For the second straight year, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team held a gathering inside Fifth Third Arena to celebrate an NCAA Tournament bid. They had to wait until nearly the end of the ESPN2 Selection Show, but again saw their name flash on the screen to applause.
With a 37-20 record (17-13 in the Big 12), the No. 2 seed Bearcats will face the No. 3 seed Louisiana Friday, May 29 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ from Dudy Noble Field.
The Ragin’ Cajuns were 39-23 (16-14 Sun Belt). Common opponents between the two are UC-San Diego, which UC swept and Louisiana defeated in two out of three games. Louisiana took two from Kansas State, while UC won two of three from the Wildcats in Manhattan.
Louisiana won a single game vs. Houston, a team the Bearcats swept in Big 12 play on the road.
The Starkville Regional is double elimination. The May 29 winners play Saturday, May 30 as do the losers. Games will continue on Sunday, May 31, and Monday, June 1, if necessary.
“When I got here, what I talked about was we wanted a real sustainable, quality program,” UC Bearcats head coach Jordan Bischel said. “Doing it two years in a row, it’s incredibly difficult. A lot of teams from the (College) World Series didn’t make it back.”
Back-to-back for Jordan Bischel, Bearcats in NCAA Tournament
It’s the fifth NCAA tournament for UC head coach Jordan Bischel, who took Central Michigan to a regional three times and has taken the Bearcats in back-to-back years. Last year’s team finished 33-26, beating Wake Forest in the Knoxville Regional before a loss to top seed Tennessee, then an elimination defeat vs. the Demon Deacons.
UC’s current win total of 37 is two wins away from the school record set by Brian Cleary’s 2008 Big East Bearcats.
Bischel has been to a regional before in Starkville.
“Starkville is second to none,” he said. “The atmosphere is incredible, that fan base is incredible. That’s the mecca of college baseball, hands down.”
Should UC defeat Louisiana, they would play the winner of the top seed, Mississippi State vs. Lipscomb. The top-seeded Bulldogs were 40-17 (16-14 SEC). If UC were to advance from the Starkville Regional, they could face the winner of the Athens Regional, where the top two seeds are Georgia from the SEC and Boston College from the ACC.
The upside of UC’s exit from the Big 12 tournament was the downtime, then the extra practices they’ll be able to have before heading south.
“It’s probably our biggest practice block since February,” Bischel said. “Our guys will be healthy, rested and ready to go. Now, we just have to play well.”
He added that last year’s experience in Knoxville should help the team go from “happy to be there” to expecting to win.
Cincinnati Bearcats to watch in NCAA tournament
The 2026 Bearcats feature sophomore Dick Howser Award semifinalist Quinton Coats, who is now hold the UC record for home runs in a single season. Coats comes to Starkville, hitting .346 with 28 home runs and 78 RBI.
Junior catcher Jack Natili is a likely Major League Baseball draft prospect in July and is also a Buster Posey Award semifinalist, which goes to the nation’s top college catcher. Natili is hitting .336 with 16 homers and 59 RBI.
On the mound, West Clermont High School product Nathan Taylor should also be part of the MLB Draft and set UC’s single-season strikeout record this past season, along with being the No. 1 starter all spring. Taylor and Coats were All-Big 12 First Team selections along with freshman designated hitter/catcher Enzo Infelise. Infelise led the team in hitting at .371 with nine home runs and 44 RBI.
Taylor was 6-3 as UC’s top starter with 112 strikeouts in 84 innings with a 3.86 ERA in 15 starts.
“I think everybody nationally now knows how good he is,” Bischel said.
Pitcher Adam Buczkowski and Natili were All-Big 12 second team and outfielder Ryan Tyranski and pitcher Connor Blue joined Infelise on the All-Big 12 freshman team.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC baseball gets No. 2 regional seed vs. Louisiana in NCAA Tournament
Reporting by Scott Springer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
