The first week of the 2026 college baseball season is in the books, and what a week it was. The defending champions got off to a roaring start, while some other SEC powers had not-so-great starts. Here are some notes from Week 1.
LSU remains hot
Needless to say, the LSU Tigers remain in elite company. Sure, LSU didn’t face competition from the SEC, Big 10, or Big 12 in Week 1. However, it was nonetheless an electric week for the defending champions.
We’ll start with the pitching, which was fine to get through the week despite some hiccups from Casan Evans and William Schmidt. Evans struck out seven over 3.1 IP, while Schmidt punched out nine in four innings. Cooper Moore, meanwhile, had 11 strikeouts in his first week.
As for the offense, seven players hit at least one home run. Zach Yorke and Trent Caraway hit their first as LSU Tigers, while junior Jake Brown belted four.
Florida overcame Opening Night fall
For the second time in three years, Florida came into the year as a top-ten team and lost to an unranked team. Back in 2024, it was St. John’s (NY) from the Big East. This time around, it was UAB from the AAC, as the team from Birmingham got to Liam Peterson early in the 2026 opener.
Luckily for the Gators, they rebounded. Florida won four games afterwards, taking the next two against UAB, and then swept the home-and-home against Stetson.
Florida contended with a lot of injuries last season. But now, things look very much up. Cade Kurland is healthy and hit his first home run of the spring on the second day of the year. Blake Cyr, who’s struggled to live up to expectations, belted three home runs. Brendan Lawson and freshman Cash Strayer both hit two home runs.
As for the pitching staff, Aidan King threw six scoreless and struck out four in his first 2026 outing. Not a bad start.
Vandy had an interesting week
The Vanderbilt Commodores blew the doors off in their two-game set during the midweek against Eastern Michigan. That series also saw Vandy put up the rare seven-inning no-hitter, one in which the Commodores conceded two runs.
It capped off what was a very strange week for Vanderbilt. Colin Barczi hit three home runs on Opening Day, only for it not to be enough against TCU (on a quick aside, Barczi had two of the five hardest-hit balls in Statcast-tracked games last week). Two days later, the bullpen was shelled against OK State.
There were obvious positives. Aside from Barczi’s standout performance, Nate Taylor struck out seven over 4.1 IP. Taylor was a big transfer addition from Georgia and has a four-pitch mix to work with.
Brodie Johnson, meanwhile, hit five home runs for the Commodores.
Other notes
As expected, there’s plenty of pitching depth to be found in the SEC.
Riley Goodman, the redshirt freshman from South Carolina, pumped 95-96 MPH heat in his first real collegiate outing with the Gamecocks last week, one that saw him strike out five over 3.2 IP against Northern Kentucky.
Jake Marchiano, the transfer from Virginia Tech, was as good as advertised in his first outing with Auburn. Marchiano struck out 12 batters in his first outing, tied for second in Division I.
Then, there’s the Oklahoma Sooners’ pitching staff. Oklahoma’s pitching staff looks very different thanks to the loss of the Witherspoon brothers. However, the early returns from the new-look rotation were fantastic for the team that finished 4-0 last week.
Junior LJ Mercurius struck out 12 to tie Marchiano and FGCU two-way player Evan Dempsey for second in D1. Mercurius flashed good stuff to say the least, with a fastball that touched 97 MPH and a four-pitch mix that included a changeup, sinker, and slider.
Cameron Johnson, in his second season with OU after leaving LSU, struck out 11 over six innings. Fastball that plays up with above-average extension; it was up to 96-97 MPH in his first start, and Johnson also flashed the changeup and slider.
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