The UCLA baseball team (51-6) is hosting the Los Angeles Regional as the nation’s No. 1 overall seed, and USC (43-15) is headed to the College Station Regional hosted by 12th-seeded Texas A&M, the NCAA announced Monday.
After walking off Oregon 3-2 on Sunday in Omaha to claim their first Big Ten tournament title, the Bruins will defend Jackie Robinson Stadium and push to make their second consecutive College World Series run. UCLA faces Saint Mary’s (No. 4 seed) in the Westwood opener at noon Friday on ESPNU, while Virginia Tech (2) and Cal Poly (3) will face off at 5 p.m on ESPN+ to complete the Los Angeles Regional.
If the Bruins advance, they will host a super regional against the winner of the Morgantown Regional hosted by West Virginia.
USC (2) is making its second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since 2002. The Trojans will face 36-24 Texas State (3) at 6 p.m. PDT on Friday at Texas A&M’s Blue Bell Park on ESPN+. The Aggies (1) will face Lamar (4) at 1 p.m. PDT on the SEC Network to open the College Station Regional.
“When you start in August, the goal is to play in Omaha,” USC coach Andy Stankiewicz said, alluding to the home of the College World Series. “But before you get in Omaha, you got to get to a regional. And so, here we are. [We’d] certainly love to be hosting a regional, but it’s OK. We’re on our way to Texas to tee it up against some really good Texas teams. That’s the goal, to be ready to play. Our boys are up here working right now, and they’ll get ready for a great weekend.”
If USC advances, the Trojans would play the winner of the Chapel Hill Regional hosted by North Carolina.
Stankiewicz said that making back-to-back tournaments for the first time in 22 years is “a good stat,” but “this place has been built on national championships.”
The Trojans posted a nearly perfect 32-1 record at Dedeaux Field in their first season back, after the venue underwent two years of renovations. But USC won just 10 of 23 road games.
USC suffered a devastating 7-5 walk-off loss to UCLA on Saturday, ending its Big Ten tournament run and shot at hosting an NCAA regional.
The loss stung, but Stankiewicz and his players have no choice but to focus on the journey ahead.
“You can’t control where you’re going, as far as the regional, but you could have controlled playing better baseball in those moments,” Stankiewicz said. “We got to move on, though. You got to learn from that. We have to get better in those moments and get better for the future. I think that part encouraged our guys, like, ‘Hey, man, it’s baseball; it’s life, sometimes.’ But you can’t make the same mistakes, right? You got to let those moments help you grow and get you ready for the next time they come — because they’re coming again.”
UC Santa Barbara also made the NCAA tournament after missing the field in 2025. The Gauchos (2) will head to the Austin Regional, hosted by Texas, and will face Tarleton State (3) on Friday at 3 p.m. PDT at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on ESPN+. Texas (1) will host Holy Cross (4) at 10 a.m. PDT to start the regional on SEC Network.
If UCSB advances, the Gauchos would play the winner of the Eugene Regional hosted by Oregon.
The 64-team NCAA tournament begins Friday with 16 double-elimination regional pools. Winners of the regionals will reach eight best-of-three super regionals. Winners of the super regionals advance to the College World Series in Omaha, where they will play in two double-elimination brackets with four teams apiece. The NCAA tournament ends with the College World Series final, which is a best-of-three series between the last two teams standing.
UCLA won its lone NCAA national championship in 2013; USC has won 13, with its latest coming in 1998. UCSB has never won a national title.
“At the end of the day, the goal isn’t to get to a regional,” Stankiewicz said. “The goal is to get to Omaha.”