USA Baseball alumni from around the country are gearing up to compete for their respective collegiate squads in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Let’s break down the big numbers from this year’s tourney and see where USA Baseball athletes are playing in regionals across the nation.
67
Sixty-seven players who have represented the red, white and blue will compete in the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Eight players in the tournament are 12U National Team alums, 14 are former 15U National Team players, while 24 athletes have played on the 18U National Team.
24
Twenty-four Collegiate National Team alumni are set to participate in the NCAA Tournament. Twenty-two of the 24 total are members of the 2023 Collegiate National Team — NC State’s Sam Highfill belonged to the 2021 Collegiate National Team.
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Twenty-eight teams feature a USA Baseball alum on their roster. Players who have donned the stars and stripes before are appearing in 14 different regionals from around the country. The Clemson and Chapel Hill regions boast the largest number of USA Baseball alums with a combined 21 members.
10
Ten USA Baseball alumni are featured on LSU’s squad, which is the most out of all teams in the NCAA Tournament. Ashton Larson is the sole alum on the 12U National Team, while three other players on the Tigers’ roster have played on the 15U National Team. Five members are 18U National Team alumni, with three athletes playing together on the 2021 18U squad.
20
Twenty Golden Spikes Award semifinalists are making an appearance in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Out of 25 total athletes on the semifinalist roster, it’s no surprise that the nation’s premier amateur baseball players are leading their teams to compete for a College World Series title.
5
Five teams feature two Golden Spikes semifinalists. Of the 20 different schools represented across this year’s list, there are multiple tournament-bound universities that sport two athletes: ECU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida State, and Wake Forest.
Knoxville Regional - three USA Baseball alumni
No. 1-seeded Tennessee’s trio of Christian Moore, Drew Beam, and Matthew Dallas headline both the Knoxville Regional and the Volunteers’ roster. Moore, who featured on the 2023 Collegiate National Team, was named First Team All-SEC after leading the conference with 94 hits. He was also near the top of the leaderboard in several other statistics, ranking third in batting average (.382) and home runs (28), fifth in runs scored (67), and tying for sixth in RBIs (63).
Greenville Regional - six USA Baseball alumni
Nick Kurtz (Wake Forest) and Trey Yesavage (East Carolina) lead the pack in the Greenville Regional as both were named Golden Spike Award semifinalists. Yesavage, the Pirates’ ace, hurled 86 innings while striking out 139 batters. Kurtz, an ACC first-teamer, batted .313 with a whopping 22 homers and 55 RBIs. His performance earned him an incredible 2.09 ERA on the year. Wake Forest features four other USA Baseball alums in Josh Hartle, Chris Katz, Seaver King, and Michael Massey.
Norman Regional - two USA Baseball alumni
Entering as the No. 2 seed in the region, recently crowned ACC Tournament champions Duke sport a pair of USA Baseball alumni in Fran Oschell III and Macon Winslow. Winslow, who helped the 2022 18U National Team win gold at the COPABE Pan-American Championships with his play behind the dish, has made an immediate impact for the Blue Devils as a freshman. The Hertford, North Carolina, native has batted .248 on the season, slugging four home runs and driving in 17 RBIs.
Tallahassee Regional - four USA Baseball alumni
The Tallahassee Regional features four former USA Baseball players with two alumni from ACC Tournament runner-up Florida State. Alabama’s Mac Guscette headlines the region from behind the plate — the Florida native leads the SEC with 16 runners caught stealing. Guscette also provided the Crimson Tide with offense, etching a .333 batting average with 25 RBIs in SEC play.
Fayetteville Regional - four USA Baseball alumni
Both the No. 1 seeded Arkansas Razorbacks and the No. 3 seeded Kansas State Wildcats boast a pair of USA Baseball alums, including a pair of electric pitchers. Arkansas is led by Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and SEC Pitcher of the Year Hagen Smith, who was dominant on the mound in 2024.
Smith, who represented the stars and stripes with the 2023 Collegiate National Team, leads the SEC with a 1.48 ERA along with ranking at the top in opposing batting average (.139), strikeouts (154), fewest hits allowed (37), and fewest earned runs allowed (13). The Wildcats tote their own elite arm in reliever Tyson Neighbors and boast a star hitter in Kaelan Culpepper. Neighbors recorded 55 punchouts and a 3.24 ERA in 33.1 innings of action, while Culpepper has followed an excellent freshman year with a .316 slash line in 2024 with 49 RBIs and 45 runs scored.
Charlottesville Regional - four USA Baseball alumni
The Virginia Cavaliers roster a trio of USA Baseball alumni that features Jack O’Connor, Griff O’Ferrall, and Jay Woolfolk. O’Ferrall earned All-ACC First Team honors at shortstop — the Richmond, Virginia native was exceptional in the field with a fielding percentage of .986. He also held his own at the plate, driving in 49 runs and stealing 15 bags on the season. Woolfolk hurled 44.2 frames for the Cavaliers, punching out 50 batters along the way.
Dylan Cupp, of Mississippi State, was a member of the 2022 18U National Team where he would start eight games for the stars and stripes and hit a walk-off single to advance his squad to the gold medal game.
