SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia baseball team tied the program record for most wins in a season after defeating Nebraska Wesleyan University, 4-3 Friday afternoon. The 26th victory of the year came in the first game of the double header. The Prairie Wolves took the second game, 7-5.
Concordia wraps up the regular season 26-25 overall and 11-9 in the GPAC. The conference record is the first winning record for the Bulldogs since 2015. Nebraska Wesleyan moves to 12-26 overall and 3-15 in the league.
Head coach Ryan Dupic said, “It was a tough day offensively. It was cold and the wind was blowing in for both teams so it was hard to get big innings and runs. When we gave the other team runs with walks or errors then that obviously helped them a little bit. I don’t think we were really at our best today, we weren’t as clean as I would’ve liked to been. We were in contention the second game but we just let a few things get away from us.”
Game one of the twin bill saw a balanced offensive attack from the middle of the Bulldogs’ line up. Seven different batters registered one hit apiece and all four runs came from four different Bulldogs. IN the first inning, Concordia scored three-fourths of its runs. Casey Berg and Kaleb Geiger singled back-to-back, followed by a double from Christian Montero. The two bagger to left-center scored Berg. Christian Meza drove in Geiger with a single. Taylor Dudley was up next with an RBI single, plating Meza.
Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the score was knotted up at three apiece. Logan Ryan batted in Dudley to clinch the win.
Neil Ryan got the start for the first game and pitched through 3.1 innings and struck out three batters. Nic Seaman grabbed his second win of the season after throwing 3.2 frames.
On tying the school record for wins in a season, Dupic said, “It’s been a whirlwind, I can’t believe we’ve that many games. It’s certainly a good testament to the team and shows that we’re heading in the right direction. I’m excited about that. Hopefully we’re able to tack on a little bit more.”
The Prairie Wolves led the entire second game. Heading into the ninth, Wesleyan held a 7-3 lead. Alstott doubled to deep left field to bring Johnny May home to cut the lead to three. With one out, Alstott on second and Berg to the plate, the Bulldogs had a chance to fight back. Although Geiger drove in Alstott to decrease the Prairie Wolves lead, it wasn’t enough to gain the win.
Concordia’s pitching crew struck out 10 total batters in the second game. Taylor Bickel got the start and is now 5-4 on the season. Tanner Wauhob sat down a team-high four batters and walked no one through 4.2 innings. Cade Moring struck out three of five batters faced before Josue Melchor closed out the game.
The GPAC Tournament is up next on Concordia’s schedule. The tourney will take place May 5-7, 10. Finalized game locations and times will be announced after all conference regular season games are completed.
“It’s a celebration and a reward for the season they’ve had and an opportunity to have fun and continue to play the game. I’m looking forward to it, we’re just going to go have as much fun as we can, play hard and see what happens,” said Dupic.