Panthers To Face Paola in Memorial Day State Quarterfinal Tilt
For the first time since 2017, the Concordia Panther baseball team is state-bound. Concordia will be the number three seed in the 2026 Class 4A State Baseball Tournament.
Concordia (22-4) will face the other Panthers in the tournament, Paola (20-5), on Monday, May 25, at 3:30 p.m. at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina in a State Quarterfinal game. Monday's game will be broadcast live on KNCK 98.3 FM, 1390 AM, and online at ncktoday.com with Austin McNorton on the call.
The winner of the game between Russell-Victoria and Colby will face the winner of the game between #2 seed Rock Creek (23-4) and #7 seed Topeka Hayden (19-5) in a semifinal contest on Thursday, May 28, at 1:15 p.m. Concordia and Rock Creek split the series in the regular season and shared the North Central Kansas League Title. The State third-place game will be played at 11:00 am on Friday, May 29, and the State Championship Game will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, May 29.
Other qualifiers for the State tournament include: #1 seed Mulvane (25-1) facing #8 seed Bishop Miege (19-7), and #4 seed McPherson (23-5) going up against #5 seed Pratt (23-5).
As of now, the Semifinals, Third Place Game, and Championship Game are slated to be held at the University of Kansas' Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence. However, KU's Baseball team, which won the Big 12 regular season title and is the #1 seed in the ongoing Big 12 Tournament, has a chance to host an NCAA Regional, which would make the facility unavailable for the State Tournament. If the Jayhawks do host a Regional, the final three games of the State Tournament will shift to Kansas State University's Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, with game times and dates remaining the same.