after giving up two hits and a walk on the inning. If that wasn’t enough, McKee was sent back out for the tenth where he ultimately gave up the knock out blow, a walk-off home run off the bat of senior Dayton Tockey, a moonshot beyond the center field batter’s eye to send Georgia Tech home, and the Sooners off to Lawrence, Kansas for a super regional.
It’s a blunder that James Ramsey will have to live with, but one I’m certain he’ll learn from as well. As a first year head coach, he exceedingly out-performed pre-season expectations, leading the Jackets to a historic season. I’m sure the decisions he made were made with conviction, but unfortunately didn’t pan out the way they wanted. Regardless, props to him for managing with his guts and for the season he did put together.
Five more regional hosts are sent home
Troy shocks the Gators in Gainesville
The third of three top eight seeds to fall over the weekend were the Florida Gators, the eighth overall seed, as they were upset by the Troy Trojans in Gainesville. Florida has recently been a program that has played above and beyond what their regular season resume might suggest in the postseason, but not this year. Take 2024 for example - Florida gets into the tournament as one of the last teams despite an underwhelming regular season, and proceed to make a run to Omaha. This year’s Florida team put together a better resume than that 2024 team, but there was certainly some really high highs, and some really low lows that came with this team. Their chaotic nature ultimately caught up to them as they dropped two in a row to Troy at home as the Trojans are headed to their first super regional in school history.
With that being said, I think Troy’s path to supers is more impressive than Florida’s fall is a disappointment. Troy lost their opener to Miami, so they had to win their way through the loser’s bracket. They first took down Rider in fairly easy fashion before having to meet with Miami again for a trip to the regional final against Florida who was 2-0 at the time. They managed to take down the Hurricanes even though Miami led 6-2 as late as the fifth inning, setting up a regional final with Florida where the Trojans would have to beat the Gators in consecutive games. That is in fact what they would go on to do, putting up 26 total runs between the two games despite Florida owning one of the best pitching staffs in the nation. Troy, the remaining representative out of the Sun Belt to everyone’s surprise will get to host their super regional against Little Rock in what should be an electric match-up between two mid-majors seeking their first ever trips to Omaha.
Little Rock emerges from Hattiesburg undefeated
Despite a lot of recent success, Southern Miss came into this year’s tournament as regional hosts for the second year in a row, but looking for their first Omaha appearance since 2009. This Southern Miss team felt like perhaps the best iteration of the current era of Golden Eagles baseball, however, they will have to wait yet another year as they come up short again. And it wasn’t two seed Virginia or the top three seed in the tournament Jacksonville State that reigned victorious over Southern Miss in this one. In fact, it was Little Rock, the conference tournament champions out of the Ohio Valley Conference after finishing in fourth place in their regular season standings.
Little Rock might be a familiar program to you as they were the team that took reigning national champions LSU to the brink of elimination in last year’s Baton Rouge Regional. With that being said, this is an experienced group that came in ready to fight regardless of the fact that they were heavy underdogs. Not only did they manage to take down Southern Miss in a late comeback in the opener but they also went on to beat Jacksonville State in the winner’s bracket and the final on their way to an undefeated weekend and to their first ever trip to a super regional. They will be taking on the aforementioned Troy in a battle of the Trojans in Troy, Alabama.
Four seed Saint John’s sweeps the Tallahassee Regional
Like Little Rock, not only did Saint John’s win their regional as a four seed, but they also did it without dropping a single game to advance to a super regional. In nearly the same manner Little Rock did in their opener against Southern Miss, Saint John’s staged a late-game comeback to defeat 10th overall seed Florida State in their opener by a score of 6-5 in a game in which they trailed 5-2 headed into the late innings against a strong Florida State bullpen.
After taking down the Seminoles, the Red Storm defeated three seed Northern Illinois in a 21-8 onslaught in the winner’s bracket after the Huskies took down Coastal Carolina in their opener. In the loser’s bracket, Florida State bounced back, knocking out the reigning runner-ups in Omaha before beating Northern Illinois to set up a rematch with Saint John’s in the regional final. While it felt like Florida State had gotten hot and were in prime position to win consecutive games against the Red Storm, a fifth inning grand slam off the bat of sophomore catcher Adam Agresti, Saint John’s home run leader, was about all it would take to put away the Noles. Florida State would rally late in the top of the ninth to bring the score within one, but sophomore right-hander Victor Frederick managed to hold on, recording a 2.1 inning save to send the Red Storm to their first super regional since 2012 where they have another tall task in front of them as Alabama stands in the way of their first trip to Omaha since 1980.
