Chaos would be the most accurate word to describe regional play in the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament, with upsets galore taking place around the country. If there were one regional, however, that you had to circle as the most chaotic, you may not have to look past Hattiesburg, Miss., where Little Rock pushed through the bracket.
Southern Miss, the host in Hattiesburg and No. 9 seed overall, was eliminated right out of the gate, losing to Little Rock, the No. 4 seed in the regional, in its opening game. The hosts then fell to Virginia to drop out of the tournament before the two-seed Cavaliers lost to the three-seed Jacksonville State, setting up the rare matchup between the bottom two seeds for a spot in the Super Regional.
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Little Rock, which defeated Jacksonville State 6-4 on Saturday, could have lost in the rematch on Sunday to set up a Game 7 situation, given the Trojans entered the contest without a loss, but handled business 6-3 to advance to the Super Regional for the first time in program history.
The celebrations on the field were epic, but it was Little Rock dragging its bus driver out onto the field to celebrate with them that stood out.
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It’s clear that the Trojans view Kevin the bus driver as a member of their team, and were sure to let him celebrate the baseball team making history.
Next up for Little Rock is a Super Regional matchup against Troy, another team on a Cinderella run that advanced to its first-ever Super as well.
Troy, which will play host to the best-of-three series against Little Rock with a spot in the College World Series on the line, advanced out of the Gainesville regional, where it got the best of No. 8 overall seed Florida, as well as Rider and Miami (Fla.).
The top two seeds in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, UCLA and Georgia Tech, also failed to get out of their regionals.
