Boston College is set to compete in the Athens Regional of the 2026 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, with its first game against Liberty scheduled for Friday, May 29 at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia.
Athens is home to the University of Georgia and is known for its distinct culture compared to Atlanta. The Georgia Bulldogs have a strong athletic tradition, particularly under football coach Kirby Smart, who led them to consecutive national championships in 2021 and 2022. In baseball, however, Georgia had not reached a Super Regional in 16 years until Wes Johnson was hired as head coach in 2024. Johnson’s arrival marked a turning point as he guided the team to both SEC regular season and tournament titles this year—a first for the program—and secured a top-8 postseason seed.
The regional features second-seeded Boston College alongside third-seeded Liberty and fourth-seeded Long Island. Boston College head coach Todd Interdonato said after practice at Harrington Athletics Village on Tuesday, “We [started] in January in the bubble [surrounding Alumni Stadium] and felt like we really had a good team. We felt like we were headed in the right direction [with] momentum from the ACC Tournament [from] last year. Our guys were really focused and committed to basically making the next step and getting to the postseason, and our coaches laid out the plan, or the ‘path,’ as we called it, and our guys were able to execute it throughout the season. Now, we’re here, and we’re reaping the rewards.”
Liberty returns to national tournament play after previously qualifying three times between 2019 and 2022 during their transition from Big South membership through ASUN Conference into Conference USA. This season marks their third since joining Conference USA; they finished with 41 wins—second place within one of college baseball’s competitive conferences. Interdonato said about Liberty, “Bradley [LeCroy] coached in South Carolina for a good number of years when I was down there,” explained Interdonato, “so I’m pretty familiar with him and his style. He has some assistant coaches that I know as well, and they look like a very good team. You don’t win 41 games by accident, and their pitching looks really strong, their defense looks really good. They have some good players…they’re going to be really good.”
Long Island enters after winning this year’s Northeast Conference tournament following previous success as LIU Brooklyn before merging programs; they defeated Farleigh Dickinson decisively for this year’s title.
“Both us and Liberty know that we have a really tough opponent in front of us with each other,” said Interdonato regarding Friday’s matchup. “We’ll see what happens with [Georgia] and Long Island…this is going to be a great environment…I’m very familiar with the venue…and it’s going to be a great environment. I’m really excited for our guys to get this experience.”
