For those picking up the NCAA college baseball tournament already in progress, we can catch you up by borrowing a one-word summary from basketball brethren: Madness.
The top two teams in the nation entering the postseason – UCLA and Georgia Tech — were eliminated on the opening weekend and 11 of the 16 teams to earn home-field advantage for regionals were dispatched, too.
A pair of first-timers to reach the eight-team Men’s College World Series include unseeded Troy (38-30) and No. 16 seed West Virginia (45-15). They meet in the first game of the 2026 CWS on Friday afternoon at Omaha, Neb.
Troy has no doubt it belongs in Omaha. The Trojans expected to be here after early success, including a 12-inning victory at Georgia in February. The Bulldogs did avenge that loss in an 11-1 run-rule victory on the same field April 26.
Head coach Skylar Meade said Troy isn’t planning to change what got the team to this point. The offense and defense are anchored by Sun Belt Player of the Year Jimmy Janicki. The catcher has 20 doubles, 19 home runs and is third in the nation with 85 RBIs. He also threw out 10 would-be base stealers.
West Virginia will be ready for Janicki, crashing the final eight with pitching. The Mountaineers catty the best team ERA in the field (3.79).
“If you want to win in Omaha you have got to pitch,” Meade said. “Hitting is hitting and situational work is situational. You got to play defense, but you got to pitch. And our guys are more than capable of it, so we’re going to continue to challenge them to do so. That’s the only way our guys respond anyways.”
No. 1 seed UCLA won 51 games in the regular season, claimed the Big Ten conference and postseason titles, but didn’t get out of the regional round. No. 2 Georgia Tech and No. 4 Auburn also fell short.
No. 3 Georgia (51-12) is one of the familiar Goliaths still standing. No. 5 North Carolina (50-12-1), No. 6 Texas (45-13) and No. 7 Alabama (42-19) are standing as the final eight open play Friday. Ole Miss (41-21) and Oklahoma (38-22) round out the field packed with SEC powers.
Georgia coach Wes Johnson credited his group for being resilient, a trait he and his peers will need this month with the dueling challenges of trying to stick around beyond the weekend and managing the transfer portal.
Johnson said he did at least seven Zoom calls with potential transfers with more to come while juggling the prep work needed before taking the field again. The transfer portal opened June 1 and closes at the end of the month.
“I drink a lot of Spark and Red Bull,” Johnson joked.
North Carolina faces Ole Miss in the late game Friday.
Georgia and Texas did not meet in the regular season. They collide Saturday night, the first game on this stage for SEC Player of the Year and Golden Spikes Award finalist Daniel Jackson. The junior catcher and All-American is batting .396 with 31 home runs, 86 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. He ranks in the top five nationally in five offensive categories and is batting .450 in the postseason.
The Bulldogs finished fourth in the country with a .326 team batting average. Texas held opponents to a .225 batting average and is energized by conference freshman of the year Anthony Pack Jr., who has a team-leading .359 batting average with 20 stolen bases).
Pack, an outfielder, helped get the Longhorns to Nebraska with 52 RBIs this season and putting on a show with three home runs in the regional opener against Holy Cross.
Texas also has the 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year in pitcher Dylan Volantis, who was fourth in the nation with a 2.03 ERA this season. Johnson said Georgia remembers him from last season, primarily because of his effectiveness missing bats.
“He does a really good job of tunneling his fastball and curveball down in the strike zone, which makes it tough,” Johnson said.
Georgia scored two runs in the top of the 10th and swept No. 14 Mississippi State in a home Super Regional last weekend to avoid the tournament upset bug. The teams combined for a whopping 21 home runs.
UGA hasn’t won the title since 1990 and won the SEC title for the first time since 2008, which is also the last time the Bulldogs made the trek to Omaha. With one victory in the CWS, Georgia can tie the program record with 52 wins. That team won the national title in 1990.
–Field Level Media
