PHOENIX – Sun Devil Baseball will make its 43rd NCAA postseason appearance in program history this weekend after Arizona State was selected as the No. 3 seed in the Lincoln Regional of the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament. The four-team, double-elimination regional at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park will begin on Friday, May 30 in Lincoln, Neb.
The Lincoln Regional is hosted by Nebraska – the No. 13 overall seed in the nation – which is hosting a regional for the first time since 2008. The regional also features No. 2 seed Ole Miss and No. 4 seed South Dakota State. The third-seeded Sun Devils will take on Ole Miss on Friday at 6 p.m. AZT, with the game scheduled to be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
The Sun Devils advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Surprise this past week, easily handling No. 25 Cincinnati in the quarterfinals before dropping a tough one to eventual regional host No. 9 West Virginia. Arizona State earned the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament behind its 19-11 record in Big 12 games while finishing the regular season with a 36-18 record.
Assorted notes on the Sun Devil Baseball season and its scheduled and potential regional opponents can be found below.
Click here for a detailed recap of team and individual accomplishments through the regular season.
Sun Devil Baseball Season Notes
- Landon Hairston was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy. Hairston set the Sun Devils single season school record with 28 home runs this season.
- Arizona State quietly put up some of the best metrics in performance of any team in the country across numerous categories this season. While much ado was made about the team’s lackluster RPI, that number proved to be the extreme outlier about EVERY advanced season reporting metric. Arizona State finished the regular season 34th in the Diamond Sports Rankings, 35th in the KPI, 32nd in the ELO, 23rd in the Massey Ratings, 28th in Boyd’s World ISR, 28th by 64Analytics, 25th in the NET and 21st in the TSR.
- The Sun Devils went 11-2 in weekend series and were not swept in a single series. Arizona State was one of just 15 teams that won at least 11 three-game series this year and one of just seven power conference teams to accomplish the feat.
- Arizona State went 5-0 in weekend road series, all coming in conference play. It marked the first time ASU since 1982 that the Sun Devils went undefeated in conference road series since it was 4-0 in the 1982 season.
- The Sun Devils went 6-1 in rubber matches on the year, emphasizing its “Toughest Teams Win on Sundays” mantra. ASU improved to 11-2 over the last two seasons in rubber matches, its 11 wins leading the country (as were its six this season). Arizona State won four of its rubber matches on the road, another tally that led the country.
- Winning 19 conference games this season, ASU improved its tally in the category for the fourth consecutive season. ASU won 16 games in 2023, 17 in 2024, 18 in 2025 and 19 this season. Arizona State is one of just nine power conference teams that have won at least 70 conference games in the last four seasons (Arkansas, UNC, Oregon, Texas, West Virginia, USC, Georgia Tech, UCLA).
- Arizona State is one of just four Power Conference teams that have 16 or more conference wins in EACH of the last four seasons, alongside Arkansas, Oregon and USC. They are one of just 26 total teams over the 300+ that have accomplished the feat.
- ASU lost just five games to Q3/Q4 teams in the regular season, notable ranked as tied for the 29th-LOWEST amount among any team in the country.
Lincoln Regional Notes
- Arizona State is 3-0 all-time against Ole Miss, hosting the Rebels in the 2007 Tempe Super Regional and winning both games after previously downing the SEC opponent back in the 1964 College World Series.
- The Rebels and the Sun Devils are the two of the top teams in the nation in terms of striking out opponents and ranked fifth and sixth in total strikeouts at 637 and 629, respectively. They are the top two teams in the country in terms of swing-and-miss with Ole Miss leading the way at 1,327 with Arizona State at 1,311.
- The Sun Devils have faced off against the host Huskers 12 times throughout history, most recently dropping a three-game series in Lincoln in 2019. Arizona State leads the all-time series, 7-5.
- The last postseason matchup between the two teams came in the 2007 Tempe Regional Finale, a 9-7 Sun Devil victory to advance to the Super Regionals. The two teams also faced off in the 2005 College World Series with ASU dropping a 5-3 decision in the first game of the tournament to the Huskers before later eliminating Nebraska with an 8-7 victory - one of the most memorable games in program history with Jeff Larish tying a College World Series record with his three homers.
- ASU has never faced South Dakota State in program history.
LINCOLN REGIONAL SCHEDULE
Game Schedule (All times in Arizona Time/MST)
Friday, May 29th, 2026 - 1:00 PM Game 1: Nebraska vs. South Dakota State
- 6:00 PM Game 2: Ole Miss v. Arizona State
Saturday, May 30th, 2026 - 12:00 PM Game 3: Loser Game 1 v. Loser Game 2
- 5:00 PM Game 4: Winner Game 1 v. Winner Game 2
Sunday, May 31, 2026 - 12:00 PM Game 5 – Winner Game 3 v. Loser Game 4
- 5:00 PM Game 6 –Winner Game 5 v. Winner Game 5
Monday, June 1st, 2026 - TIME TBD Game 7 (if necessary) – Same teams as Game 6
Lincoln Ticket Information
Tickets for the 2026 Lincoln Regional will go on sale to the public on Tuesday, May 26 at 3 p.m. and will be available here through the University of Nebraska. There will be a tiered on-sale for Nebraska Athletics donors and season-ticket holders before the public on-sale.
All-Session Ticket Prices
- Reserved - $91
- Adult General Admission - $56
- Youth/Senior General Admission - $42
Follow the Action
- ASU's opening tilt of the series will be available via linear television nationally on ESPN2 as well as through the ESPN+ app. All games throughout the regional will be available either online via ESPN+ or through one of ESPN's linear television networks.
- Each game will also be available over the airwaves this weekend on KDUS 1060 AM with Tim Healey alongside analyst Max Rossiter.
- Fans are encouraged to follow along in-game content and schedule updates throughout the weekend on the Sun Devil Baseball Twitter account (@ASU_Baseball).
ASU In The Postseason - ASU will be playing in its 37th NCAA Regional while its 43 NCAA postseason appearances are the sixth-most in Division I history.
- 19 Regional Titles
- 22 CWS appearances, fourth-most in DI history
- 10 CWS final appearances - third-most in DI history
- 61 CWS wins - third most in D1 history
- 5 National Titles - fourth most in D1 history