UCF Knights Region Breakdown: Opponents, Schedule, How to Watch, Bracket Breakdown

For the 14th time in program history and the second time during coach Rich Wallace's three-season tenure, the UCF Knights baseball team is officially in the NCAA Tournament.

The Knights earned the 29th overall seed in the 64-team field, which sends them to the regional hosted by the 4th overall seed, Auburn. This tournament marks the second time in program history that they are going to play in a regional outside the state of Florida. Wallace was a part of both teams, being the coach of this squad and a player on the 2001 UCF team that made it to the Columbia Regional.

Hear what coach Rich Wallace had to say about the Knights' regional, and more, below:

Regional Opponents
Schedule
Path To Men's College World Series

Here is everything you need to know about the Knights' trip to the Auburn Regional:

1. Regional Opponents

AUBURN REGIONAL

(4) @AuburnBaseball @MKE_Baseball @NCStateBaseball @UCF_Baseball #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/bMTikYBPmV
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 25, 2026

NC State Wolfpack (32-22, 14-17 ACC)

The Knights' first game of the regional sees them go up against NC State, which is looking to send off coach Elliot Avent into retirement after 30 seasons at the helm with style.

The Wolfpack, ranked 49th in the RPI rankings, shines on offense, sporting the 29th-most walks and the 25th-highest batting average in the nation, which gives them the nation's 26th-highest on-base percentage.

NC State's high walk total is helped by outfielder Ty Head, an All-ACC Third teamer who ranks in the top 10 in the nation in walks and walks per game. Fellow outfielder and All-ACC Second Teamer, Rett Johnson, has also drawn a fair amount of walks, thanks to also having the 12th-most hits per game in the ACC. He sports the 28th-highest on-base percentage in the nation at .498. The Wolfpack's second baseman, Luke Nixon, and third baseman, Sherman Johnson, were also given All-ACC honors, second team and third team, respectively.

On the mound, despite sporting the 14th-highest strikeouts per nine innings in the nation, NC State's team ERA is 121st in the nation and barely cracks the top 10 in the ACC. Cooper Consiglio, who has both started games for the Wolfpack and come in as a reliever, ranks in the top 100 in the nation with 10.71 strikeouts per nine innings.

Milwaukee Panthers (22-31, 14-10 Horizon League)

The Panthers arrive in this tournament as the automatic bid from the Horizon League thanks to upsetting the tournament's 1-seed, Wright State, twice in the conference tournament. Ranked 256th in the RPI rankings, Milwaukee's statement win of the season came against Duke in the second game of a doubleheader, 9-6, though it would end up losing the four-game series, 1-3.

Five Milwaukee players earned All-Horizon League first team honors: catcher/outfielder Dominic Kibler, starting pitcher Gavin Theis, relief pitcher Camden Kuhnke and a pair of outfielders, Charloe Marion and Dylan O'Connell.

Kuhnle was also named the conference's Reliever of the Year after leading the league in saves. Meanwhile, O'Connell is in the top 10 in the nation in stolen bases and Kibler leads the conference and is 73rd in the nation in RBIs.

Auburn Tigers (36-18, 17-13 SEC)

The No. 4 overall seed in the field, Auburn boasts one of the top pitching stables in the nation, sporting its top strikeout-to-walk ratio, second-lowest WHIP and its fourth-lowest team ERA.

This is thanks in part to a group of four starting pitchers that all rank in the top 100 in the nation, and top 10 in the SEC, in ERA: Jake Marciano, Alex Patrovic, Jackson Saunders and Andreas Alvarez. Only Saunders boasts an All-SEC honor (second team), though it's as a relief pitcher since he only started in half of his 14 appearances this season, making him a flexible arm for coach Butch Thompson to use.

On offense, the Tigers are led by All-SEC first team second baseman Chris Rembert, who slashed for a .345 batting average this season, the 12th-highest in the SEC and only just behind Brandon McCraine's .347. There is also Ethin Bingaman, who was named to the All-SEC Freshman team after recording a .323 average, 42 RBIs and 11 home runs, and speedster Bristol Carter, who leads the SEC in sacrifice bunts and is 25th in the nation in stolen bases per game.

The Tigers mainly rely on either passing bats or hitting homers, since they rank 54th in the nation in hits and 58th in home runs, but 153rd in doubles and 288th in triples.

2. Schedule

Our road to Omaha begins in Auburn, Ala.,
Friday at 6PM 🫡 pic.twitter.com/Ad56nhz5Tq
— UCF Baseball (@UCF_Baseball) May 25, 2026

The hosting Tigers are going to take the field first on Friday at 1 p.m. to take on Milwaukee, with the Knights taking on the Wolfpack at 6 p.m. later in the day. Both games are going to be aired on ESPNU.

Saturday features the winner's bracket game and the first elimination game between the losers of Friday's games. The winner of the latter then takes on the loser of the former to start Sunday, with the Regional Final set to follow later in the day. Should the regional need a seventh game, it would be played on Monday.

3. Path To Men's College World Series

The field of 64 is locked in. 🔒⚾️

📲 https://t.co/ZUEUkZyAP0
➡️ https://t.co/NdxRoTqbEk
🎟️ https://t.co/i73Q25MuVk #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/ZYMMSOFDEl
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 25, 2026

The winner of the Auburn Regional is set to take on the winner of the Lincoln Regional in the Super Regional round. The field in Lincoln features host Nebraska, the No. 13 overall seed, Ole Miss, Arizona State and South Dakota State.

Since UCF is the 2-seed of the Auburn regional, it means the Knights are the 29th overall seed in the nation. So, should they make it out of Auburn, the Knights would only host a super regional if the Sun Devils or the Jackrabbits make it out of Lincoln, making it more likely that any UCF path to Omaha would be taking it through either Lincoln or Oxford, Mississippi.

While the Knights have never played the Cornhuskers in their history, they have played the Rebels 10 times, with only three of them coming in Oxford in a three-game series in 2014. Ole Miss swept that series.

Catch up on more UCF news below:

UCF Forward Vows To Return To Knights If Granted Extra Year

Meeting the Moment: How UCF Softball Advanced To Its Second Ever Super Regional

UCF Knights 2026 Basketball Recruiting Class Breakdown: Best Additions, Biggest Misses

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