CINCINNATI — The Bearcats are heading to Starkville as the 2026 NCAA baseball tournament kicks off this weekend.
Cincinnati, ranked No. 17 in the country before a loss in the Big 12 tournament, will be the No. 2 seed in the Starkville Regional, behind top-seeded Mississippi State. Louisiana and Lipscomb join the two. UC will play Louisiana at 7 p.m. Friday, May 29, airing on ESPN+.
Watch the team's reaction to their regional here:
Cincinnati baseball’s season lives on ⚾️
— Noelle Blumel (@NoelleBlumel) May 25, 2026
The Bearcats are a 2 seed and will face Louisiana in the Starkville regional. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/3tLsGm2gZy
The four teams will play in a double-elimination format from May 29 to June 1. One team will advance to the Super Regional round, where they'll play a best-of-three series with the winner of the Athens Regional. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha on June 12.
Last season, the Bearcats went to the Knoxville Regional, where they lost to host Tennessee and Wake Forest, failing to make the Super Regional. This year, they have Big 12 Freshman of the Year Enzo Infelise and fellow conference first-team honorees Quinton Coats and Nathan Taylor leading the way.
Coats finished the regular season ranked third in the nation in home runs and total bases, while Taylor secured the school's single-season strikeout record in his final home start of the season. Despite being a freshman, Infelise leads the Bearcats with a .374 batting average with 10 doubles, nine home runs and 44 RBI in the regular season.
You can learn more about tickets for the Starkville Regional and any additional postseason games here.
