SEWARD, Neb. – Not many people who watched this game will remember it. Strong winds gusting in from center field made it nearly impossible to drive the baseball during a bone chilling evening that featured a combined 13 walks and six errors. Visiting York College emerged from Plum Creek Park with an 8-2 victory over the Concordia University baseball team in a mid-week nonconference tilt on Wednesday (April 10).
Fifth-year head coach Ryan Dupic’s squad shelved most of its top pitchers and many starting position players as the first place Bulldogs (21-12, 15-1 GPAC) gear up for a significant weekend of conference action.
A combination of wildness and defensive miscues plagued Concordia on Wednesday. The Panthers (19-14) took advantage by scoring three runs in the first, one in the second, three in the fourth and one in the fifth. All the while, Dupic used six different pitchers, who essentially had the opportunity to audition for more opportunities down the road. Shane Whittaker struck out five hitters in 2.2 innings and Dresden Wilson fired two scoreless frames.
The Bulldog pitching staff did a nice job settling in for the final five innings. There just wasn’t enough offensive firepower to make a serious rally. Concordia got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when freshman Ben Berg defied the winds by drilling a liner to right for his first career home run. Berg went 2-for-4 and drew a walk. The second Bulldog run was of the unearned variety and came in the bottom of the ninth.
Regulars who watched from the dugout on Wednesday included Keaton Candor, Wade Council, Jesse Garcia, Christian Meza and Logan Ryan. Their absences from the lineup gave chances to the likes of Nicholas Boys, Carson Lindell and Seward native Keith Wolverton.
York has had a perennially strong program. The Panthers (16-7 in conference play) currently reside in fourth place in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, which is led by 12th-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University. In Wednesday’s game, the standouts for York were Matt Nunes (4-for-4) and Travis Turner (3-for-5).
The Bulldogs are scheduled to return to conference play on Friday with a doubleheader versus Morningside (19-10, 9-6 GPAC). First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. CT from Plum Creek Park. Concordia is also set to take on Jamestown (23-11, 12-4 GPAC) in another GPAC twin bill on Saturday. Should inclement weather affect the schedule, updates will be announced via the website and @cunebulldogs on Twitter.