And then there were eight.

Chaos ensued during the regional round of the 2026 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, as some of the top national seeds crumbled while underdogs made history. The road to Omaha is long and grueling, narrowing down a field of 64 hopeful teams until only the best remain. Sixteen players across six of the remaining teams have not only suited up for their universities on the biggest stage, but for their country as members of a USA National Team. Whether they’re repping the Stars and Stripes or a collegiate logo, the end goal remains the same: it’s all for glory.

Of the 16 players, nine have won gold medals on the international stage. The nation’s top remaining seed, Georgia, claims the most players with five, Ole Miss and North Carolina with three, Texas and Oklahoma with two, and Alabama with one.

Action in Omaha will begin on Friday, June 12th, as the Troy Trojans and West Virginia Mountaineers take the field at 2 p.m. ET, followed by the Ole Miss Rebels and North Carolina Tar Heels at 7 p.m. ET. Former teammates from the 2022 18U National Team will duel in the second matchup as Cade Townsend (Ole Miss) and Macon Winslow (UNC) suit up for their teams. Matthew Matthijs (2019 15U, 2024 CNT) and Jason DeCaro (2025 CNT) will also don Carolina Blue, while Collin Reuter (2015 12U) and Hunter Elliott (2022 CNT) will take the field for the Rebels.

In his last outing, Townsend went five innings and struck out seven batters in the Rebels 5-4 victory over Arizona State to win the Lincoln regional. Ole Miss had to go through the Sun Devils twice and the host school, Nebraska, once to advance to the super regionals and face conference rival Auburn. Elliott started game one against the Tigers on the mound, going 4.1 innings and striking out two, while Reuter knocked a two-run shot to center field in the 6-4 victory. The Rebels downed Auburn in back-to-back games en route to Omaha.

The Tar Heels also got off to a hot start in the postseason, sweeping the Chapel Hill regional before hosting the USC Trojans in the supers. After dropping the first game, UNC bounced back to win the next two. DeCaro pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just two hits and striking out eight in a 4-0 victory that evened the series. In game three, the Tar Heels punched their ticket to Omaha in dramatic fashion with a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth to secure a 4-3 victory. So far during the tournament, Winslow has recorded three hits and three RBIs, and plated a pair of runs. On the mound, Matthijs has pitched 1.1 innings in two relief appearances, allowing just one hit and one earned run while striking out three.

Round one of the “Greatest Show on Dirt” continues on Saturday with two SEC showdowns between Alabama and Oklahoma at 3 p.m. ET, and Texas and Georgia at 8 p.m. ET.

Justin Lebron (2024 CNT) has had a historic 2026 season for the Crimson Tide, tallying the most stolen bases in the SEC this year with 36, and becoming one of the top prospects in this year's draft. Alabama is 5-0 in the tournament, and Lebron has recorded a hit in four of the five. The shortstop’s best outing came against USC Upstate in the Tuscaloosa Regional as he went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

In the other dugout, pitchers Xander Mercurius (2019 12U, 2022 15U) and Cameron Johnson (2022 18U) will suit up for Oklahoma. Mercurius has made two postseason starts on the mound, recording 14 strikeouts across 9.2 innings of work. The Sooners’ journey to the World Series contained back-to-back upsets of the No. 2 overall national seed, Georgia Tech, in the Atlanta Regional, followed by Kansas at the Lawrence Super Regional.

Of the first round matchups, Georgia and Texas’ rosters have the most USA alums with seven between the two teams. Georgia’s Tre Phelps, Matt Scott, and Joey Volchko were all members of the 2024 College National Team, while Henry Allen was on the 2021 15U roster and Dylan Wood was a member of the gold-medal winning 2024 18U National Team.

The Bulldogs are a perfect 8-0 in the postseason and claimed their first SEC Championship title in program history before sweeping the Athens Regional and Super Regional. Phelps has been a standout at the plate all season and boasts a .364 batting average on the year. The third baseman has kept it rolling into the postseason, reaching base in each game he’s played in. Allen unfortunately has not seen any postseason action after sustaining a right knee injury in early May.

The remaining three alums have seen success on the mound in the postseason so far, and will look to bring this momentum to Omaha. Volchko, one of UGA’s weekend starters, has made three postseason starts, including a six-inning, 10-strikeout game against LIU during regionals, which tied his season-high strikeout total.

Scott, a 6-foot-7 senior from Redding, Connecticut, has made four relief appearances in the postseason, going 11.1 total innings and recording 10 strikeouts. Meanwhile Wood, a right-handed freshman from California, has made one relief appearance, pitching 1.1 innings in the Bulldogs’ dominant 18-2 win over LIU.

Ashton Larson (2017 12U) and Casey Borba (2022 18U) round out the USA Baseball alumni that will travel to Omaha after going 5-0 in the Austin Regional and Super Regional, where the Longhorns outscored opponents 41-7. Larson, a junior from Overland Park, Kansas, posted season-high numbers during the regional round, notching three hits in a 19-1 victory over Holy Cross and recording 15 putouts in a 16-2 victory over Tarleton State. Borba recorded his best game of the postseason so far during game one of the Longhorns’ super regional meeting with Oregon, going 2-for-4 with a hit and an RBI in the 11-3 victory.