After receiving one of the 16 regional host bids on Sunday evening, the No. 5 Texas Longhorns landed the No. 6 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Division 1 Baseball Championship that would allow head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s team to remain at UFCU Disch-Falk Field through the super regional round if they can advance out of the Austin Regional.
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Austin Regional is paired with the Eugene Regional, where No. 11 seed Oregon is the host.
In the record 65th postseason appearance for the Longhorns (40-13), Texas is paired with UC Santa Barbara (38-18, No. 38 RPI), Tarleton (37-19, No. 56 RPI), and Holy Cross (25-28, No. 201 RPI). It’s the 36th time the Horns have hosted a regional, which features a double-elimination format.
With a 22-8 record in the Big West, UCSB landed the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, opening with a 7-4 win over No. 5 seed Cal State Fullerton before falling out of the winner’s bracket with a 4-2 loss to No. 2 seed Cal Poly and getting eliminated with a 7-0 loss to No. 3 seed UC San Diego.
Longtime head coach Andrew Checketts was named Big West co-Coach of the Year as second baseman Will Vasseur, outfielder Rowan Kelly, and right-hander Jackson Flora were all named first-team All-Big West with Florida named the conference Pitcher of the Year after going 11-0 with a 1.05 ERA.
Texas is familiar with Tarleton, which won the WAC regular-season title with a 12-6 record and the tournament title by blasting Sacramento State, 21-11 — on March 17, the Texans beat the Longhorns 6-1 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in the most surprising midweek loss of the season for Schlossnagle’s team.
Like Checketts, third-year Tarleton head coach Fuller Smith was named the conference Coach of the Year as outfielder Rayner Heinrich was named first-team All-WAC.
Holy Cross finished fourth in the six-team Patriot League during the regular season, but made a run in the conference tournament, winning a second consecutive postseason title by beating Bucknell, the co-regular season champion, 14-11.
Outfielder CJ Egrie was named Patriot League Player of the Year with right-hander Jayden Wywoda joining Egrie on the All-Patriot League first team.
Texas opens the Austin Regional in the late game against Holy Cross on Friday at 5 p.m. Central on SEC Network.
