Ole Miss Baseball Draws No. 2 Seed in NCAA Tournament, Faces Tough Path

The Ole Miss Rebels enter the Regional Tournament as the No. 2 seed in what appears to be a tough draw, as the team will look to make another deep postseason run under head coach Mike Bianco.

The Rebels will travel to Lincoln Nebraska to face Arizona State in their first game matchup on Friday.

The Lincoln Regional is paired with the Auburn Regional for super regional play.

Regional Matchups

Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco during a NCAA baseball game between Tennessee and Ole Miss at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on April 18, 2026. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Rebels are set to play a very solid Arizona State team in their first game of the Regionals. Arizona State finished the season 37-19 with the No. 44 RPI in the country, compared to Ole Miss’ No. 16 ranked RPI.

Arizona State finished the regular season 19-11 in the Big 12 Conference and went 7-9 against Quad One opponents. The Sun Devils also suffered four losses to Quad Four teams throughout the season.

The Rebels will likely face Cole Carlon, Arizona State’s ace pitcher, on Friday. Carlon is among the best aces in college baseball, making the matchup against Arizona State a must-win game for the Rebels.

The host team, Nebraska, is a very solid team as well, as the Cornhuskers went 42-15 in the regular season and 23-7 in Big Ten play.

The Cornhuskers rank 10th in RPI and went 9-8 against quad one opponents. Nebraska is a very talented team that hits a ton of home runs and is coached by Will Bolt.

South Dakota finished the regular season 20-31 and finished 12-15 in the Summit Leauge before getting an automatic bid in their confrence tournament. This is South Dakota's first appearnce since 2013.

Ole Miss will face Arizona State at 8PM EST on ESPN2

Super Regional Matchups

Assuming the Rebels advance through the Regional, they would take on the winner of the Auburn-hosted Regional in the Super Regionals.

Auburn is an excellent team, as they are ranked No. 3 in college baseball in total RPI. The Tigers finished the season with a 38-19 record. The Tigers were one of the best teams in the SEC, despite having the hardest schedule in college baseball

The No. 2 seeded UCF Knights are a very fun team, as they finished 31-21 with an RPI of 37th in college baseball. The Knights are led by Orlando native head coach Rich Wallace.

NC State is another intriguing team heading into regional play, as they have an RPI ranking of 51 and finished with a record of 32-22.

The Milwaukee Panthers made the tournament after winning the Horizon League as the No. 2 seed in their conference. The Panthers enter the Auburn Regional with 31 losses and one win over a power conference opponent.

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