College World Series field is set: NCAA baseball super regionals winners and losers

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After dropping the first matchup in the best-of-three super regionals, No. 5 North Carolina walked off Southern California in Sunday’s elimination game to reach the College World Series for the second time in three years.

This makes the Tar Heels the exception to the rule among the eight teams in this year’s World Series, which is set to begin on Friday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.

UNC Is the only team in the field to have previously reached Omaha in the past three seasons. In fact, 23 different programs have played in the CWS since 2024, giving college baseball a distinctly more unpredictable vibe than postseasons in football and men’s and women’s basketball.

North Carolina infielder Cooper Nicholson (1) celebrates after scoring a run against Southern California during the ninth inning of their NCAA baseball tournament super regionals game at Boshamer Stadium.

Joining UNC are No. 3 Georgia, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Alabama, No. 16 West Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Troy.

We’ll see if recent experience gives UNC an edge. Another factor in the Tar Heels’ favor is a deep run of starting and bullpen arms that stepped up to hold the Trojans to just three runs in the final two games of the series with the team facing elimination.

UNC, West Virginia, Auburn and Mississippi State lead the winners and losers from super regionals:

Winners

The SEC

The top conference in college baseball will have a record five teams in the CWS after No. 7 Alabama closed out St. John’s and Oklahoma blew away No. 15 Kansas. A single conference had sent four teams to Omaha eight times, most recently when the SEC and ACC did so in 2024.

North Carolina

UNC had never won a super regional after dropping the opener. But the Tar Heels rebounded from that 9-5 loss to blank USC 4-0 in the second game and then won 4-3 in the rubber match on Owen Hull’s double in the bottom of the ninth for the program’s first walk-off tournament win since beating Virginia in the 2024 CWS. This is the 13th CWS appearance in program history and the ninth since 2006, tied for the most nationally.

West Virginia

A magical season will continue with the program’s first trip to Omaha. The super regional against Cal Poly was never close: West Virginia outscored the Mustangs 29-3 in a two-game romp, pounding out 12 runs on 14 hits in the opener and 17 runs on 19 hits in the eliminator. The Mountaineers also drew a combined 12 innings of three-run ball with 15 strikeouts from starters Chansen Cole and Maxx Yehl.

Troy

The Trojans will be the underdog story of this year’s CWS after topping another potential Cinderella in Little Rock. Troy took the opener 12-2 behind two homers and six RBIs by designated hitter Jabe Boroff and then cruised to a 7-2 win in the second game thanks to 7.1 innings of five-hit ball from starter Tommy Egan. Since losing 10-5 to Miami in the opener of the Gainesville regional, the Trojans have won six postseason games in a row and scored a combined 69 runs.

Losers

Auburn

The entire tournament was a slog for the No. 4 Tigers, who barely escaped a scare from Milwaukee in the regionals and then dropped two in a row in super regionals, 6-4 and 5-3, to SEC rival Ole Miss. The series came down to an inability to capitalize with runners in scoring position: Auburn went 1 of 10 with RISP in the first game and then 2 of 9 in the second. The Rebels were led by another big series from third baseman Judd Utermark, who went 3 for 7 with a homer, two walks and three knocked in.

Mississippi State

Mississippi State’s bats might’ve delivered 21 runs on 29 hits in two games against Georgia, but that still wasn’t enough to avoid a two-game sweep thanks to a meltdown from what had been one of the most effective pitching staffs in the SEC. After taking a 7-0 lead after three and half innings in the opener, the Bulldogs gave up five runs in the bottom of the fourth, another four runs in the fifth and then three runs in the eighth to lose 13-12. In the second game, MSU took a 9-8 in the bottom of the eighth but gave up a game-tying single in the ninth and were walked off on a two-run homer in the 10th from Georgia star Daniel Jackson. His 31st long ball of the year sent the Bulldogs to the CWS for the first time since 2008.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College baseball super regionals winners, losers with CWS field set



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