For Immediate Release
Sunday, May 10, 2026
NCAA Bracket 

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division II Baseball Committee has selected the teams that will participate in the 2026 Division II Baseball Championship. Augustana and Minnesota State will represent the NSIC in the NCAA Central Region Tournament May 14-17.  Augustana earned the fifth seed and Minnesota State earned the sixth seed. 

The championship preliminary round competition provides for 16 regional sites that consist of either 3-team or 4-team, double-elimination tournaments. The winners of these regional-round competitions advance to a super-regional round that consist of two teams competing in a best-of-three series.

The NCAA Central Region is made up of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC). Automatic bids are awarded to the tournament champions from each conference with the final five spots awarded on an at-large basis.

MSU received the #6 seed in the central region and will travel to Claremore, Okla., to compete in the sub region beginning on Thursday with Rogers State serving as the host. #2 Rogers State (38-13) will face #7 Missouri Southern (33-17) on the first day of the tournament this Thursday, while the Mavericks take on #3 seed Central Missouri (34-15). Game times will be announced later this week.

This will be the 29th all-time meeting between the Mavericks and the Mules, with UCM leading the series with a 23-5 record. The last time the Mavericks and Mules crossed paths came during the 2024 NCAA Central Region Tournament where Central Missouri bested Minnesota State 12-10 in Warrensburg, Mo.

This will be Minnesota State's 44th trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Mavericks own an 83-87 (.488) all-time record in NCAA Tournament games, including a 71-72 record in regional play. Under head coach Matt Magers, the Mavericks are 38-29 (.567) in NCAA Tournament action. This is the seventh straight season dating back to 2019 that MSU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

The NSIC Champion Vikings (41-13) earned the No. 5 seed in the Central Region and will head to Pittsburg, Kansas, to face fourth-seeded Northwest Missouri State.
 
Pittsburg State will serve as the host for the NCAA Central Region Pod No. 1 and is the No. 1 seed. They will play eighth-seeded Arkansas Tech to round out the pod.
 
In the region's first pod, No. 2 seed Rogers State plays host to No. 3 Central Missouri, No. 6 Minnesota State and No. 7 Missouri Southern.
 
The regional of four squads will have two games on Thursday, two Friday, two Saturday and potentially, the if necessary game on Sunday. The winner of the regional will move onto the Super Regional pitting the Central Region Pod No. 1 winner against the Pod No. 2 winner.
 

About the NSIC
The NSIC is a 16-team, 18-sport, NCAA Division II conference with institutions located in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The NSIC is a model Division II conference that uses high-level athletics competition to develop champions in the classroom and community while empowering student-athletes to be impactful and positive leaders. Formed in 1992 by the merger of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (men’s league) and the Northern Sun Conference (women’s league), the NSIC has flourished over the past quarter century, maturing into a 16-team union of Upper Midwest colleges and universities. The NSIC has won 27 team national championships and crowned 126 individual national champions. For additional information, visit NorthernSun.org.

About NCAA Division II
The NCAA, the national governing body for college athletics, is a volunteer association of more than 1,000 colleges and universities that classify their athletics programs in one of three membership divisions. The 300+ institutions in NCAA Division II support a balanced approach in which student-athletes have the opportunity to earn scholarships based on their athletic ability, pursue their desired academic degree, and participate in all the campus and surrounding community have to offer. Division II student-athletes annually graduate at rates higher than their student body peers, and they have access to the best championships-participant ratio among the NCAA’s three divisions. Division II gives student-athletes the unique opportunity to compete in the classroom, on the field, in their career, for their causes, and on their terms. For additional information, visit NCAA.org.
 

#NSICBase