2026 NCAA Baseball Championship Preview

By Will DeBoer

5/27/2026 8:30:00 AM

The Rundown

The third-seeded Salisbury University baseball team - winners of 17 games in a row since Apr. 13 - has returned to the spotlight for its fourth NCAA Division III Baseball Championship in six years. The Sea Gulls will rock ‘n’ roll up to Eastlake, Ohio, to open their quest for a second-ever national championship in a pool-play matchup with the sixth-seeded Endicott Gulls on Friday, May 29, at 8:30 p.m. inside Classic Auto Group Park.

Live Video (NCAA Champs Pass)

Bracket (with Live Stats links)

Tickets

Tournament Homepagee

#4 Aidan Brinsfield | Consensus Region V Pitcher of the Year, First-Team All-Region

The 2026 Sea Gulls

#2 Jackson Inman | Consensus First-Team All-Region

#29 Nathan Tondreault | D3baseball.com Region V Rookie of the Year, ABCA First-Team All-Region

#31 Jack Rucker | ABCA Second-Team All-Region

#22 Cole Williams | ABCA First-Team, D3baseball.com Second-Team All-Region

Salisbury hosted both Regionals and Super Regionals for the second straight year, kicking off their 26th straight NCAA Tournament appearance with a 3-0 mark as the top seed at the Salisbury Regional with wins over Bridgewater State (11-2), Hobart (11-6), and Hobart again (4-3). Jake Witter's walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th lifted SU to victory over the Statesmen in the final.
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).
The Sea Gulls also hosted their fifth straight Super Regional, playing a Friday doubleheader against the University of Chicago due to a rainy weekend forecast. SU ultimately won both games, taking a 5-3 nailbiter in Game 1 and cruising to a 7-4 margin in Game 2.
Hitting
Sac Bunts - 65 (1st)
Stolen Bases - 144 (4th) [New Program Record]
Hit By Pitch - 114 (11th)
SB/Game - 3.13 (19th)
Runs - 420 (26th)
Walks - 236 (28th)
On-Base Percentage - .439 (30th)
Triples - 16 (35th)
Runs/Game - 9.1 (37th)
Home Runs - 42 (47th)
Slugging Percentage - .479 (55th)
HR/Game - 0.91 (66th)
Hits - 449 (85th)
Doubles - 86 (90th)
Sac Flies - 24 (104th)
Batting Average - .310 (108th)
Pitching
ERA - 2.83 (2nd)
Hits/9 Innings - 7.11 (2nd)
WHIP - 1.19 (3rd)
Shutouts - 6 (5th)
K:BB Ratio - 2.18 (26th)
BB/9 - 3.57 (34th)
K/9 - 7.8 (87th)
Fielding
Fielding Percentage - .974 (13th)
Double Plays - 37 (27th)
DP/Game - 0.80 (68th)
SP Aidan Brinsfield
1st in Starts (16)
4th in Wins (10)
36th in WHIP (1.07)
46th in ERA (2.61)
48th in Strikeouts (74)
2B Max Ehrhardt
10th in Sac Bunts (10)
C Mickey Haynes
24th in Sac Bunts (9)
3B Jackson Inman
18th in Sac Flies (7)
29th in Total Bases (123)
33rd in Home Runs (13)
37th in RBI (59)
50th in Slugging (.724)
RP Jack Rucker
22nd in Wins (8)
51st in ERA (2.64)
OF Ethan Ruiz
3rd in Sac Bunts (13)
RP Bryce Sterling
6th in SV (9)
OF Nathan Tondreault
18th in Walks (40)
SP Tyler Villa
155th in ERA (3.44)
SS Trent Waire
1st in Sac Bunts (20)
RP Cole Williams
2nd in Appearances (27)
7th in ERA (1.53)
8th in WHIP (0.94)
10th in H/9 (5.17)
The 2026 NCAA Baseball Championship marks the ninth time in program history Salisbury has reached the final eight (2001, ‘04, ’11, ‘14, ’15, ‘21, ’22, ‘23, ’26) and the fourth time in the past six seasons. SU is 12-14 all-time in the Division III World Series.
After going 3-10 in their first five appearances on the big stage, the Sea Gulls rattled off five straight wins in 2021 on the way to their first-ever national championship, defeating St. Thomas (Minn.) 6-1 and 4-2 in the final series.
In 2022 SU won three straight games to reach its second straight finals, setting a new record with eight consecutive World Series victories, before falling in two straight to Eastern Connecticut State, 11-6 and 3-2.
In 2023 the Sea Gulls became the first team to make three straight NCAA Baseball Championships since Cortland and Emory in 2014-16; SU went 1-2 in pool play with an elimination-game victory over UW-La Crosse and two defeats against East Texas Baptist.
Salisbury fell two games shy of the DIII World Series in both 2024 and 2025, dropping Super Regional matchups to Cinderella stories in Salve Regina and Messiah, respectively.
Salisbury still has three players remaining on its roster who saw action in their last World Series appearance in 2023: infielder Max Ehrhardt and pitchers Bryce Sterling and Tyler Villa. The core of SU's coaching staff (HC Troy Brohawn, associate HC Ron Siers, pitching coach Austin Heenan) have been in place throughout the program’s 2020s run of excellence, while hitting coach Justin Meekins was an All-American outfielder during the Sea Gulls' 2021 national championship run.

