Men’s College World Series 2026: One key player for each team

Starting today, the final eight teams left in the NCAA baseball tournament will take the field in Omaha, as the Men’s College World Series gets underway.

64 teams began this journey but just eight — West Virginia, Troy, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Texas — are left standing. Games get underway at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday afternoon, and we will have you covered all weekend long, from the first pitch to the final out of the Men’s College World Series Finals.

There are incredible storylines on each team, including some players who will find an MLB home next month. But here are eight players, one from each team, that will be critical to their team’s chances in Omaha.

West Virginia: Armani Guzman

After West Virginia lost 11-9 to Kentucky in the Morgantown regional, dropping the Mountaineers into the losers’ bracket, head coach Steve Sabins bumped Armani Guzman back into the leadoff spot, up from the No. 6 hole in the lineup. Guzman began the year in the No. 3 spot for West Virginia, but was moved down in the order as he endured a bit of a slump through the spring.

But the move to the top spot paid off immediately for both Guzman, and the Mountaineers. After notching a hit and a RBI in a must-win game against Wake Forest, Guzman went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI in the rematch against Kentucky in the first of two regional final games. Then, in the decisive final game, it was Guzman who came through with the game-winning hit in extra innings against the Wildcats, kicking off a celebration — and a rendition of “Country Roads” — seen around the world:

Then in the Super Regional, Guzman went 4-for-10 with 3 RBI as the Mountaineers swept Cal Poly.

He has been a catalyst for West Virginia in their run to the Men’s College World Series, and he’ll need to keep doing that if the Mountaineers and their fans will keep singing “Country Roads” in Omaha.

Troy: Jabe Boroff

There are hot streaks, and there is what Jabe Boroff is doing right now for Troy.

The designated hitter began the year in Troy’s lineup, but a slump saw him lose playing time as he entered the month of May hitting just .125 with a single home run.

Since May 9, when he returned to the starting lineup, he has been on a tear. But he managed to kick that up a notch when Troy reached the NCAA baseball tournament, as he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Gainesville regional, where he 10-for-20 with five home runs and 12 RBI.

Then in Troy’s two-game sweep of Little Rock, Boroff went 2-for-6, with both of those hits home runs in the first game against Little Rock.

If he keeps this up, watch out.

North Carolina: Owen Hull

There are several candidates for this spot on the Tar Heels, but the hero of Game 3 against USC gets the nod here. In the decisive game against the Trojans, it was Owen Hull who came through with the opposite-field knock in the bottom of the ninth to move the Tar Heels on to the MCWS.

It was the fourth double of the game for Hull, who enters the Men’s College World Series hitting .390 on the season. He is also riding a nine-game hitting streak, dating back to a May 22 game against Virginia Tech where he went 2-for-4 with three RBI.

On the year, Hull is slashing .390/.505/.589, and he leads the Tar Heels in all three of those categories as well as in OPS (with a mark of 1.094).

The North Carolina lineup does not have many easy outs, but Hull might be the toughest.

Ole Miss: Judd Utermark

You could pick a few different players for Ole Miss, who booked their spot in Omaha with a two-game sweep of Auburn on the road. Certainly Will Furniss and Tristan Bissetta stand out as options, as their back-t0-back home runs against Auburn in the eighth inning of Game 2 helped Ole Miss complete the comeback in that contest after falling down 2-0 early.

But it is hard to ignore Judd Utermark.

The senior leads Ole Miss in virtually every offensive category, with a slash line of .312/.426/.645 and a team-best OPS of 1.071. He also belted 22 home runs this year — second only to Bissetta — and was third on the team with 53 RBI, behind only Bissetta and Furniss.

And it was his two-run double to the gap that sparked Ole Miss’ comeback in Game 2 against Auburn:

Those three players form the heart of the Ole Miss lineup, with Furniss in the No. 3 spot and Bissetta hitting cleanup. But Utermark is the one who gets things started in the two-hole, and he’ll need to keep that going in Omaha if Ole Miss is going to keep this run rolling.

Alabama: Justin Lebron

As we highlighted before Super Regionals, Justin Lebron has a chance to be the highest-drafted prospect in Alabama baseball history.

And he gave MLB scouts a few more reasons to believe during his performance against St. John’s in the Super Regionals.

Lebron, who on Wednesday was named a Second Team All-American by Perfect Game USA, went 3-for-4 with a double and a pair of RBI in Game 1 against St. John’s, as Alabama knocked off the Red Storm:

He also flashed the leather in that win:

Alabama will need a big start from Tyler Fay on the bump, as he will likely get the call in Game 1, but Lebron is the key to their run in Omaha.

Oklahoma: Dasan Harris

When Oklahoma squared off with Georgia Tech in the decisive game of the Atlanta regional, outfielder Dasan Harris led the way with a 3-for-5 afternoon, knocking in a run early in the game.

Then when the Sooners completed a two-game sweep of Kansas in Lawrence, Harris helped finish off the Jayhawks with a 2-for-5 day, complete with three RBI, as he blasted his fourth home run of the season.

While he mostly hits out of the seven hole, Harris has keyed the Sooners offense all season, as he leads the team with a .362 batting average and has a slash line of .362/.424/.986, and is second on Oklahoma (among qualified starters) with an OPS of .986. Catcher Deiten Lachance is the big bat in the lineup, but if Harris continues to swing the way he has all year, he will make this Oklahoma lineup dangerous from top to bottom.

Georgia: Michael O’Shaughnessy

Like every team that has reached Omaha, it is tough to pick out just one player on Georgia. Particularly when it is a team that has the likely Golden Spikes winner in Daniel Jackson, the first catcher in NCAA history to post a 25/25 season.

But another player to watch is Michael O’Shaughnessy, who broke out of a slump in a huge way for the Bulldogs over their run to Omaha. The senior came through with a home run to help Georgia beat Liberty and advance to the Super Regional, and then starting against Mississippi State in Game 1, it was his two-run blast that propelled Georgia to a win, as he went 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs and 5 RBI.

Then in Game 2, he followed that with a 2-for-4 effort, with another RBI, as the Bulldogs advanced.

Texas: Adrian Rodriguez

When the NCAA baseball tournament began, sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez was hitting .277.

As the Men’s College World Series begins, that number is up to .306, thanks to a torrid stretch through both the regionals and the Super Regionals.

Rodriguez went a combined 7-for-11 during the regionals, as the Longhorns swept their way to a date with Oregon in the Supers. Then, against the Ducks, Rodriguez went a combined 4-for-8, knocking in seven runs in two games against Oregon. And it was his hit in Game 2, a go-ahead, opposite-field double in the eighth inning, that keyed a Texas comeback and helped the Longhorns book a trip to Omaha.

Since the tournament began, Rodriguez is 11-for-19 with 9 RBI, stellar numbers for the sophomore shortstop and a big reason why Texas is headed to Omaha.