USC climbs their way out of the loser’s bracket to defeat Texas A&M in College Station
There wasn’t another regional with as tight a gap between the number one seed and number two seed in the field quite like in College Station, and it showed by the end of this one. USC came into the tournament with the highest RPI (9) of a non-hosting team while Texas A&M, the hosts, actually had a lower RPI at 14. Texas State, one of the final teams in the field, started the regional on a strong note by taking down USC in the opener, but USC then bounced back to climb their way out of the loser’s bracket.
Texas A&M handled business against Lamar in their opener before steam rolling through Texas State by a score of 17-2 in the winner’s bracket to advance to the regional final. USC on the other hand managed to flip the script from their first match-up with Texas State, putting the same beat down the Aggies laid on them, winning by a score of 15-4, setting up a final in which the Trojans would have to win consecutive games in order to send Texas A&M home. The pitching for USC was the main driver of success for them all spring, and that remained the case as they allowed only four total runs across their final two games against the Aggies. Sophomore right-hander Andrew Johnson delivered 7.1 innings in the first game, allowing just three earned runs in their 14-3 route of the Aggies, keeping the bullpen fresh for the finale. Sophomore right-hander Grant Govel followed that up with four innings of one run ball in the winner-take-all matchup as the bullpen combined for five shutout innings to close out the Aggies and send the Trojans to Chapel Hill where they will take on North Carolina in their first super regional since 2005.
Ole Miss sweeps arguably the toughest regional bracket in Lincoln
It was hard to find a tougher path to a super regional than the path in Lincoln, Nebraska as the 13th overall seed Nebraska Cornhuskers were tasked with hosting Ole Miss and Arizona State - two programs in which had their own respective cases to seeded higher than they were. Despite the prowess of this regional, Ole Miss managed to come away undefeated, but not in an easy manner by any means.
Ole Miss played in one of two 14-inning match-ups in the opening day of regionals as Tennessee and East Carolina had their own 14-inning marathon earlier in the day. The Rebels took on Arizona State and their ace Cole Carlon who they managed to tag for six runs. The Sun Devils did tie the game at six in the seventh which then prompted six straight scoreless innings from each bullpen before Ole Miss ended up walking it off in the 14th on a Brayden Randle base hit. The Rebels did only use three pitchers in that one with Walker Hooks and Hudson Calhoun covering the final nine innings between the two of them. That paid off as sophomore right-hander Taylor Rabe followed with six innings of one-run ball before handing the ball over to the Rebels A-bullpen against Nebraska in the winner’s bracket to send Ole Miss to the regional final. They met once again with Arizona State after the Sun Devils defeated Nebraska in the loser’s bracket. It was once again an extra-inning one-run game decided via walk-off, this time coming on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Dominic Decker to send the Rebels to Auburn undefeated where they will take on Auburn in their super regional.
West Virginia’s back-to-back comeback wins
It wasn’t an upset in Morgantown, but it was a regional worth highlighting as the most exciting one in my opinion to come from the opening round of the NCAA Baseball tournament. West Virginia pulled Wake Forest, Kentucky, and Binghamton in Morgantown, neither team expected to light the world on fire by any means, but three teams with postseason experience that could cause problems for the Mountaineers. Cause them problems is surely what they did as West Virginia dropped a game to Kentucky in the winner’s bracket, a team that looked like it was getting hot at the right time after many argued they shouldn’t have even been in the tournament.
The Mountaineers dropped into the loser’s bracket where they had to take down Wake Forest before meeting again with Kentucky in the regional final where they would have to beat the Wildcats on consecutive nights. Kentucky was in the driver’s seat late, leading 9-6 headed into the top of the ninth as it looked like they might come away from Morgantown undefeated and silencing all the noise that said they shouldn’t have even been in the tournament. However, the Mountaineers mounted a comeback of the ages, putting up a five-spot to keep their season alive. A defensive error to lead off the inning sparked a rally that was followed up with two walks and a single before an out had even been recorded. A sacrifice fly brought West Virginia within one and then it was a balk of all things by Kentucky’s pitcher Oliver Boone to tie the game. Graduate outfielder Paul Schoenfeld then followed that up with a two-run home run over the right field wall, just the fifth of his Division-1 career, to give the Mountaineers an 11-9 lead that they would not relinquish in the bottom half to force a final game.
There wasn’t a lack of drama in the final game either as it was actually West Virginia who was in the driver’s seat late with a 5-1 lead headed into the top of the eighth. However, back-to-back home runs between sophomore Hudson Brown and junior Ethan Hindle would tie the game at five. After a scoreless ninth, this one was headed to extras. In the bottom of the tenth, the Mountaineers walked it off on a one-out single up the middle off the bat of junior Armani Guzman to send West Virginia to it’s third consecutive super regional, and first in which they are hosting in program history as Country Roads rang loud in Morgantown.
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