POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Chillier temperatures in the 40s greeted the two sides that met up at Bob Smith Field in Point Lookout, Mo., for a Friday (Feb. 26) afternoon doubleheader. With the help of a well-pitched college debut from Alex Johnson, the Concordia University Baseball team won game 1, 6-3, before falling in game 2, 4-2, while up against College of the Ozarks. Two Bobcat pitchers combined to no-hit the Bulldogs in the second game.
This is the opening week of the 2021 season for Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad, which won a pair of games on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo. Concordia is 3-1 with two more games coming up on Saturday.
“Alex Johnson threw the ball really well as a freshman making his first start,” Dupic said. “He was really crisp. He was close to not giving up any runs – executed really well and that was great to see. We’re continuing to learn about our rotation. We didn’t pitch too bad the second game. We had one inning get away from us in terms of execution.
“It was a little bit tougher day to hit for both teams. It was a little bit colder day and we couldn’t quite get it going. Their guy had us off balance. We just weren’t able to get the bats going today, but we have another shot tomorrow.”
Depth in the pitching staff has been a theme in the early going this season. Alex Johnson appears ready to make a significant impact as part of the impressive group. The native of Olathe, Kan., fanned 11 hitters while allowing three runs on three hits and a walk in his six innings. Johnson fired 84 pitches and cruised through the Ozarks lineup after the rough first inning. Jacob Lycan then earned the save by working a scoreless seventh.
The Bulldogs responded quickly after facing a 3-1 deficit in the opener. As part of a three-run second, Keaton Candor homered, Jesse Garcia singled in a run and Concordia took advantage of a Bobcats miscue. Candor added an RBI single in the fourth and Ben Berg tacked on an insurance run in the seventh with a sacrifice fly. Candor finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs while Joey Grabanski went 2-for-4 with one RBI in game 1.
The well ran dry in game 2 when the Bulldogs failed to manage a single hit while facing Trent Hyde (five innings) and Spencer Greene (two innings). A leadoff walk and two errors in the fifth played a major role in Concordia pushing across its only two runs of the contest. Noah Janssen and Jayden Adams notched a sacrifice fly apiece.
Ozarks (2-4) made the Bulldogs pay for three walks in the bottom half of the fifth. The big blow was delivered by Max Pulley, who cleared the bases with a double that proved to be the game-winning hit. The pitchers of record were Hyde (win) of Zach Pinkerton (loss).
Nolan Johnson started game 2 on the mound for Concordia and worked three shutout frames that included four strikeouts. Six Bulldog hurlers combined for 20 punch outs over the course of the day.
Due to potential inclement weather later in the day, Saturday’s doubleheader in Point Lookout has been moved up to an 11 a.m. CT first pitch (originally scheduled for 1 p.m.). Both games are slated to go seven innings. A live stream will be available here: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cofo/.