Top-ranked national seed UCLA and Southeastern Conference champion Georgia headline the 64-team field as the 2026 NCAA Division I baseball tournament regionals began Friday, May 29, across 16 sites nationwide.
The double-elimination opening round features 32 matchups, with the field set to narrow to 16 programs by June 1 on the road to the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
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UCLA entered as the unquestioned top seed after becoming the first program in college baseball history to maintain a wire-to-wire No. 1 ranking throughout the regular season in both D1Baseball and Baseball America, according to cbssports.
com.
The Bruins, along with Oregon State, did not lose a single weekend series during the regular season.
UCLA hosts a Los Angeles Regional that includes Virginia Tech, Cal Poly, and Saint Mary's.
Several traditional powers are absent this postseason.
LSU, Vanderbilt, and Dallas Baptist failed to secure tournament bids for the first time in more than a decade, as reported by ncaa.
com.
LSU, which won two of the last three national titles, is one of three programs from the 2025 Men's College World Series field that did not qualify for 2026.
Individual milestones also highlight the opening weekend. Georgia junior catcher Daniel Jackson is chasing history after winning the SEC triple crown.
Jackson is two home runs away from becoming the second player in Division I history to record 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a single season.
