UGA’s Kolby Branch earns spot on USA’s 2026 Collegiate National Team

USA Baseball finalized the 28-man roster for the 2026 Collegiate National Team on Sunday. Of those players, former Georgia shortstop Kolby Branch was selected.

After receiving an invite to Team USA training camp June 24, Branch participated in 11 days of workouts, practices and intrasquad scrimmages across North Carolina and Virginia.

The Lucas, Texas, native appeared in nine exhibitions for the CNT Stars, where he slashed .111/.360/.278 in 18 at-bats with two hits, one home run, six walks, six strikeouts and five stolen bases. He spent most of his time at shortstop or as a designated hitter.

Branch’s lone long ball was sent 416 feet to left field, which left the bat at 108 mph on June 28 against the Johnson City Doughboys.

Despite the offensive numbers not jumping off the page, Branch did enough to earn a spot on a team that will compete in the inaugural World Collegiate Baseball Championship at Taichung City Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung City, Taiwan, on Saturday through July 15.

“After nearly two weeks of an extremely competitive Training Camp, we are excited to finalize the 28-man roster that will represent the United States in the inaugural World Collegiate Baseball Championship,” said Eric Campbell, USA Baseball’s general manager of professional and collegiate national teams. “The talent at Training Camp was incredible and made this decision difficult, but we are confident that these 28 players will represent the U.S. well in our quest to win a gold medal.”

Overall, 21 schools will be represented on the national team, with the SEC producing the most talent with 15 players. Behind the SEC were the Big Ten with six, Big 12 with four, ACC with two and Sun Belt with one.

The World Collegiate Baseball Championship format will feature five days of games, with three days of pool play followed by the semifinals and medal games. The U.S. will open its pool play slate Saturday against Korea at 12:30 a.m. EDT, followed by games against Chinese Taipei on July 12 at 6:30 a.m. EDT and against Japan on July 13 at 12:30 a.m. EDT.