Mountaineers to Play in Inaugural Orlando Baseball Classic
August 26, 2026 04:11 PM | Baseball
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Three teams that advanced to an NCAA baseball regional last season, including College World Series' participant West Virginia, highlight the six-team field set to play in the inaugural 2027 Orlando Baseball Classic, Feb. 26-28, at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resort. Veteran event-promoter bdG Sports made the announcement Wednesday.
Along with West Virginia, the new event will feature 2026 NCAA super regional participant St. John's and NCAA regional selection UCF, along with Pitt, Michigan and Indiana State.
"As NCAA baseball continues its impressive growth pattern, interest in early season, destination-location events have become highly sought after, and what better destination than Central Florida and the immaculate Stadium at ESPN Wide World of Sports," said Brooks Downing, founder and president of bdG Sports. "Fans and participants alike can enjoy premium collegiate baseball, the Florida sunshine, and of course, the largest and most visited theme park destination on earth, Walt Disney World."
"We are excited to compete in the Orlando Baseball Classic," said WVU head coach Steve Sabins. "It is a wonderful venue that Mountaineer fans from all over the country can come to and enjoy. Great weather and great baseball"
The Stadium at ESPN Wide World of Sports will play host to the round-robin event, which will be played in Week 2 of the new season. The Stadium, with a capacity of 9,500 seats and another 2,000 on grass, opened in 1997 and was designed with Major League Baseball dimensions. For two decades, the immaculate ballpark served as the home to spring training for the Atlanta Braves, and has played host to minor league teams, MLB regular-season games for the Tampa Bay Rays, the 2006 World Baseball Classic and the 2001 Atlantic 10 Conference baseball tournament.
The Orlando Baseball Classic will check two boxes for NCAA teams: it creates a much-needed national event to start the season, an opportunity to showcase great competition as the new baseball season gets underway; and, it provides a warm-weather destination for a number of teams that typically have to begin the first three weeks of the season away from home while winter hangs on across the northern half of the country.
Matchups are as follows. (All times are eastern and subject to change.)
Friday, Feb. 26
St. John's vs. Michigan – 11 am. ET
Indiana State vs. West Virginia – 3 p.m.
UCF vs. Pitt – 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 27
West Virginia vs. St. John's – 11 a.m.
Pitt vs. Indiana State – 3 p.m.
Michigan vs. UCF – 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 28
St. John's vs. Pitt – 11 a.m.
West Virginia vs. Michigan – 3 p.m.
UCF vs. Indiana State – 7 p.m.
Broadcast details will be announced later.
FAN PACKAGES AVAILABLE
Fan packages and tickets go on sale to the public beginning Friday, Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. ET. Fan packages include: a three-night stay at one of the partner hotels (Disney's Pop Century Resort, Drury Plaza Hotel Orlando or Hyatt Grand Cypress) with additional nights available if necessary; premium tickets (behind home plate) to all games; tickets (number dependent on room occupancy level purchased) to a fan welcome reception (Feb. 25) at Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort that includes food and non-alcoholic beverages and evening fireworks at the park; a two-day park-hopper pass for Walt Disney World Parks; and a welcome swag bag with event apparel. General admission tickets and hotel rooms at preferred rates can be purchased separately from fan packages at www.OrlandoBaseballClassic.com. (Airfare is not included in the fan package.)
ABOUT ESPN WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS COMPLEX
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is where sports dreams come true for athletes and fans of all ages. Located at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, the complex is the home of a variety of events including Disney Soccer and Disney Spring Training and has accommodated 70 different sports featuring athletes from 70 different countries since opening in 1997. Designed to provide professional, amateur and youth athletes with experiences synonymous with the names Disney and ESPN, the 260+-acre facility features multiple competition venues, including 16 baseball/softball fields; a 9,500-seat stadium; a state-of-the-art indoor arena and two versatile field houses for basketball, volleyball, and other indoor sports; and 17 multi-purpose fields for outdoor sports including soccer, football and field hockey. The complex includes a professional production center that produces content for global distribution on the Disney family of networks. For more information, visit www.disneysportsnews.com for news releases, photos and videos.
ORLANDO BASEBALL CLASSIC SOCIAL TAGS
Keep up to date with the latest information regarding the Orlando Baseball Classic via social media at @ORLBaseClassic on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
ABOUT BDG SPORTS
bdG Sports is a sports and entertainment leader with a dynamic and ever-growing event management portfolio with a cornerstone in basketball and professional golf and an expansive focus toward baseball. The firm boasts an event schedule that has delivered significant economic impact to multiple communities throughout North America and the Caribbean while featuring broadcasts to viewers across the globe.
In basketball, bdG has a lengthy history of producing premium college basketball content. From summer exhibition tours to multiple high-profile in-season tournaments and neutral-site events, bdG will contract more than 100 regular-season men's and women's Division I basketball games annually. It boasts the record for the largest hoops crowd in Nevada state history (Duke-Gonzaga 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas), the second-most watched game since 2008 (Arkansas-Illinois on Thanksgiving Day 2024 with 5.1 million viewers) and one of the largest events in the sport, 20 men's and women's teams competing annually at Baha Mar Hoops. bdG is the only third-party operator which manages a conference tournament, assisting The Big West Men's & Women's Championships each March in Henderson, Nevada.
In professional golf, bdG owns and operates two season-opening Korn Ferry Tour tournaments, The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island and The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club, both televised by the Golf Channel and featuring $1 million purses. For NCAA baseball, bdG owns and operates the Atlantis Collegiate Baseball Series and the Orlando Baseball Classic.
