Contact: Brock Reisler, Assistant Executive Director, breisler@midwestconference.org
GRINNELL, Iowa – Grinnell College won twice on the opening day of the 2026 Midwest Conference Baseball Tournament, earning its spot in Saturday’s championship game.
Two games at 9 a.m. opened the day, as No. 1 Grinnell hosted No. 4 Monmouth College and No. 2 Illinois College played No. 3 Beloit College (in Newton).
In Grinnell, Monmouth took an early 2-0 lead through one inning, but the host Pioneers responded with the next 13 runs – four in the second and nine in the third. Trailing 13-2, Monmouth did not go away, scoring four times in the fourth inning. However, Grinnell put the game away in run-rule fashion with a run in the sixth and two runs in the eighth for a 16-6 final.
In Newton, both IC and Beloit traded three-run innings as Beloit led 6-3 through four innings. However, the Blueboys evened things up through seven innings with two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh. After Beloit grabbed a 7-6 lead with a run in the top of the eighth inning, IC took the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning – scoring five times – for the final scoring of the afternoon in an 11-7 Blueboys’ win.
In the afternoon winner’s bracket game between Grinnell and Illinois College, both teams traded solo runs in the second and third innings before the scoring picked up. IC scored three times in the fourth to go up 4-1, but Grinnell responded with four runs of its own in the bottom half to take its first lead of the day. IC knotted the score in the top of the fifth before two runs for the Pioneers in the bottom half gave Grinnell a 7-5 lead. However, the Blueboys would not go away – a single run in the sixth cut their deficit in half, though Grinnell went ahead by two runs once again in the eighth. The Blueboys once again rallied in the ninth, scoring twice to extend the game. In extra innings, Grinnell loaded the bases and a two-out, walk-off walk gave the Pioneers the 9-8 win.
The final game of the day, an elimination game between Beloit and Monmouth, was suspended after seven complete innings with Beloit leading 6-4. The Buccaneers trailed 2-0 after the first inning but rallied with three runs in the top of the second. With the score 3-3 through three innings, Beloit tacked on two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to gain a three-run advantage, though Monmouth got a run back in the bottom of the sixth.
Tournament play resumes Saturday, May 9 at 9 a.m. with the completion of the Beloit/Monmouth contest. The winner will face Illinois College after that, with the winner of that game facing Grinnell College later in the afternoon.