Football is over. Pitchers and catchers are reporting. And if you needed one more reminder that spring is officially here, the 2026 college baseball season gets underway this weekend.

The sport is wasting no time getting loud.

No. 1 UCLA rolls in with star shortstop Roch Cholowsky. Alabama’s Justin Lebron looks like the early SEC headliner. Georgia Tech’s Drew Burress is back to do Drew Burress things. And that’s before we even get into the coaching carousel, where Josh Elander (Tennessee) and Chris Pollard (Virginia) begin their first seasons at blueblood programs.

Opening weekend stretches six time zones. It started early this morning with Houston facing No. 21 Wake Forest in Puerto Rico and wraps up in Hawaii roughly 14 hours later when Gonzaga visits the Rainbow Warriors.

Thirteen of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Draft prospects are college players. Ten of those 13 are on preseason Top 25 teams. Seven are in the Top 10. In other words, the talent is everywhere.

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