UCLA baseball to host regional that includes UC Irvine; USC snaps NCAA drought
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The UCLA baseball team is hosting the Los Angeles Regional that includes UC Irvine, while USC has ended its postseason drought with an invitation to the Corvallis Regional, the NCAA announced Monday.
The Bruins earned the No. 15 national seed in the Division I NCAA baseball tournament and the right to host a regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA will open play against Fresno State on Friday at 1 p.m. PDT, while UC Irvine will face off with Arizona State at 6 p.m. PDT to round out the L.A. regional pool. UCLA’s game will be streamed online via ESPN+, while the Anteaters’ game will air on ESPNU.
USC’s postseason fate was in doubt during the final weeks of the season, but the Trojans made the tournament field for the first time since 2015. USC will travel to the Corvallis Regional and open play against TCU at noon PDT on Friday on ESPNU. Oregon State and Saint Mary’s round out the regional field.
Vanderbilt, which gave up just three runs over three games in the SEC Tournament, was awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament on Monday and was among a record 13 teams from the conference to be selected to the 64-team field.
The tournament opens Friday with 16 double-elimination regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha beginning June 13.
Vanderbilt won eight consecutive games and 13 of its last 16 to earn the No. 1 seed for the second time and first since 2007. The Commodores, who play Wright State in the opener of the Nashville Regional, are in the tournament for the 19th straight time — the longest active streak in the country.
The national seeds following Vanderbilt (42-16) are Texas (42-12), Arkansas (43-13), Auburn (38-18), North Carolina (42-12), LSU (43-14), Georgia (42-15) and Oregon State (41-12-1). Those eight teams would be in line to host super regionals if they win their regionals.
Top draft prospect Roch Cholowsky was content delaying his MLB career in exchange for a chance to lead UCLA to the College World Series in Omaha.
Seeds Nos. 9 through 16 are: Florida State (38-14), Mississippi (40-19), Clemson (44-16), Oregon (42-14), Coastal Carolina (48-11), Tennessee (43-16), UCLA (42-16) and Southern Mississippi (44-14).
The last four teams to get at-large bids, in alphabetical order, were Arizona State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and USC.
The first four teams left out were Southeastern Louisiana, Troy, UConn and Virginia.
The SEC’s 13 teams in the tournament are two more than its record 11 that made it in 2024.
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