Texas A&M tabbed as No. 12 national seed

Death, taxes and curious selection committee decisions.

At 39-14 overall with 18 conference wins and a third-place finish in the SEC, Texas A&M was selected as the No. 12 national seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

Despite being projected as a top-eight club ahead of the conference tournament, a singular loss in Hoover somehow dropped four seed lines from D1Baseball’s May 22 projection, meaning the Aggies might not have home-field advantage should they win the 2026 College Station Regional.

Unlike in softball, it appears the committee did not heavily favor Diamond Sports Rating (DSR), which ranked A&M as the nation’s No. 7 team. Even in KPI, the Aggies were among the top-10 at No. 9, but in RPI, they fell to No. 14.

Along with the Maroon & White, Southern Cal, Texas State and Lamar will descend upon Blue Bell Park this weekend for a four-team, double-elimination tournament that begins Friday afternoon.

The Aggies will face Lamar in a first-round matchup at 3 p.m. CT on Friday to begin the 14th regional contested at Olsen Field since the ballpark’s construction in 1978.

Led by head coach Will Davis and Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year Chris Olivier, the Cardinals won the 2026 SLC Tournament title and come back to Aggieland with a 34-25 record. Back in February, A&M hosted Lamar for the second midweek game of the year, which resulted in a 25-5 run-rule victory for the Ags. In 42 all-time matchups, A&M leads the series 34-8.

The Trojans and Bobcats will meet on Friday evening.

The most decorated program in college baseball history with 12 national championships, USC is searching for its first title in 28 years. At 43-15 overall, the Men of Troy went 20-10 in the Big Ten to finish fourth in the 17-team league. Left-hander Mason Edwards, the B1G’s Pitcher of the Year, headlines a three-man rotation that all earned all-conference honors for fourth-year head coach Andy Stankiewicz. Dating back to 1978, A&M and USC have met seven times, with the Trojans holding a 4-3 advantage. Most recently, the two met on March 2, 2024, in Arlington as the Aggies claimed a 9-3 win at Globe Life Park.

Rounding out the field in College Station is Texas State, which is no stranger to Blue Bell Park. In 66 meetings, A&M leads 50-16, including a 34-11 mark when the Bobcats travel east on Highway 21 in College Station. However, Texas State claimed a 9-8 victory in San Marcos on April 7 to split a home-and-home series in 2026. In his seventh season leading the Bobcats, Steven Trout’s club snuck into the field of 64 with a 36-24 record that saw them go 16-14 in the Sun Belt and reach the semifinals of the conference tournament. A trio of bats — Rashawn Galloway, Manny Salas and Jaquae Stewart — earned second-team All-Sun Belt honors, but Texas State is without shortstop Dawson Park after a heated argument with a teammate after getting swept by South Alabama in early May.

Aggieland is paired with the Chapel Hill Regional, which featured No. 5 national seed North Carolina, Tennessee, East Carolina and VCU.

The winners in College Station and Chapel Hill will meet next week in a best-of-three super regional for a ticket to the 2026 Men’s College World Series in Omaha.