Rich Wallace Archives | University of Central Florida News Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More Tue, 26 May 2026 18:01:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/blogs.dir/20/files/2019/05/cropped-logo-150x150.png Rich Wallace Archives | University of Central Florida News 32 32 UCF Baseball Bound for 2026 NCAA Tournament /news/ucf-baseball-at-2026-ncaa-tournament/ Tue, 26 May 2026 15:07:29 +0000 /news/?p=153400 The Knights will take on NC State at the Auburn Regional on Friday.

]]> If you’re going to celebrate hearing your name called for college baseball’s premiere postseason event, you might as well do it in style.

The UCF baseball team learned it is headed to the NCAA Auburn Regional while at a team-bonding pool party, hosted by head coach Rich Wallace 鶹Ʒ S04 鶹Ʒ Ss uncle, who lives next door to the UCF rowing facility on Lake Pickett.

鶹Ʒ S[We talked to the guys and thought] we 鶹Ʒ Sre in Orlando, might as well get out in the pool and sunshine and enjoy this thing, do it the UCF way, 鶹Ʒ S Wallace says. 鶹Ʒ SI think the guys are excited for the challenge. 鶹Ʒ S

Members of UCF baseball team splash in pool with trees behind them.
The UCF baseball team watched the NCAA Selection Show from a pool party at head coach Rich Wallace’s uncle’s home. (Photo courtesy of UCF Athletics)

The regional will run Friday, May 29 to Monday, June 1 at Auburn 鶹Ʒ Ss Plainsman Park in Auburn, Alabama.

Baseball is one of 10 UCF programs to compete at an NCAA postseason regional or championship event in 2025-26, joining  鶹Ʒ SsԻwo 鶹Ʒ Ss soccer, indoor track & field,  鶹Ʒ Ss basketball, 鶹Ʒ Ss and wo 鶹Ʒ Ss tennis, wo 鶹Ʒ Ss golf, softball and rowing. The 10 NCAA appearances ties for the most in UCF history with the 2018-19 athletic year.

Postseason Outlook

UCF earned the No. 2 seed in the four-team regional and will open play against the No. 3 seed NC State Wolfpack on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. The winner of the game will advance to meet the winner of Friday 鶹Ʒ Ss earlier matchup between the No. 4-national seed Auburn and Milwaukee.

All games of the 64-team field are available on the ESPN family of networks.

The final eight teams to advance out of the Super Regional round will head to Omaha, Nebraska, for the 79th Men 鶹Ʒ Ss College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. The Men 鶹Ʒ Ss College World Series starts Friday, June 12.

graphic of photo of UCF baseball team in gold jerseys and white pants with text overlay that reads "We're In" in white and black letters with NCAA Regional logo under it.

UCF 鶹Ʒ Ss Road to the NCAA Tournament

For the second time in three years, the UCF baseball team has earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA appearance will mark UCF 鶹Ʒ Ss second under third-year head coach  and the program 鶹Ʒ Ss 14th NCAA Regional appearance in program history.

UCF is one of six Big 12 programs to be selected to the tournament. The Knights head into the postseason with a 31-21 overall record and set Big 12 era records in both conference wins with 19 (19-11) and league series wins with seven.

The Knights’ 19 league wins mark the most since 2005 when UCF was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

]]> ucf-baseball-ncaa-watch-party The UCF baseball team watched the NCAA Selection Show from a pool party at head coach Rich Wallace's uncle's home. (Photo courtesy of UCF Athletics) ucf-baseball-2026-ncaa