Tucson Regional - three USA Baseball alumni
Three former members of the 2023 Collegiate National Team will be representing USA Baseball in Tucson. Dallas Baptist features two, with Ryan Johnson and Nick Wilson, while West Virginia is led by former Big 12 Player of the Year and Golden Spikes Award semifinalist JJ Wetherholt. While injury has held Wetherholt to just 31 games so far this season, the junior has been elite at the plate with a .356 average, 30 RBIs, and 27 runs scored.
Chapel Hill Regional - 11 USA Baseball alumni
While 2019 15U National Team alum Matthew Matthijs and North Carolina enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed in the region and the No. 4 overall seed, it’s the No. 2 seeded LSU Tigers who boast a whopping 10 USA Baseball alumni, the most of any team in the bracket. Leading the regional is Luke Holman, who represented the stars and stripes as a member of the 2023 Collegiate National Team.
Matthijs has been electric out of the bullpen for Carolina, leading the ACC with 12 wins across 49.1 innings of action on the bump. Sporting a 3.83 ERA, the Tar Heel has fanned 51 batters this season.
Raleigh Regional - two USA Baseball alumni
NC State and James Madison feature one USA Baseball alum apiece. The Wolfpack’s Sam Highfill, a former 2021 Collegiate National Team member, earned All-ACC Honors as a graduate student, tossing 68 innings while striking out 69 batters.
Left-handed pitcher, T.R. Williams, aided James Madison on the mound by heaving 19.1 frames to gather 28 K’s in 2024. As a member of the 15U National Team, Williams made three appearances at the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup in Panama out of the bullpen and did not allow a single hit.
Athens Regional - four USA Baseball alumni
Georgia’s Charlie Condon and Georgia Tech’s Drew Burress headline the Athens Regional as two of the best players in the nation. Condon, a redshirt sophomore, is a repeat Golden Spikes Award semifinalist after his impeccable 2024 season. The Marietta, Georgia, native garnered an impressive .443 batting average which included 35 homers and 75 RBIs.
After an incredible rookie campaign, Georgia Tech’s Burress was named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist. Coming out of high school rated as the No.1 outfielder in the state of Georgia, Burress led the Yellow Jackets with his .379 batting average in his first year. The ACC Freshman of the Year also tacked on 23 home runs and 65 RBIs.
Clemson Regional - 10 USA Baseball alumni
Vanderbilt fills up the Clemson region with nine former USA Baseball players, which is the second largest number on a team in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Vandy’s RJ Austin had a special season at the plate, boasting a .322 batting average while plating 51 RBIs. The Commodores also had help on the mound in Carter Holton, who tossed 68 frames on his way to an impressive 96 strikeouts.
No. 1 Clemson adds another USA Baseball alum in Joe Allen, who played for the 2021 18U National Team. The right-hand pitcher out of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, was strong on the mound as he pitched 22.2 innings and tallied 25 strikeouts. While donning the stars and stripes in 2021, Allen pitched five innings and collected seven punchouts while giving up only two hits.
Stillwater Regional - six USA Baseball alumni
USA Baseball is well represented in Stillwater, as No. 1 seeded Oklahoma State features a pair of alums in Nolan Schubart and Brennan Phillips and Florida boasts four athletes. Schubart has continued to ascend after a breakout freshman season, ranking fourth in the Big 12 with a .355 line at the plate and a conference-high 1.323 OPS. The 2019 15U National Team alum has driven in 63 RBIs on 48 hits, swatting 20 home runs.
The Gators are led once again by two-time Golden Spikes semifinalist Jac Caglianone. After featuring on the 2023 Collegiate National Team, the two-way threat ranks second at the plate in the SEC in batting average (.415) and home runs (29), while sitting third in on-base percentage (.525), hits (88), and total bases (179). On the mound, the junior sports a 4.35 ERA after holding opposing hitters to a .217 batting average, 49 hits, and 30 earned runs.
Santa Barbara Regional - two USA Baseball alumni
UC Santa Barbara and Oregon both roster one USA Baseball alum, featuring Matt Ager and Mason Neville, respectively. Ager racked up 57 strikeouts on his junior campaign, which was good enough to land him on the All-Big West Second Team and now has two All-Big West honors in his career.
Oregon’s Mason Neville improved his statline in his sophomore season, seeing action in 51 games on the year. Neville, a 2016 12U National Team alum, provided a spark at the plate for the Ducks as he pushed 41 runs across the plate with his 16 home runs. The Las Vegas native boasted was named an All-Pac 12 honorable mention due to his skills at the plate where he boasted a .710 slugging percentage.
College Station Regional - six USA Baseball alumni
Texas A&M enters as a favorite to advance to the College World Series behind arguably the best trio of hitters in the country: USA Baseball alumni Jace LaViolette, Braden Montgomery, and Gavin Grahovac. Both of LaViolette and Montgomery earned First Team All-SEC honors and are semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award after representing the 2023 Collegiate National Team, while Grahovac was tabbed the SEC Freshman of the Year after featuring for the 12U National side in 2017 and 18U National team in 2022.
Texas also features a trio of USA Baseball alumni with Casey Borba, Tanner Witt, and Oliver Santos. Borba, who featured on the 2022 18U National Team, has caught fire in his freshman season for the Longhorns with a .244 average at the plate, 17 RBIs, and 19 runs scored.
