NCAA Tournament: Tuscaloosa Regional Team Capsules

The regular season is done. The conference tournaments are done. That means it is time for the NCAA D1 Tournament to get started this weekend.

The field of 64 has been broken up into 16, 4 team Regionals that will be played starting Friday. The top 16 seeds will host the Regionals as they will all be a double elimination format.

For the Sooner State squads in the tournament: OU and OSU, they are both the 2 seed in their respective Regional and are on the road. OU is in the Atlanta Regional hosted by Georgia Tech who is the national 2 seed and OSU is in the Tuscaloosa Regional hosted by the University of Alabama who is the national 7 seed.

Let’s take a look at each team in the Tuscaloosa Regional.

Teams

Alabama, 2. Oklahoma State, 3. USC Upstate, 4. Alabama State

Alabama Crimson Tide

Conference: Southeastern Conference (SEC)
Bid: At-large
Overall Record: 37-19
Conference Record: 18-12
Regular Season Conference Finish: 4th
RPI: 6
SOS: 2
Number of NCAA Tournaments All Time: 29th
Number of NCAA Regional Championships: 8
NCAA CWS Appearances: 5 (last 1999)
NCAA CWS Championships: 0 (runner up in 1983, 1997)

2026 Team Stats

Team Batting AVG: .253
Team On Base Pct: .372
Team Slugging: .428
Team HR: 70
Team RBI: 327
Team runs/game: 5.8
Team ERA: 4.28
Team WHIP: 1.33
Team walks: 195
Team strikeouts: 476

Individual Leaders

Batting AVG: Brady Neal (.328)
OBP: Brady Neal (.440)
SLG: Brady Neal (.550)
HR: Justin Lebron (14)
RBI: Jason Torres (45)
Runs: Justin Lebron (52)
Stolen Bases: Justin Lebron (38)
ERA: Myles Upchurch (3.34) – 64.2 IP
WHIP: Tyler Fay (1.08) – 90 IP
Wins: Tyler Fay (9)
Strikeouts: Tyler Fay (104)
Saves: Hagan Banks (6)

Notes

While the overall offensive numbers aren’t as impressive as a Regional host would normally have, the Crimson Tide have one of the elite MLB prospects in Justin Lebron and an All SEC 2nd Team performer in Brady Neal.
The overall pitching is impressive with 3 true frontline starters in Upchurch, Fay, and Zane Adams.
Alabama is one of the best teams at home in the nation with a record of 23-6.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Conference: Big 12
Bid: At-large
Overall Record: 37-20
Conference Record: 18-12
Regular Season Conference Finish: 5th
RPI: 30
SOS: 50
Number of NCAA Tournaments All Time: 59th
Number of NCAA Regional Championships: 15
NCAA CWS Appearances: 20 (last 2019)
NCAA CWS Championships: 1 (1959)

2026 Team Stats

Team Batting AVG: .280
Team On Base Pct: .402
Team Slugging: .562
Team HR: 137
Team RBI: 459
Team runs/game: 8.5
Team ERA: 6.24
Team WHIP: 1.64
Team walks: 275
Team strikeouts: 558

Individual Leaders

Batting AVG: Alex Conover (.383)
OBP: Alex Conover (.496)
SLG: Kollin Ritchie (.828)
HR: Kollin Ritchie (29)
RBI: Kollin Ritchie (73)
Runs: Kollin Ritchie (75)
Stolen Bases: Alex Conover (15)
ERA: Stormy Rhodes (4.17) – 58.1 IP
WHIP: Stormy Rhodes (1.42)
Wins: Mario Pesca (6)
Strikeouts: Ethan Lund (127)
Saves: Noah Wend (6)

Notes

The Cowboys is one of the most powerful teams at the plate. They are 2nd in the nation in HR with Kollin Ritchie 3rd in individual HRs. The Pokes have 7 hitters with at least 10 HRs.
Alex Conover is one of the most underrated players out there. He is “Mr Everything” for the Pokes – a five tool player.
OSU has played well over the last month to 6 weeks of the season as their pitching has improved. They can hit with anybody, the key is whether the pitching will be there or not.

South Carolina Upstate Spartans

Conference: Big South
Bid: Automatic (Big South Tournament Champs)
Overall Record: 33-28
Conference Record: 13-11
Regular Season Conference Finish: 3rd
RPI: 82
SOS: 111
Number of NCAA Tournaments All Time: 2nd (2025, 2026)
Number of NCAA Regional Championships: 0
NCAA CWS Appearances: 0
NCAA CWS Championships: 0

2026 Team Stats

Team Batting AVG: .291
Team On Base Pct: .400
Team Slugging: .463
Team HR: 70
Team RBI: 431
Team runs/game: 7.7
Team ERA: 5.89
Team WHIP: 1.56
Team walks: 249
Team strikeouts: 449

Individual Leaders

Batting AVG: Henry Zenor (.346)
OBP: Johnny Sweeney (.444)
SLG: Wylie Waters (.562)
HR: Waters & Sweeney (12)
RBI: Johnny Sweeney (54)
Runs: Jayden Williams (57)
Stolen Bases: Maloy Heaghney (22)
ERA: Chris Torres & Brent Stukes (5.42)
WHIP: Max Kaplan (1.36)
Wins: Brent Stukes (7)
Strikeouts: Chris Torres (69)
Saves: Max Kaplan (2)

Notes

USC Upstate has a balanced lineup with 6 hitters having at least 50 RBI each (another has 45).
Three pitchers have logged over 70 innings pitched, but each has an ERA over 5.00.
While the Spartans have been outstanding at home (16-4), they’ve been bad on the road (11-23)

Alabama State Hornets

Conference: Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC)
Bid: Automatic (SWAC Tournament Champs)
Overall Record: 34-21
Conference Record: 20-10
Regular Season Conference Finish: 4th
RPI: 173
SOS: 269
Number of NCAA Tournaments All Time: 3rd (2016, 2022, 2026)
Number of NCAA Regional Championships: 0
NCAA CWS Appearances: 0
NCAA CWS Championships: 0

2026 Team Stats

Team Batting AVG: .281
Team On Base Pct: .391
Team Slugging: .433
Team HR: 57
Team RBI: 337
Team runs/game: 6.8
Team ERA: 6.05
Team WHIP: 1.76
Team walks: 260
Team strikeouts: 362

Individual Leaders

Batting AVG: Miguel Oropeza (.366)
OBP: Niguel Jenkins (.494)
SLG: Miguel Oropeza (.620)
HR: Trey Callaway (16)
RBI: Miguel Oropeza (65)
Runs: Miguel Oropeza (55)
Stolen Bases: Breydon Divine (8)
ERA: James Peterson (3.32) – 81.1 IP
WHIP: Camden Matthews (1.36) – 56.2 IP
Wins: Jorhan LaBoy (9)
Strikeouts: Jorhan LaBoy (65) – 85.2 IP
Saves: Camden Matthews (6)

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