NCAA DI Baseball Championship | Atlanta Regional Overview
 

ATLANTA REGIONAL | SCHEDULE

Friday, May 29
Game 1: No. 1 Georgia Tech (48-9) vs. No. 4 UIC (27-27-1) – Noon (ACC Network)
Game 2: No. 2 Oklahoma (32-21) vs. No. 3 The Citadel (35-24) – 5 p.m. (ESPN+)

Saturday, May 30
Game 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 1 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner – 6 p.m.

Sunday, May 31
Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser – 1 p.m.
Game 6: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 6 p.m.

Monday, June 1
Game 7: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (If Necessary) – TBD


ATLANTA REGIONAL | TICKETS

Due to the limited amount of tickets provided to The Citadel, all advanced tickets for the Atlanta Regional are sold out.

Pending any returns from visiting teams, Georgia Tech will be releasing a limited amount of single session and standing room only tickets. If available, tickets will go on sale Thursday, May 28 at 10 a.m. at -- https://ramblinwreck.com/2026atl-bsb-regional/

Fans are encouraged to utilize Georgia Tech's Official Resale Marketplace as well -- https://seatgeek.com/


ATLANTA REGIONAL | COMPETITION

No. 1 Georgia Tech | No. 2 National Seed
The second overall seed within the NCAA Championship and Atlanta Regional host, Georgia Tech closed out the season with a 48-9 record along with a 25-5 ACC mark, securing second in the RPI and slotting in at 29th nationally for strength of schedule. The Yellow Jackets claimed both the regular-season and tournament ACC Championships, initially defeating Virginia in the league quarterfinals before knocking off Miami in the semis and North Carolina in the title matchup. During the year, the Yellow Jackets registered a number of key victories, including Auburn (3/31), North Carolina on two occasions (4/19 & 5/24), Georgia (4/21), three-game sweeps of Florida State (4/9-11) and Wake Forest (4/24-26), Virginia (5/21) and Miami (5/23).

Notably, GT scored back-to-back regular-season titles for just the second time in program history, and emerged as the first ACC squad since 2013 to garner both the regular-season and tournament championships. On the field, the Yellow Jackets produced the best regular season record in 106 years, finishing 45-9 while tying the ACC record with 25 conference wins. Georgia Tech went 14-3 against Top 25 opponents, the best winning percentage (.824) against ranked adversaries in school history with seven of those 14 wins coming by at least 10 runs.
 
The Citadel and the Yellow Jackets have met previously on the diamond twice in Atlanta with GT leading the all-time series by a 2-0 mark, narrowly topping the Bulldogs in 2013, 5-4, and winning the initial contest between the two programs in 2000 via a 13-3 margin.
 
For postseason honors, Georgia Tech led the league with five first-team All-ACC honorees and a total six players named to all-conference teams, including: Drew Burress (first team), Vahn Lackey (first team), Jarren Advincula (first team), Carson Kerce (first team), Ryan Zuckerman (first team) and Tate McKee (second team). Additionally, head coach James Ramsey collected ACC Coach of the Year accolades while Lackey picked up ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
 
No. 2 Oklahoma
Second-seeded Oklahoma tallied a 32-21 overall mark on the year with a 14-16 record in SEC play. The Sooners wrapped up the campaign ranked 24th in the RPI after battling through a strength of schedule slotted as seventh nationally. Most recently, Oklahoma faltered against LSU in the opening round of the SEC tournament, 6-2. During the year, the Sooners notched a number of key victories, including Auburn (4/25), Alabama (4/3), Florida (5/1), a pair against Texas A&M (3/13 & 3/15), Arkansas (5/10) and Oklahoma State (2/14).
 
The Friday afternoon contest against The Citadel will serve as just the second meeting between the two programs with the Sooners owning the lone victory, a tight 9-7 win back in 2014 as part of the UCF Baseball Tournament in Orlando, Fla.
 
Jason Walk, the Sooners' centerfielder, served as the lone Oklahoma representative in the SEC end-of-year honors, scoring a position on the league's All-Defensive team.
 
