The Red Storm begin their latest foray into the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon, when they face national 10-seed Florida State at their home ballpark of Dick Howser Stadium in the Tallahassee Regional. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network. The winner will take on either Coastal Carolina or Northern Illinois in the 1-0 game on Saturday evening. The full double-elimination bracket can be accessed here.
Getting the Friday start for St. John’s will be
their ace and unanimous All-Big East First Team selection, Liam O’Leary (8-4, 2.97 ERA). The junior right-hander from Souderton, Pennsylvania had his best performance as a Johnny in the opening round of the Big East Tournament, throwing eight innings on 137 pitches and only surrendering two earned runs in a 4-2 win over Creighton.
The Seminoles will send out Bryson Moore, another junior right-hander who enters Friday’s game with a record of 6-2 and a 3.88 ERA. The Virginia transfer pitched a season-best 7.2 innings and allowed two earned runs in a 7-4 loss to Miami (FL) in their regular season finale on May 16.
St. John’s enters the NCAA Tournament with a 33-24 record and captured their conference-best 11th Big East championship after going a perfect 3-0 in last week’s tournament. The Red Storm’s 39th postseason appearance is tied for 12th-most all-time among NCAA Division I programs and is the most among any Northeast team. This year’s trip into the tournament is the program’s second in three years, with its last finishing with a 1-2 record at the Charlottesville Regional in 2024.
Florida State and St. John’s have only met in three games before this weekend’s regional. The Red Storm visited the Seminoles in a three-game series down in Tallahassee in March 2016, dropping the first two games before avoiding the sweep with a 5-1 victory.
The Red Storm has more history with Coastal Carolina, holding a 3-4 record in seven previous meetings. In their most recent meeting on Opening Day of the 2017 season, they upset the defending National Champions and ninth-ranked Chanticleers in a 7-4 extra innings victory.
St. John’s has only faced Northern Illinois once, back in 2012, besting the Huskies in an 11-9 extra innings battle at Texas Tech’s Rip Griffin Park in Lubbock, Texas. That season was also the last time the Red Storm advanced to the Super Regionals.
2026 NCAA Tallahassee Regional Schedule
Friday, May 29
Game 1: #1 Florida State vs. #4 St. John’s – 3 p.m. – ACCN
Game 2: #2 Coastal Carolina vs. #3 Northern Illinois – 8 p.m. – ESPN+
Saturday, May 30
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 1 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 31
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 – 1 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 – 6 p.m.
Monday, June 1
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary)
Tournament Links
- St. John’s baseball clinches Big East title, will face Florida State in Tallahassee Regional for NCAA Tournament
- St. John’s baseball headed to NCAA Tournament on strength of local players — Zach Braziller, New York Post
- Florida State head coach Link Jarrett previews Tallahassee Regional ahead of opening game on Friday — Jordan Silversmith, Tomahawk Nation
- The D1Baseball staff named catcher Adam Agresti as the Tallahassee Regional’s most exciting player in their 2026 tournament preview on NCAA.com
