UCLA top seed opens 2026 NCAA Division I baseball tournament

The 2026 NCAA Division I baseball tournament begins Friday with UCLA holding the No. 1 overall seed after a dominant regular season. The Bruins, who won both the Big Ten Conference regular-season and tournament titles, will host a four-team regional in Los Angeles.

The 64-team field opens play with 16 double-elimination regionals hosted by top-seeded schools. Regional winners advance to best-of-three super regionals the following week, with the final eight teams moving on to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, beginning June 12.

UCLA (51-6) enters the postseason with the most wins in the nation, pairing a powerful offense with one of the country's top pitching staffs. The Bruins are led by shortstop Roch Cholowsky, a projected top pick in the upcoming MLB draft and a College Player of the Year finalist. The lineup also features significant power threats in Mulivai Levu and Will Gasparino. A key question for the Bruins is the status of ace Logan Reddemann, who has been sidelined with arm fatigue in recent weeks.

The other top national seeds are No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Auburn, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Alabama, and No. 8 Florida. Georgia...