OMAHA, Neb. – The Concordia baseball team trounced Grace University 17-0 in seven innings Monday night. The Bulldogs' pitching staff struck out six batters, facing one over the minimum. As a team, Concordia recorded 15 hits and committed zero errors.
The Bulldogs improve to 24-23 on the season while Grace falls to 0-21.
Head coach Ryan Dupic said, “Overall, I’m really happy with how we defended and pitched tonight. We only let up one walk and had no errors. It was a lot cleaner, which was really good to see. Offensively, we scored in every inning but one and a lot of guys got multiple hits.”
The Bulldog bullpen had an impressive showing, striking out six batters and walking just one while being one batter over the minimum of 21 for a seven inning tilt. Taylor Bickel got the start and win and is now 5-3 this season. Bickel struck out three batters in five innings, facing 16 batters. Nic Seaman and Cade Moring each pitched one inning and each faced just three batters.
The third frame was the only inning Concordia did not plate a run. Taylor Dudley and Kaleb Geiger both scored in the first inning to start off the game. The Bulldog pitching staff and defense held the Royals through the first four innings, allowing just three batters to the plate in each frame.
Concordia unleashed the bats in the seventh inning, marking up nine runs on seven hits. The Royals faced 14 Bulldog batters in the inning. Drew Woods led off with a single before Cameron Yee came in to pinch run. Yee scored off an RBI single from Casey Berg. After four more runs had been scored, Johnny May ripped a double left field to bring in Tyler Nelson and Taylor Bigandt. May and Alex Cargin then went on to score on a Royal error.
With just two GPAC double-headers left in the season, Concordia’s season is winding down. The Bulldogs will travel to Hastings College this Thursday. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m.