Through the first round of the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament, ESPN drew huge TV ratings. The network announced it scored the most-watched Regional on record.

Viewership increased 38% year-over-year as the tournament got underway late last week and through the weekend. Tennessee’s season-ending loss to VCU drew the highest viewership of the opening round with 804,000 viewers on Saturday. That made it the third-most watched Regional game on record.

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In fact, Saturday’s games led the charge for ESPN. Auburn’s 17-13 win over NC State averaged 659,000 viewers, which was the second-highest TV ratings for the 2026 Regional and Top-10 viewership for the round on record. Arkansas vs. Kansas also brought 560,000 viewers in primetime on Saturday.

According to Programming Insider, Kansas’ win over Arkansas on Sunday also averaged 473,000 viewers in primetime. On Monday, West Virginia’s walk-off victory against Kentucky in the 10th inning brought 489,000 viewers on average, as well, per Programming Insider.

ESPN’s TV ratings surge through Regionals at the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament followed a strong regular season. Across its networks, ESPN saw viewership increase 49% year-over-year as part of its best regular season since 2012.

Texas A&M vs. LSU held the top two spots during the regular season with 382,000 viewers on April 17 and 375,000 on April 15. Of course, it’s important to note the 2026 season is the first since Nielsen introduced its Big Data + Panel metric to measure viewership.

More on a historic NCAA Regional round

The Regional round was a historic one as the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament got underway. UCLA became the second No. 1 overall seed in tournament history to be eliminated before the regional final with its loss to Saint Mary’s.

No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech also fell in the Atlanta Regional. That means the top two teams are off the board entering Super Regionals.

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The 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament will continue with Super Regionals, which get underway Friday as the final 16 teams vie for spots in the College World Series. From there, the final eight teams will head to Omaha starting June 12.

Official visit season is already leading to commitments on The Plains.

More good news for the Tigers went public on Tuesday evening as Mobile (Ala.) Vigor four-star linebacker Isaac McNeil announced his commitment to Alex Golesh and Co. live on the Rivals YouTube channel.

Auburn beat out Florida and Georgia for the nation’s No. 103 overall prospect, No. 7 LB and No. 3 player in Alabama — according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all major recruiting media companies.

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“They made it clear I’m a really high priority for them,” McNeil told Rivals’ Chad Simmons. “Every visit was great. Auburn has a great environment, great energy, and it is really just a great place. I just had to make that decision, and pick the best school for me. It’s Auburn.”

McNeil is the second blue-chip pledge for AU in as many days. On Monday, it landed Saint Louis St. Mary’s four-star running back Kingston Miles, the nation’s No. 16 RB. Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes three-star cornerback Aidyn Wiggins also committed to the Tigers earlier on Tuesday.

Following the recent additions, Auburn has jumped all the way up to No. 14 in the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. It recently checked in at No. 22 before the pair of blue-chip commitments.

Looking at Auburn’s 2027 class

Half of the 14 commits in the class for the Tigers are of the four-star variety. Miles is one of two blue-chip running backs in the class alongside East St. Louis (Ill.) four-star Myson Johnson-Cook, the No. 50 prospect and No. 4 RB in the nation.

Johnson-Cook was one of three April pledges for AU. May then brought six commitments, headlined by the addition of Middletown (Del.) Appoquinimink four-star offensive tackle Layton von Brandt. The one-time Penn State commit is the No. 5 OT in the cycle.

“What it came down to ultimately for me in the end was of all of the schools in my top four I felt like I was Auburn’s top guy,” von Brandt told Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong. “They made me a top priority not just on the offensive line but in the class as a whole. There is something to be said for a staff believing in you like that. It made me want to play for them and prove them right in their belief in my abilities and help them get Auburn back to where it belongs.”

McNeil is also one of two blue-chip linebackers in the fold for Golesh and his staff. Lyons (Ga.) Toombs County four-star Kareem Palmer, the No. 33 LB in the cycle, joined the fold on May 17.

Other top commits in the class include: Bessemer (Ala.) City four-star defensive lineman Donivan Moore, Quitman (Ga.) Brooks County four-star tight end George Lamons, Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Riverdale three-star wide receiver Brylan Oduor and Atlanta McEachern three-star cornerback Nash Johnson.