Apr. 27—SIOUX CITY, Iowa. — The two brackets for the 2026 Great Plains Athletic Conference postseason baseball tournaments have been set, the league office announced on Sunday afternoon.
The Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team has been slotted as the No. 6 seed in the tournament and is set to play No. 3 Morningside at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at Sherman Field in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Earlier in the season, the Tigers split a doubleheader with the Mustangs in Sioux City on March 24, winning the first Game 8-6 before dropping the second game 7-2. This is the second consecutive season DWU has made the GPAC tournament after missing the previous three years (2021-24).
The top conference seed, and regular season champion, Doane will serve as one bracket host for the 1, 4, 5 and 8 seeds, while No. 2 Concordia will be the other bracket host for the 2, 3, 6 and 7 seeds for the two four-team tournaments.
Bracket play will open on Wednesday, April 29, where Doane will host Briar Cliff, Northwestern and Hastings. Concordia will host Morningside, Dakota Wesleyan and Mount Marty. Games will continue on Thursday, with the bracket championship games tentatively held on Friday. The Doane and Concordia bracket winners will meet on Monday, May 4, in the GPAC baseball tournament championship game. All games in the conference tournament are nine innings, and the two brackets will be double elimination. The championship game will be a single nine-inning contest at the highest remaining seed. The highest remaining seed will be the home team regardless of bracket play. GPAC tie-breakers were used in the seeding process.
Doane has secured the league's first berth to the NAIA tournament, while the GPAC tournament champion will receive the second berth. If Doane wins the conference tournament, then the runner-up will receive the second GPAC berth to the national tournament opening round on May 11.
Here are the 2026 GPAC baseball tournament brackets:
Game 1: Briar Cliff (4) vs. (5) Northwestern (5), noon
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 9 a.m.
Game 5: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3, 3 p.m.
Game 6: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5, noon
Game 1: Morningside (3) vs. Dakota Wesleyan (6), 3 p.m.
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, noon
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 3 p.m.
Game 5: Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 3, 6 p.m.
Game 6: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5, 3 p.m.
Game 8: Doane bracket winner vs. Concordia bracket winner (at highest seed), 3 p.m. (no lights) or 6 p.m. (lights)