2026 Midwest Conference Tournament

GRINNELL, Iowa – For the first time since 2017, Grinnell College's own Pioneer Park will be the site for the Midwest Conference Baseball Tournament.
 
Grinnell clinched the regular-season title and hosting rights last Saturday with a first-game victory over Illinois College. The Pioneers, who finished MWC play at 16-5 and 22-16 overall, are the top seed and will face fourth-seeded Monmouth College at 9 a.m. Friday. The Fighting Scots went 11-10 in the MWC and are 16-21 overall.
 
In the other first-round game, the only one not to be played in Grinnell, second-seeded Illinois College and third-seeded Beloit College meet at 9 a.m. at Newton High School's diamond. Both teams went 15-6 in MWC play, with Illinois College owning a 24-16 overall record and Beloit sporting a 23-16 mark.
 
First-round winners meet at 12:30 p.m. at Pioneer Park and first-round losers at 3:30 p.m. From there, action carries over to Saturday. The winner of the tourney receives the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
Grinnell is far and away the top offensive team in the MWC with a .369 batting average in league games and a whopping 31 homers. Monmouth ranks third with a .319 average. The Fighting Scots rank fourth in pitching ERA at 6.85 and Grinnell is sixth at 7.14.
 
The Pioneers have the top three hitters in conference play in Stuart Cash '27 (.464), Wyatt Raymond '28 (.451) and Connor Goodson '26 (.430). Connor Pink '29 and Nikolas Ruden '26 are ninth and 10^th at .403 and .400, respectively. Daniel Shaul '26 and Jakob Runkel '26 are among the ERA leaders and own league records of 4-0 and 2-1. Runkel also has two saves.
 
Aidan Parkins is Monmouth's top hitter in MWC play with a .404 batting average, which ranks seventh in the league. Jace Wilkerson ranks second in RBIs behind Goodson's 45 RBIs with 38. Ethan Zaayenga owns a 4.97 ERA, which is eighth in the conference.