WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In completing a three-game series at No. 25 Keiser University, the Concordia University Baseball team fell victim to two particularly rough innings and stumbled, 13-2 (seven innings), on Sunday (March 5). The Bulldogs and Seahawks split the pair of games they played on Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla. The bright spot on Sunday was Joey Grabanski’s 45th career home run.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad slipped to 8-6 overall while having played eight games against teams that were either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA preseason coaches’ poll.
“We just got beat today,” Dupic said. “Their pitcher executed well and they got some good swings off us early. The second inning got out of control a little. We played a good team and when you don’t execute, you’re putting yourself in a bad spot. They got after us pretty good today. We’re playing a lot of baseball down here. We have two games tomorrow – that’s the good part. Let’s get back on track tomorrow.”
All seven runs scored by Keiser in the second inning on Sunday wound up being unearned due to an error that came with two outs. That miscue opened up the floodgates as the Seahawks capitalized with the help of a two-run homer apiece from Alejandro Macario and Cyrus Grimes. Concordia starting pitcher Caden Johnson was lifted from the game after he eventually recorded the final out of the second inning.
The third and final homer of the game for Keiser came on a grand slam by Maurice Gomez as part of the five-run fifth that put the game completely out of reach. In the top of the sixth, Grabanski struck for his 10th home run already this season. Grabanski went 2-for-3 while driving in the two Bulldog runs. The home run surrendered to Grabanski was one of the only mistakes made by Seahawk pitcher Danny Galvan. He got the win in a seven-inning complete game effort that included eight strikeouts.
Concordia will have a chance to quickly forget about the loss when it gets back to action on Monday morning as part of the RussMatt Invitational. In Monday’s action, the Bulldogs will take on Grand View University (Iowa) at 9:15 a.m. ET (8:15 a.m. CT) and Roosevelt University (Ill.) at 12:45 p.m. ET (11:45 a.m. CT). Both games will be played at Northeast Regional Park 2 in Davenport, Fla.