Doane baseball wins third consecutive GPAC title

CRETE, NE — The Doane Tigers have achieved Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) history.
The Tigers finished the regular season with a 4-0 mark last week with doubleheader sweeps of Briar Cliff and Midland, giving Doane a 23-5 conference record for the season. The victories also clinched Doane's third consecutive regular season championship.
It's the first time a GPAC team has won three straight regular season championships in the sport since the conference last expanded ahead of the 2000-2001 school year.
Doane and Concordia finished as co-champions in 2021 and the Tigers won the conference title outright in 2022 and 2023.
As the regular season champions, the Tigers have clinched a berth into the NAIA Tournament. Further, Doane will be the No. 1 seed and host one of the two four-team brackets for the GPAC Tournament.
Doane's bracket consists of No. 4 seed Mount Marty, No. 5 Jamestown and No. 8 Briar Cliff.
The other four-team bracket will be hosted by the GPAC regular season runner-up Concordia. The Bulldogs will host No. 3 Morningside, No. 6 Midland and No. 7 seed Northwestern.
The GPAC Tournament begins Thursday, May 4 with a double elimination format. The winners of each of the four-team brackets will meet in a winner-take-all conference championship game on Tuesday, May 9.