Chaos Reigns: NCAA Regional Monday Delivers More Drama

Oklahoma Athletics

By Chris Marler

Usually, the Monday after the opening weekend of NCAA regionals is quiet. That wasn’t the case this year. One of the most chaotic, upset-filled opening weekends in tournament history carried over into Monday. Here’s a recap of a day to remember.

OU-My Gosh

When I wrote my regional preview last Thursday, one section focused on the best long shot to reach a super regional. I nearly opened Oklahoma’s section with, “Oklahoma. Just kidding.”

They had to open against a Citadel team that had won 17 of its previous 20 games and then potentially get past Georgia Tech, which had a legitimate case as the best team in the country during the regular season. At the time, picking Oklahoma to advance felt almost laughable.

Speaking of laughable, my answer was Tennessee. Yikes.

Oklahoma’s path was never going to be easy, and they weren’t going to make it any easier on themselves. Oklahoma had to play two games Saturday because of weather issues on Day 1 of the regional. They went 1-1 which meant they had to play a double header the next day and win both to advance. On Sunday night, they trailed 8-2 and won 11-8 to force a game on Monday.

On Monday, they did it all over again. They trailed 7-3 midway through the game and clawed their way back to force extra innings by tying it 7-7 in the ninth.

Then, on the road against one of the most talented rosters in America, the Sooners eight hole hitter hit a 450 foot bomb to dead center and sent Georgia Tech home. The Jackets were -750 to win their regional coming into the weekend. The Sooners bet on themselves. Now, they’ll face Kansas for a chance at Omaha.

WE’RE GOING TO KANSAS, Y’ALL 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/C1NIK2jQUe

— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) June 1, 2026

Can’t spell Collapse without S-E-C

Well, not in that order, but you get the point.

Two teams with very different regular seasons and resumes, got off to 2-0 starts in their respective regionals only to fall apart at the proverbial seams. Kentucky and Florida were on the doorstep of Supers, and both suffered devastating losses that will haunt those players for years to come.

Kentucky led West Virginia 9-6 going into the bottom of the ninth in the regional final Sunday night. They lost 11-9. On Monday, they trailed 5-1 late in the game before a four run eighth tied it up. They had multiple opportunities to score in the ninth and tenth inning with runners on, but couldn’t push a run across. West Virginia would go on to walk them off in the tenth to advance to Supers for the second consecutive year over the Cats.

West Virginia was down 9-6 entering the 9th.

Kentucky made a leadoff error, brought in a reliever who hadn’t thrown since March, watched him balk in the tying run, and then give up a no-doubt bomb for the lead.

College baseball is pure chaos. pic.twitter.com/y1ISzwc4sB

— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) June 1, 2026

The Florida game wasn’t as dramatic, but it will most likely be talked about way more this offseason when it comes to the state of the Florida program.

Kevin O’Sullivan’s squad was 10-0 in advancing out of regionals when starting 2-0. They went on to lose both games to Troy and gave up 26 runs in those games. That included a 10-2 shellacking on Monday night.

The losses hurt way more this time of year. The end of the season is always the worst day of the year for any player, and for some of those kids, it’s the last time they’ll ever pick up a bat or glove. What hurts more for each of these teams is that their next round matchups would’ve seen them heavily favored in each.

Kentucky would’ve gotten the No. 3 seed from the Los Angeles Regional, Cal Poly, and Florida would’ve gotten No. 4 seed from the Hattiesburg regional, Troy. Both teams would’ve almost certainly found their way back to Omaha. Now, they’ll find their way back home for the Summer.

Jabe Boroff only had 12 hits all season for Troy. He has 10 hits in this regional including 4 homers pic.twitter.com/wWCKaODF0N

— Stephen Schoch (@bigdonkey47) June 2, 2026

In one of the two late games, Texas A&M experienced the same fate. The Aggies found themselves in uncharted territory for a second straight night. The offense had been their strength through most of the year, and most people worried that if those bats got silenced, they wouldn’t be able to pitch their way out of a jam. They were right.

Texas A&M was 28-3 this season when scoring first. They scored first in the Sunday night game versus USC with a 1-0 lead. They lost 14-3. Monday was more of the same. They scored first to take a 1-0 lead and tried to hang on for dear life, but couldn’t.

They gave up a three run bomb in the seventh that gave Southern Cal a 5-1 lead. They would go on to lose and became the third SEC team of the day to blow a 2-0 lead in regionals and get sent home.

Good news for SEC fans, no one pulls for rival teams in this conference regardless of the sport or season. Plus, it gave us this moment in Morgantown which was incredible.

5000 people singing Country Roads after advancing to Supers. Chills pic.twitter.com/u6VBKjwA1v

— Stephen Schoch (@bigdonkey47) June 2, 2026

Late Night for Auburn

I don’t recite the Auburn Creed, but I do know that one of the lines is “I believe in Auburn, and I love it.”

Whatever booster is currently in charge of running the athletic department, probably Jimmy Rane, should seriously consider changing that line to “I believe in Chase Fralick, and I love him.”

Chase Fralick was incredible in this regional. The Auburn catcher hit six home runs in the regional and hit one in five consecutive games. That’s the second time this season he’s hit a home run in five straight games, and is now the only D1 player to do that in the last decade of college baseball. Wow.

This was an emotional roller coaster of a weekend for Auburn and their fans. They lost their opening game against UW-Milwaukee. They allowed 13 runs in each of their first two games after having the best ERA in the SEC the entire season.

To understand how steep the climb was, consider this: only 7 percent of teams that lose their opening regional game go on to advance. Before this year, the Tigers had never escaped a regional after dropping Game 1.

Auburn did just that, and will now host Ole Miss in one of two all-SEC Super Regionals.