2026 NCAA Baseball Super Regionals Preview

By Will DeBoer

5/21/2026 9:00:00 AM

Salisbury Baseball Wins Regionals 5-17-26

The Rundown

Once again among the nation's elite, the seventh-ranked Salisbury University baseball team is two wins away from a fourth Division III World Series appearance in six years. The Sea Gulls will host the 21st-ranked University of Chicago Maroons in the best-of-three Salisbury Super Regional of the 2026 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament on Friday and Saturday, May 22-23, at Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.

The #d3baseball bracket just dropped ?? ?? #WhyD3 pic.twitter.com/PUJmLIXIZG
— NCAA Division III (@NCAADIII) May 11, 2026

Tournament Schedule

Friday, May 22

Game 1 - UChicago vs. Salisbury - 12 p.m.

Saturday, May 23

Game 2 - Salisbury vs. UChicago - 11 a.m.

Game 3 - UChicago vs. Salisbury - 45 min. following (if necessary)

Live Video (NCAA Champs Pass)

Live Stats

Super Regional Central

NCAA Tournament Info

#24 Bryce Sterling | 2026 Salisbury Regional Most Outstanding Player

The 2026 Sea Gulls

#4 Aidan Brinsfield | Salisbury Regional All-Tournament Team

#3 Max Ehrhardt | Salisbury Regional All-Tournament Team

#10 Jake Witter | Salisbury Regional All-Tournament Team

Hosting an NCAA Regional for the second straight year, top-seeded Salisbury swept a trio of games by a combined score of 26-11, improving its overall winning streak to 15 games dating back to Apr. 13.
The Sea Gulls rolled through fourth-seeded Bridgewater State 11-2 in Friday's opener, using a five-run fifth inning to put the game away for good. Aidan Brinsfield pitched seven innings of one-run ball to secure his ninth win of the year, while Jackson Inman finished 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and two runs scored and Mickey Haynes drove in three.
Saturday saw SU race out to an 8-0 lead after three innings and hold on to defeat third-seeded Hobart 11-6. Inman, Jay Newton, and Max Ehrhardt combined for four extra-base hits, six runs, and four RBIs in the middle of the order.
Facing Hobart again on Sunday, the Sea Gulls rallied from a 3-0 hole to tie it in the seventh and rode a Jake Witter walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th to a 4-3 victory and the regional crown. Tyler Villa tossed seven innings of three-run ball to keep the game close, then after a scoreless eighth from Garrett Beaver, Bryce Sterling kept the Statesmen off the board over the final four innings to take home the dub.
Sterling was named Most Outstanding Player of the Salisbury Regional after posting five scoreless innings with three hits, no walks, and six strikeouts in the two games against Hobart.
Joining Sterling on the Salisbury Regional All-Tournament Team were Brinsfield, Ehrhardt, and Witter.
The regional title marks the sixth straight for Salisbury and 11th in program history (2001, ‘04, ’11, ‘14, ’15, ‘21, ’22, ‘23, ’24, ‘25, ’26).
Outfielder Nathan Tondreault was named both C2C Player and Rookie of the Year, becoming the first conference player since Ryan Poff [York (Pa.)] in 2006 to sweep both honors. Tondreault becomes the sixth straight Sea Gull to win Player of the Year (Meekins, Caster, Sheeler, Kell, Winebrenner) and the third straight to win Rookie of the Year (Williams, Burroughs).
Right-hander Aidan Brinsfield was selected as C2C Pitcher of the Year, becoming the first Salisbury hurler since 2022 to take the league's top pitching prize.
Pitcher Cole Williams earned C2C Scholar-Athlete of the Year laurels after boasting a 3.947 grade-point average as an Exercise Science major on the Physical Therapy track.
Six Sea Gulls were recognized on the All-C2C Teams, opens in new tab:
First Team (4) - SP Aidan Brinsfield, RP Cole Williams, 3B Jackson Inman, OF Nathan Tondreault
Honorable Mention (2) - RPs Jack Rucker, Bryce Sterling
Hitting
Sac Bunts - 56 (3rd)
Stolen Bases - 138 (9th)
HBP - 111 (15th)
Steals/Game - 3.14 (19th)
Runs/Game - 9.3 (28th)
On-Base Percentage - .439 (29th)
Runs - 408 (31st)
Walks - 227 (41st)
Triples - 15 (46th)
Home Runs - 40 (54th)
Slugging Percentage - .477 (56th)
HR/Game - 0.91 (68th)
Batting Average - .310 (108th)
Pitching
ERA - 2.79 (2nd)
Hits/9 Innings - 6.85 (2nd)
WHIP - 1.17 (2nd)
Shutouts - 6 (5)
K:BB Ratio - 2.20 (24th)
BB/9 - 3.64 (38th)
K/9 - 8.0 (70th)
Fielding
Fielding Percentage - .973 (14th)
Double Plays - 36 (32nd)
DP/Game - 0.82 (59th)
Aidan Brinsfield
1st in Starts (15)
9th in Wins (9)
30th in WHIP (1.02)
37th in Hits/9 (6.68)
41st in ERA (2.49)
Max Ehrhardt
22nd in Sac Bunts (9)
Ethan Ruiz
4th in Sac Bunts (12)
11th in SAC/G (0.28)
Bryce Sterling
8th in SV (8)
Nathan Tondreault
20th in Walks (39)
42nd in BB/G (0.89)
Tyler Villa
125th in ERA (3.25)
Trent Waire
1st in Sac Bunts (17)
2nd in SAC/G (0.39)
Cole Williams
4th in Appearances (26)
7th in ERA (1.59)
10th in WHIP (0.95)
11th in H/9 (5.16)
The 2026 NCAA Super Regionals will mark the 12th time in program history Salisbury has hosted a national postseason round, with games played at the old SU Baseball Field, Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, and Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.
The Sea Gulls are 16-15 over 31 games in national tournament home games dating back to 1978.
1978: NCAA Regional (2-2)
2002: NCAA Regional (2-2)
2005: NCAA Regional (0-2)
2009: NCAA Regional (1-2)
2019: NCAA Regional (1-2)
2022: NCAA Super Regional (2-1)
2023: NCAA Super Regional (2-0)
2024: NCAA Super Regional (0-2)
2025: NCAA Regional (3-0), NCAA Super Regional (0-2)
2026: NCAA Regional (3-0)

