Watch: 2026 Cincinnati Baseball Preview with Jordan Bischell

Cincinnati enters its third season under head coach Jordan Bischell carrying momentum that would have felt ambitious just a few years ago. Consecutive winning seasons, a historic at-large NCAA Tournament berth in 2025—the program’s first since 1974—and a regional victory over a Wake Forest team that had reached the College World Series in 2023 have reset expectations in Clifton.

Yet as Bischell sat down with local media on Tuesday, the tone was less about celebration and more about alignment—between roster construction, player identity, and a program vision that is beginning to materialize.

“I think it’s really becoming aligned with what we want it to look like,” Bischell said. “And that’s pretty exciting.”

 

An earlier start and a different January

Though Opening Day on February 13th at Jacksonville State still feels distant with winter lingering, Bischell emphasized how different this preseason already feels thanks to an NCAA rule change allowing teams to begin full practice when the semester starts.

“For a long time, Division I rules allowed three weeks to opening day was when you could start your full practice segment,” he said. “This year, it started right away when the semester started. So we’ve been with our guys full-time for over a week now, which is helpful.”

The biggest beneficiary, he noted, is the pitching staff.

“Trying to get a pitching staff ready and in shape and do it safely without full access three, four weeks before the season was tough,” Bischell said. “That was a great change by the NCAA. They get criticized for a lot. They get this one right.”

Beyond logistics, having the team back together earlier matters emotionally.

“Thanksgiving to New Year’s is weird for us because we don’t have our kids around,” he said. “So it’s good to have those guys back.”

A schedule that balances itself

Cincinnati’s 2026 schedule lacks some of last year’s marquee conference names—TCU, Arizona, and Arizona State—but Bischell cautioned against judging strength too early.

“I’m always a little cautious even if I do know the schedule to put too much stock into it,” he said. “When you got the schedule two years ago and you saw Cincinnati was on it, you probably thought it was going to bang up your RPI pretty good and they’d be a bottom feeder in the Big 12—and here we are.”

The Big 12, he believes, self-corrects.

“Our league is so good that you can’t put too much stock in it,” Bischell said. “Who’d have thought Kansas three years ago was going to be a team where playing them was going to be great for your RPI? That was our most valuable win last year.”

Still, there is quality on the slate.

“When you look at Jacksonville State with close to 40 wins, Austin Peay with 40-plus, Auburn in a midweek—there’s some meat there,” he said. “And there’s some meat in the league that we don’t see right now.”

Ultimately, metrics and results will determine the narrative.

“If our schedule ends up a little bit weaker, we’ve got to win a couple more ball games,” Bischell said. “If it ends up stronger, we don’t. The metrics help kind of equalize that.”

The deepest roster yet—by design

Asked whether this is his best team on paper entering a season, Bischell stopped short of a definitive answer but offered a revealing distinction.

“I don’t know that answer,” he said. “I think it is our deepest team. I think it’s the closest look to what we envisioned wanting to look like here in terms of every spot on the roster.”

That vision extends beyond raw talent.

“Not just are they good at baseball, but the type of player they are—athleticism, ability to pound the strike zone, those things that we value,” he said. “Hands down, it’s a deeper, stronger group.”

There is, however, a significant caveat.

“There’s also 27 freshmen and sophomores,” Bischell said. “I don’t think you’re going to find anybody else with those numbers in the Power Four. We’re probably the youngest.”

Youth brings learning curves—but also energy.

“We were doing a drill inside the other day, and the energy was just incredible,” he said. “They’re making each other do push-ups when they don’t catch a baseball. That’s not our coaches. That’s just the competitiveness.”

Whether that translates immediately into wins remains to be seen.

“Whether that leads to a big pile of wins, I guess we’ll find out,” Bischell said. “But that part is what’s exciting to me.”

Pitching depth: the biggest offseason emphasis

If there was one area Cincinnati identified for growth after last season, it was the mound—particularly depth in high-leverage situations. Six of the eight off season additions through the transfer portal were pitchers. 

“As you get deeper into any weekend, and a regional being one of those weekends, we probably were not running out enough quality pitching options,” Bischell said. “Against explosive offenses in June when the ball is flying, we probably weren’t putting our kids in a position where they were really equipped to have success.”

That has changed.

“If you said what’s the one thing that’s markedly different from your past rosters,” he said, “it’s the number of guys that I would say can be high-leverage, high-impact guys in terms of their stuff.”

Among them, one name stands out.

“The transfer Logan Knight from North Dakota State is probably the one that’s really jumped out,” Bischell said. “This guy’s ready to take the ball on Saturday and give us a chance to win every week. I’m pretty confident saying that.”

Knight was a two-time All-Summit League selection at North Dakota State and earned a spot on the league’s all-tournament team last year, starting 15 games this past season and pitching two complete games. One of his complete games was a three-hit shutout vs. Oral Roberts in the conference tournament.

Position battles and breakout candidates

While stars like Jack Natili and Nathan Taylor anchor the lineup, Bischell is equally excited about the “next tier” of contributors.

“That part to me is where we’re really headed in a good direction,” he said.

He highlighted multiple options at first base.

“Quinton Coats could be a really impact hitter at this level,” Bischell said. “Ryan Tyranski redshirted, but he’s going to help us quite a bit.”

At shortstop, Charlie Niehaus exemplifies the local-development success story.

“Two years ago he was a redshirt here, probably pretty under the radar,” Bischell said. “He’s going to be a professional baseball player at some point.”

