File photo. Minot High junior pitcher Gavin King winds up at Corbett Field during the 2026 regular season. He and the other Magi will face off against the West Fargo Sheyenne Mustangs in the first round of the 2026 NDHSAA Class A Baseball State Tournament on Thursday, May 28, at Corbett Field. Nathan Beitler/MDN

The Western Dakota Association wrapped up the WDA Region Tournament this past weekend, with the Minot High Magicians earning the WDA Region Title with their close 5-4 victory over the Mandan Braves on Saturday, May 23. Though the victorious Magi have not been able to enjoy their Region Champion title for more than a few days, they will have to return to Corbett Field this Thursday, May 28, as the 2026 NDHSAA Class A Baseball State Tournament kicks into full gear.

The Magi and seven other teams from around the state will compete in the State Tournament, beginning with the quarterfinals games on Thursday morning

G1 Quarterfinal E1 West Fargo vs. W4 Bismarck 11:30 a.m.

Though finishing out the WDA rankings in third place with a final record of 13 wins seven losses in region and 20 wins nine losses across the season, the Bismarck High Demons will play in the first quarterfinal game of the NDHSAA Class A Baseball State Tournament as the fourth seed from the West Region.

The Demons had one of the strongest openings to the 2026 season in the WDA, winning 11 of their first 12 games of the season, topping the conference rankings at the time.

As the season wore on, the Demons slowly slipped from their first place pedestal. They had a brief three game slide, beginning with a pair of loses to eventual Region Champion Minot Magicians in late April followed by five more straight wins. The rest of the regular season saw the Demons fighting to keep their ranking heading into region.

By the time the West Region Tournament rolled around in mid May, the Demons had fallen to the third seed, finishing the regular season with a record of 18 wins and eight losses on the season.

The Demons fell to the Region Champion Magi in the region quarter finals 9-6 and took down the Williston Coyotes 4-3 in the Loser-Out round of the Region Tournament to keep their season alive.

The Demons punched their ticket to the State Tournament with their 4-2 victory over the Dickinson Mavericks in the State Qualifiers.

Though finishing the regular season third in the WDA, the Demons will represent the WDA as their fourth seed, taking on the East Region’s first-seeded West Fargo High School Packers in the first game of the tournament, beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the tournament quarter finals.

G2 Quarterfinal W2 Mandan vs. E3 South Fargo 35 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game

The Mandan Braves entered the WDA Tournament as a clear underdog.

Twelves games into the regular season, the Braves had a dead even record of six wins and six losses. Through the rest of the season, Mandan worked their way up to a losing 13-14 record.

By the time the West Region Tournament began, the Braves had to earn their spot. The eighth-seeded Mandan faced off against the ninth-seeded Jamestown Blue Jays and took them down 2-0.

As the lowest seeded team in the tournament, the Braves were matched up against the West’s first place team, the Bismarck Legacy Sabers, for their quarterfinals match.

The Braves scored an early first run in the top of the first inning with an RBI single. The Sabers tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second, but the Braves take the lead back with an RBI double in the top of the fifth and ran away with the lead in the top of the sixth, earning six runs on two RBIs to bring the game to a 5-1 lead for the Braves.

The Braves held off the Sabers sear through to the bottom of the seventh inning, where Legacy scored just two runs.

With the 5-3 upset victory against the WDA’s top team, the Braves advanced to the semifinals.

Mandan took on the Dickinson Mavericks in the tournament semifinals, where a pitching dual landed both teams in the 11th inning. Junior Jack Tooke scored the only run of the entire game in the top of the 11th inning, hitting a home run over the right field fence to put the Braves up 1-0. The Braves held the Blue Jays off, punching their ticket for the WDA Championship.

Though the Braves fell in the WDA Championship to the Minot Magicians, their second place finish in the tournament was enough to send them to the 2026 NDHSAA Class A Baseball State Tournament.

The Braves are seeded second for the West Region heading into the State Tournament. They will play in the second quarterfinals match of the day against the East’s third-seeded Fargo South High School Bruins. Their game will begin 35 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game.

G3 Quarterfinal E2 West Fargo Horace vs. W3 Minot North 4:30 a.m.

Though they come into this year’s State Tournament as the third seed, the Minot North Sentinels are the WDA’s highest ranked team that will be playing at Corbett Field this week.

This year is only Minot North’s second year playing varsity baseball. In their first season, the Sentinels earned just three wins over the course of the season and lost their WDA play in game.

This year, they entered the WDA Tournament as the second seed, earned their first post season win the region quarterfinals and won their state play in game 8-4 against the Bismarck Century Patriots to punch their ticket to their first ever State Baseball Tournament.

After graduating just two seniors at the end of last season, the Sentinels started the season off strong, winning eight of their first twelve games.

By the end of the season, Minot North had completed a full 180 from their previous season, pushing their way through to a season record of 18 wins and eight losses.

After already making school history in just their second year of play, the Sentinels are looking to make history once again. They start their run for the State Championship at 4:30 p.m. as they take on the second-seeded West Fargo Horace Hawks from the East in their quarterfinals game.

G4 Quarterfinal W1 Minot vs. E4 West Fargo Sheyenne 35 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game

The West Region’s first-seeded Minot Magicians will round out the first day of competition in the 2026 NDHSAA Class A Baseball State Tournament.

The Magi started out the regular season 8-4 in their first 12 games, but quickly fell to an 8-8 record on the season. They worked their way up to a 13-10 record on the season as they headed into the WDA Tournament as the sixth seed.

The Magi took down the third-seeded Bismarck Demons in the tournament quarterfinals and knocked the second-seeded Sentinels out of Championship contention in a 15-4 victory in the semifinals.

After losing to the Mandan Braves in the 2025 WDA Regional Championship, the Magi were out for revenge in this year’s Championship match.

The Magi took a slim lead in the bottom of the second inning, but the Braves quickly took charge in the top of the third inning at 1-4.

The Magi’s defense held firm through the rest of the game while Minot’s offense slowly built up their score, finally surpassing the Braves in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Having held their 5-4 lead through the rest of the game, the Magi secured their revenge and earned the 2026 WDA Region Championship.

Despite their rough regular season, the Minot Magicians will enter the State Tournament on Wednesday as the first seed for the West.

They will end the quarterfinal rounds as they take on the East Region’s four seed, the West Fargo Sheyenne Mustangs beginning 35 minutes after the conclusion of the third game.