Salisbury Game Notes

Scouting Report

Chicago Maroons [NPI: 21st]

UChicago (30-13) made the NCAA Tournament for the first time last year and is back again after securing the University Athletic Association (UAA) automatic bid via its regular season title, the program's first league championship since winning what is now the Big Ten Conference in 1913, ending a dry spell of 113 years.
The Maroons have won 19 straight games since Apr. 11, improving its overall record from 11-13 to 30-13; its 15-5 mark in UAA play was three games better than second-place Washington St. Louis and locked down the AQ. The South Siders' 30 wins are their most in a single season in program history, dating back to the program's founding in 1893 under legendary head coach and college athletics pioneer Amos Alonso Stagg.
As the second seed in the Washington, Pa. Regional, Chicago bested third-seeded hosts Washington & Jefferson 8-1 on Friday before eliminating fourth-seeded Scranton 15-8 on Saturday. On Sunday the Maroons walked off top-seeded Bridgewater (Va.) in the bottom of the ninth for a 10-9 victory, bringing the first-ever NCAA Regional title back to Hyde Park.
UChicago boasts three winners of major UAA postseason awards in Erik Rindner (Position Player of the Year), John Butka (Pitcher of the Year), and boss Kevin Tyrell (Coach of the Year).
Catcher Rindner broke the program's career records for home runs and RBIs this season on the way to his fourth all-conference selection; entering Supers he is slashing .349/.495/.664 with 39 runs, seven doubles, 13 home runs, 50 RBIs, and a 1.159 OPS.
Right-hander Butka moved from the bullpen to the rotation and quickly established himself as the Maroons' ace; through 12 appearances (eight starts) he is 8-0 with a 2.30 ERA, 44 strikeouts, and just six walks over 58.2 innings. Butka ranks top-10 in Division III in walks-per-nine (0.92) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.33) while also sitting top-30 in wins, ERA, and WHIP (0.99).
Outfielder Braden Jirovec is U of C's newly-minted career leader in hits, runs, and steals; this year he is slashing .356/.450/.461 with 56 runs, 14 doubles, 25 RBIs, 33 stolen bases, sitting 18th nationally in the latter.
Chicago placed five players on the All-UAA Teams:
First Team - Butka, Jirovec, Rindner
Second Team - OF Michael Gladden (.340 BA, 33 R, 26 XBH, 25 RBI, 10 SB), RHP Matthew Richert (13/8 G/GS, 3-0, 4.74 ERA, 38 IP, 22 BB, 40 K)
Salisbury and Chicago have played one game against each other in their histories, with the Sea Gulls topping the Maroons 6-4 in a Spring Break game at Clearwater, Fla. on Mar. 22, 2004.

Chicago Sun-Times, May 11: "No Drought About It"

What's At Stake

The winner of the Salisbury Super Regional will join seven other clubs in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, which will be held on May 29-June 4 at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio.
The Sea Gulls are seeking to qualify for their ninth Division III World Series in program history and fourth in the past six seasons.

Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium, 2026 NCAA Regionals

Tickets

The Rundown

Tournament Schedule

The 2026 Sea Gulls

Scouting Report

What's At Stake

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