Niehaus is coming off a season in which he finished second on the team with 21 stolen bases

In the outfield, the praise was emphatic.

“I think Derrick Pitts is one of the most exciting outfielders in the country, legitimately,” he said. “He may be the best defender in the country, and I don’t say those things just to say them.”

Freshmen like Jackson Reardon and Enzo Infelise are expected to see the field early, while junior Cal Sefcik returns as a middle-of-the-order presence after finishing with seven homers and 43 RBI's in 2025.

Conlan Daniel’s role

One of the most intriguing additions is Wright State transfer Conlan Daniel, a Cincinnati native.

“He’s going to run around center field a lot,” Bischell said. “There’s no reason he couldn’t hit in the top couple spots in the order.”

What sets Daniel apart, though, is his approach.

“He just loves to show up and play every day,” Bischell said. “That’s hard to replace.”

Bischell was careful to manage expectations.

“He doesn’t need to be Superman flying around center field,” he said. “He just needs to be Conlan. But Conlan’s pretty special.”

Daniel hit .314 with six home runs, 18 RBI, and 14 stolen bases during his freshman season that included an NCAA Tournament appearance with Wright State.

 

Jack Natili: elite catcher, emerging leader

Natili enters the season with national recognition following a productive 2025 season that earned him Second Team All-Big 12 and a spot on the All-Big 12 Tournament Team, but Bischell views his growth as steady rather than sudden.

“There’s not been one switch that’s been flipped,” he said. “It’s just continued growth.”

That growth has been fueled by relentless effort.

“He doesn’t take a rep off,” Bischell said. “He’ll lift himself into exhaustion if you give him the opportunity.”

The evaluation was unequivocal.

“I don’t think there’s a catcher in the country we take over Jack at this point,” he said. “I think he’s that good.”

The next step is leadership.

“You want your catcher to not be afraid to take command of the field,” Bischell said. “He’s getting better and better at that.”

Natili was named a Preseason All-American by Perfect Game. A third-team selection and one of just four position players from the Big 12 Conference to be recognized, Natili has an outstanding 2025 season, hitting .338 with nine home runs, 53 RBI, 14 doubles, 36 runs scored, and 13 HBP. 

Expectations, pressure, and playing into June

Bischell remains consistent in messaging, leaning on his “10-game mantra” while acknowledging the stakes.

“We’d be awfully disappointed if we’re not playing in June this year,” he said. “And we should embrace that.”

Still, he cautioned against letting future goals overshadow daily work.

“Why not enjoy Cincinnati today?” Bischell said. “If we’re worried about wanting to play games, we just kind of wasted a day.”

The next step for the program

When asked what’s required to move from contender to host, Bischell returned to consistency.

“If you’re really good in the Big 12, you’re a national threat,” he said. “We know we’re a real threat to do those things.”

The path forward isn’t flashy.

“We’ve got to keep repeating it,” Bischell said. “Recruit the right guys, help them develop, help them have fun.”

Eventually, he believes, the results will follow.

“Those boxes will get checked,” he said. “They could get checked this year. They may not. But they will happen if we keep doing it the right way.”

 

Outlook:

Expectations around Cincinnati baseball are no longer theoretical after consecutive winning seasons, a historic at-large NCAA Tournament berth in 2025, and a win over Wake Forest in the NCAA Tournament that proved the Bearcats are capable of competing at the national level. Expectations are now tangible, measurable, and increasingly difficult to ignore.

Much of that belief starts with the presence of Nathan Taylor on the mound and Jack Natili, who enters the season as a national standard-bearer for the program. Natili is Cincinnati’s first preseason All-American since Joey Wiemer in 2020. Coming off a .338 season with nine home runs, 53 RBI, and a league-best résumé among catchers, Natili’s rise—validated by a No. 45 ranking on D1Baseball’s Top 100 Prospects list and a standout summer on the Cape Cod League—symbolizes how far the Bearcats have come and how high their ceiling now sits.

That individual success is matched by program-wide momentum. Cincinnati’s 2025 season marked its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, but more importantly, its first at-large berth since 1974, paired with a school-record six wins over ranked opponents. Those weren’t isolated moments; they were indicators of a team capable of competing nationally on a weekly basis.

The infrastructure behind that success continues to strengthen. The Bearcats’ 2026–27 recruiting class, ranked No. 26 nationally by Perfect Game and fourth in the Big 12, is the highest-rated class in program history. It reflects a clear recruiting identity—one built on athleticism, competitiveness, and players who genuinely want to be Bearcats, not just pass through the program.

The transfer portal has accelerated that growth as well. Eight additions—six pitchers and two position players—form a Top 30–ranked portal class, with half of those newcomers being sophomores, underscoring a long-term developmental approach rather than a short-term fix. Arms like Logan Knight, Dillon Schueler, Brennan Eager, and Adam Brouwer give Cincinnati the type of pitching depth that often separates teams playing in May from those still standing in June.

Even with 21 new players and a roster that is still roughly 50 percent new, that number is trending down from last season, signaling increasing stability. Youth remains a defining trait, but so does versatility and depth—qualities that have become central to the Bearcats’ identity.

Cincinnati baseball now enters the season in a different place than it has been in decades. The standard has shifted from hoping to contend to expecting to matter, from chasing respect to demanding consistency. The results of the past two seasons have earned that expectation. What comes next will determine whether this run is remembered as a breakthrough—or the foundation of something even bigger in Clifton.