No. 4 UIC
Victors of Missouri Valley Conference Championship, fourth-seeded UIC enters the NCAA postseason boasting a 27-27-1 overall record with a 16-8 tally in MVC competition, notably clinching a share of the league regular-season title before cleaning up in the tournament for an AQ bid. The Flames RPI of 227 and a strength of schedule of 288 serve as the lowest marks in the Atlanta Regional as well with UIC owning key wins over Indiana State (4/4) plus back-to-back against Sam Houston State (2/20 & 2/21).
 
Coincidentally, the only two meetings between The Citadel and the Flames came just last year during the season-opening set; the Bulldogs collected wins in both matchups, initially ousting UIC via a 9-1 decision on Feb. 14 before shutting out the Flames on Feb. 17 courtesy of a 2-0 mark. For the Bulldogs' second-year head coach Russell Triplett, the two victories serve as his first at the helm for The Citadel.
 
For postseason honors, UIC picked up eight Missouri Valley Conference accolades following the regular season, including a trio of individual recognitions including Newcomer of the Year (Ashton Kampa), Co-Defensive Player of the Year (Vidal Colon) and Coach of the Year (Sean McDermott). On the All-MVC first team, Kampa plus Jake Busson, Thomas Curry and Mason Lei repped the Flames while Mark Eddie garnered second-team All-MVC and Sean Cody slotted in as an All-MVC honorable mention.
 

THE CITADEL | POSTSEASON HISTORY

Following a 5-0 run across four days at the Southern Conference Championship, The Citadel seized the program's 22nd league title title -- good for the first since the 2010 campaign -- en route to locking down the SoCon's automatic bid into the NCAA DI Baseball Championship. The Bulldogs head into their 13th NCAA regional appearance with a 14-26 overall NCAA tournament record, last registering a postseason victory in the opening contest of the 2010 Columbia Regional against Virginia Tech, 7-2.

Additionally, The Citadel lays claim to one regional victory in program history, winning four straight games as part of the 1990 Atlantic Regional in Coral Gables, Fla., to advance to the College World Series, initially topping North Carolina State and East Carolina before edging host Miami on back-to-back occasions.

Triplett, who served as the head coach at Newberry for 14 seasons before taking the same role with The Citadel ahead of the 2025 campaign, earned his first NCAA regional appearance as the Bulldogs' skipper and his third overall following prior visits in 2019 and 2023 for as part of the Division II Championship, leading the Wolves to 2-4 overall record during those runs.
 
Following the 2026 Southern Conference Championship, The Citadel two-way star Michael Gibson collected the Walt Nadzak Award, an annual honor given to the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Additionally, five Bulldogs notched positions on the SoCon All-Tournament team, including the battery of Will Holmes and Phillips Daniels, first baseman Zach Hunt, shortstop Lane Tobin and outfielder Christian Stratis.
 

THE CITADEL | 2026 OPPONENTS IN THE NCAA FIELD

The Citadel concluded the season ranked 41st in the RPI while also slotting in at 51st in the strength of schedule metric, notably facing five NCAA-bound programs across 12 games during the regular season. Notably, fellow SoCon brethren Mercer, who the Bulldogs topped on back-to-back occasions in the Southern Conference Championship, fell one spot shy of an NCAA berth as well, serving as the 'first team out' of the championship field.

The nationally third-seeded Georgia Bulldogs are slated to host the Athens Regional, where early-season opponent Liberty has slotted in as the No. 3 seed. The Flames will challenge second-seeded Boston College Eagles while the host Bulldogs battle No. 4 LIU.
 
Meanwhile, nationally-seeded No. 10 Florida State plays host to the Tallahassee Regional, where coincidentally Coastal Carolina joins as the No. 2 seed. The Seminoles open the tournament against St. John's while the Chanticleers take on Northern Illinois.
 
Finally, Kentucky fought into the Morgantown Regional as the No. 3 seed, initially squaring off against second-seeded Wake Forest.


UP NEXT

With a victory in the Atlanta Regional, The Citadel would advance into Super Regional round for the first time in program history, facing the winner of the Lawrence Regional between nationally-seeded No. 15 Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri State and Northeastern.