11 of the 16 Super Regional teams feature former Georgia high school athletes

With 16 teams still vying for a spot in the College World Series, there are plenty of former Georgia high school baseball players still competing.

Eleven of the 16 super regional teams left tally a combined 39 former high schoolers from the Peach State.

Those teams include: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas, Troy and West Virginia.

The five teams with none are Cal Poly, Little Rock, USC, Oregon and St. John’s.

To no surprise, Georgia leads the way with 13 players on its roster, while Oklahoma and Texas each barely made the cut with one player.

Oconee County leads counties in representation with four players — two from North Oconee and two Oconee County alumni.

UGA’s right-handed pitcher Justin Byrd, who played for North Oconee, is the biggest standout in the group, as he has proven to be one of the Bulldogs’ primary bullpen arms this season.

The Bogart native has made a team-high 23 appearances, carries a 4.17 ERA in 54 innings pitched and holds a 69-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

But Byrd isn’t the only former Georgia high school athlete making a big impact in Athens.

Among the 13 former in-state prospects, Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson, who played at North Springs High School, leads the way, slashing .396/.830/.493 with 93 hits, 29 home runs, 93 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. The Sandy Springs native has already secured the SEC Player of the Year honors and is a finalist for college baseball’s top honor, the Golden Spikes Award.

Currently, Jackson ranks as the No. 39 prospect ahead of the 2026 MLB draft.

Cobb County has three schools represented in the super regionals: Harrison, North Cobb Christian and Mount Paran Christian.

Sooners center fielder and Harrison alumnus Jason Walk has been patrolling the Norman, Oklahoma outfield for three seasons now. Walk is batting .261 with 48 hits, 22 RBIs and 14 stolen bases this season.

Last week, Walk went 9-for-23 (.391) with a home run as Oklahoma knocked out top-seeded Georgia Tech to advance.

Fulton, Troup, Lowndes, Bibb, and Forsyth counties all have a pair of players.

Rabun Gap and Georgia Premier Academy, two non-traditional schools in the state, are also represented.

One notable Rabun Gap alum is West Virginia utility player Armani Guzman, who is batting .308 with 64 hits — including a team-high 19 doubles — with 36 stolen bases this season. In last week’s final regional game against Kentucky, Guzman delivered the walk-off single to secure the Mountaineers’ spot in the super regional for the third year in a row.