Salisbury Game Notes

#24 Bryce Sterling | D3baseball.com Third-Team All-Region

#9 Trent Waire | Division III Leader in Sac Bunts (20)

#17 Tyler Villa | 2025 Consensus All-Region

#0 Ethan Ruiz | 25 Stolen Bases (most among SAL-record 144 SB)

Scouting Report

#6 Endicott Gulls

Location: Beverly, Mass.
2026 Record: 40-11 (17-1, Conf. of New England)
NCAA Championships History: 4th appearance (4th straight since 2023, first in DIII since Chapman 2005-09)
Series History: First-ever meeting between schools
Qualified: AQ, Conference of New England (Tournament Champions)
NCAA Regional (Little Falls, N.J.): Beat Husson 17-0, beat Montclair State 6-5, lost to Whitworth 19-8, beat Whitworth 19-12
NCAA Super Regional at Salve Regina (Newport, R.I.): Won 9-7, lost 6-5, won 12-4
ABCA/Rawlings All-Region II
First Team: OF Brendan Walsh, SP Brady Stuart
Second Team: SS TJ Liponis, RP Ben Gill, SP Matt Pappalardo
Region Pitcher of the Year: Stuart
D3baseball.com All-Region II
First Team: Walsh, Pappalardo, Stuart, Gill
Second Team: Liponis
Third Team: 3B Kyle Grabowski
Region Pitcher of the Year: Stuart
Region Coach of the Year: Bryan Haley

Meet the Field

2026 Record: 38-5 (15-3, NJAC)
NCAA Championships History: 3rd appearance (2nd straight)
Qualified: AQ, Conf. Tournament Champions
NCAA Regional (Gorham, Maine): Beat RIT 7-5, beat Southern Maine 18-7, beat Southern Maine 13-8
NCAA Super Regional vs. Randolph-Macon (Glassboro, N.J.): Won 11-7, won 9-5
2026 Record: 37-12 (16-5, MIAA)
NCAA Championships History: 3rd appearance (1st since 2021)
Qualified: AQ, Conf. Tournament Champions
NCAA Regional (Adrian, Mich.): Lost to DePauw 12-4, beat Wittenberg 8-2, beat Webster 2-1, beat DePauw 13-5, beat DePauw 13-4
NCAA Super Regional vs. Bethany Lutheran (Adrian, Mich.): Lost 3-2, won 8-2, won 3-2
2026 Record: 45-1 (16-0, NCAC)
NCAA Championships History: 2nd appearance (2nd straight)
Qualified: AQ, Conf. Tournament Champions
NCAA Regional (Granville, Ohio): Beat Grinnell 5-4, beat Cortland 4-3, beat Kalamazoo 13-2
NCAA Super Regional vs. Piedmont (Granville, Ohio): Won 9-3, won 8-7
2026 Record: 38-10 (13-5, Centennial)
NCAA Championships History: 8th appearance (2nd straight)
Qualified: AQ, Conf. Tournament Champions
NCAA Regional (Baltimore, Md.): Beat Pfeiffer 9-6, beat Pomona-Pitzer 7-5 (10), beat Pomona-Pitzer 7-3
NCAA Super Regional vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Baltimore, Md.): Won 16-15 (10), lost 10-9 (10), won 11-7
2026 Record: 36-10 (13-3, OAC)
NCAA Championships History: 4th appearance (1st since 2023)
Qualified: AQ, Conf. Tournament Champions
NCAA Regional (Decatur, Ill.): Beat Wartburg 9-3, beat UW-La Crosse 5-4, beat Wartburg 11-1
NCAA Super Regional vs. Messiah (Berea, Ohio): Won 4-0, won 11-2
2026 Record: 38-11 (12-0, ASC)
NCAA Championships History: 2nd appearance (1st since 2023)
Qualified: AQ, Conf. Tournament Champions
NCAA Regional (Marshall, Texas): Beat Concordia (Texas) 9-6, beat Rhodes 11-6, beat Concordia 13-9
NCAA Super Regional at Lynchburg (Lynchburg, Va.): Won 8-2, lost 3-1, won 6-2

I'm so proud of these guys. The seniors that have been in this group...followed a class that went to back-to-back-to-back [World Series] when they were freshmen, and they knocked on the door for the past two years but couldn't bust through. At one point in this season they were 20-9 and really having to make a run to get into a regional, and they've earned every bit of it.

I love good baseball; I'm a "good baseball enthusiast." When you have pitching, play defense, and have timely hitting, most of the time that's going to bring a lot of W's to you.

Troy Brohawn, Head Coach (12th Season)

Super Regional Press Conference

What's At Stake

The winners of Pool A and Pool B will meet in the best-of-three NCAA Finals. Game 1 will be held on Wednesday, June 3, with Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary) set for Thursday, June 4.
The Sea Gulls are seeking their third appearance in the finals in the past six years ('21, '22) and their second national championship after winning their first in 2021.

The Rundown

The 2026 Sea Gulls

Scouting Report

Meet the Field

What's At Stake

Read More