By Sam Firminhac, Athletic Communications
FREMONT, Neb. – The Concordia University Baseball team exploded for 37 runs in the first two games of the NAIAball Big Series of the Week on Saturday (April 2). Concordia blew out Midland in both games of the doubleheader, winning the first, 16-2, and the second, 21-6. The Bulldogs were carried by five home runs, including three grand slams in the second game. Nine total Bulldogs had multiple hits on the day
Head Coach Ryan Dupic's squad improved to 20-7-1 overall and to 9-1 inside the GPAC. Dupic couldn’t have asked for better production offensively.
“I’m really pleased by getting two good starts today,” Dupic said. “That really puts us in a good position for the back half of the weekend. I thought our defense took a huge step forward today and made some nice plays. It was a really good day all around."
Joey Grabanski went an incredible 6-for-8 on the day, driving in four runs in the process. Freshman catcher Tanner Thompkins went 3-for-3, with one of his hits leaving the yard for a grand slam. The other two grand slams came from Ben Berg, who had six RBIs on the day, and Jesse Garcia. Jaiden Quinn went 5-for-7 with three extra-base hits, including a double and a homer. Alec Blackestad also went 5-for-7. Ty Nekoliczak went 4-for-7 and scored six runs in the two contests.
Concordia wound up with 37 hits and produced at least four runs in six separate innings as part of the onslaught. Keaton Candor collected three hits, including the 36th home run of his career (a program record).
Said Dupic, "Offensively, our guys were terrific and had really good at-bats. I thought they did a good job of being patient, getting their pitch to hit and not expanding the strike zone too much. We got some really big swings to stretch the lead in both games.”
While the Bulldog offense was outstanding, Concordia also got solid performances on the mound. Alex Johnson started game one and went six innings, striking out four and only allowing two runs. Andrew Bohrer closed out the game with one scoreless inning of work. Game two starter Caden Bugarske (5-1) struck out four in five innings of work and also allowed two runs.
“We had a good day today,” Dupic said. “But Midland has a good arm going tomorrow and they’ll be ready to play. It will be a tough series to finish, and we’ll have to be really good tomorrow.”
Midland will now return the favor and travel to Seward for the two remaining games in the series. The game will get underway early afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.