Husker Baseball will host the 2026 Lincoln Regional at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park from May 29 to June 1, and Nebraska’s first step is a familiar one: South Dakota State in the opener Friday at 3 p.m. The Huskers are putting Carson Jasa on the mound for the regional’s first game, with Sam Schlecht starting for South Dakota State.
The matchup lands at a time when Nebraska has turned its home park into a real edge. The Huskers finished the regular season 23-1 at Hawks Field, set a ballpark record with a.958 winning percentage at home and won 23 home games for the most since 2008. Over 648 all-time games at the park, Nebraska is 463-184-1, and this weekend gives the program its 20th NCAA Regional appearance.
That home backdrop matters because Nebraska has made a habit of turning regional weekends into long ones. This is the seventh time in program history the Huskers will host a regional, and they have reached the regional final six times. They have also gone on to the Super Regional four times, in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005, a history that gives the current team a standard beyond simply playing at home.
South Dakota State is not arriving as an afterthought. The teams have met 23 times, with Nebraska ahead 19-4, but the Jackrabbits already pushed the Huskers once this season before Nebraska escaped 5-4 on March 4. That result is the kind of reminder that can make a home regional feel less like a comfort and more like a test, especially with a quick turnaround from one game to the next.
Nebraska enters the regional with momentum and numbers that back it up. The Huskers reached 40 wins for the 19th time in program history by sweeping Minnesota to end the regular season and finished 41-14 overall. They also checked in at No. 20 in the D1Baseball Top 25, with additional rankings of 15th from Perfect Game, No. 18 in the /Coaches Poll and NCBWA rankings, and No. 21 in Baseball America. However far Nebraska goes from here will depend on whether Jasa, who is 9-2 with a 3.76 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 81.1 innings, can carry that home-field form into the first pitch and beyond.
