The setup
This is the regional Georgia Tech earned. The Yellow Jackets ran through the ACC in James Ramsey's first year as head coach, taking both the regular season title and the tournament championship in Charlotte. They enter the regional 48-9, with a program-record 13 ACC series wins, a 30-4 home record, and a new program record for home runs in a single season at 125.
Ramsey is the first ACC coach to win a regular season conference title in his first year since 1958. He's also the first ACC head coach to win back-to-back conference titles with two different head coaches at the same school: Danny Hall took the 2025 regular season title before retiring, Ramsey took the 2026 sweep. That continuity matters this weekend. The Jackets aren't dealing with a transition, they're dealing with momentum.
Around them sit three programs that took very different paths to Atlanta. Oklahoma is the SEC two-seed and the team with the most postseason resume in the field after the Jackets. The Citadel rode an eight-game win streak through the SoCon tournament to claim its first conference tournament title since 2010, an auto-bid story that's more about momentum than talent. UIC is the surprise, winning the Missouri Valley regular season and tournament titles for the first time since 2017 to punch its first NCAA Tournament ticket since 2019.
The teams
Georgia Tech
ACC regular season and tournament champions. Ryan Zuckerman was named ACC Tournament MVP after powering the title-game win over UNC. Catcher Vahn Lackey and shortstop Carson Kerce anchor a lineup that hit a school-record 125 home runs.
Oklahoma
Skip Johnson's second season in the SEC produced a tournament-bound team built on veteran returners and four top-100 transfers. Shortstop Jaxon Willits, second baseman Kyle Branch, and outfielder Jason Walk give Oklahoma SEC experience in every spot of the field.
The Citadel
First SoCon tournament title since 2010. The Bulldogs are red hot, winning ten of their last eleven. Tournament MOP Michael Gibson does it both ways: he hit .462 with 14 tournament hits and threw the save in the title game. Ace Will Holmes is the Friday starter.
UIC
First-ever Missouri Valley regular season and tournament title sweep. Junior Thomas Curry hit .462 in the tournament with six hits and seven RBI to take MVP honors. Kendall Lyons threw six innings of three-hit ball in the title game. First NCAA Tournament for the Flames in seven years.
What's at stake
For Georgia Tech, this is the most loaded regional in the field that isn't Lincoln. The Jackets get UIC out of the gate, a team that hasn't played in a regional in seven years, but the bottom half features Oklahoma at full bore. The Sooners have the SEC pedigree and the pitching depth. The Citadel rode a hot streak to get here, and conference tournament champions in this format are dangerous on day one, but the talent gap shows up by Saturday.
If you're looking for the trap-game scenario, it's the second day. The Jackets have rolled at home all season, but the Saturday matchup against the Oklahoma-Citadel winner is where regionals turn. Both possible opponents have rotation arms that can take a Friday loss off the table for a 1 seed if they get past their first game.
For the other three, this is the kind of regional draw that can be tough to read. Drawing the No. 2 overall is a steep climb, but Russ Chandler is also a regional where two teams will play out of the elimination bracket from Saturday on. The team that handles its Friday loser's-bracket spot best probably gets to Sunday with a real shot.