SEWARD, Neb. – Both games were well in doubt all the way until the final out was recorded as the Concordia University Baseball team finally got going with GPAC tournament action on Friday (May 7). The second-seeded Bulldogs were defeated in nine innings, 5-4, by seventh-seeded Northwestern before the home team came back to edge third-seeded Mount Marty, 7-5, in the night cap. In all, there were four games played Saturday at Plum Creek Park in Seward as part of the GPAC tournament’s Concordia Bracket.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad faced GPAC postseason elimination in its second game of the day and will do so again when the tournament resumes on Monday. The complete schedule and results for the Concordia bracket are show at the bottom of this release. The Bulldogs are now 32-15-1 overall.
“I thought we played pretty well in both games,” Dupic said. “The first game was just a really good college baseball game. Both teams competed very well and played well. I really wasn’t disappointed – I was just disappointed in the outcome. In the second too – Mount Marty’s a really good team. They had such a good year. It’s a tough game fighting to stay in it. I have a lot of respect for how good of a season they’ve had. I thought the guy’s hung with it. I was really proud of us to come back from 4-0 down and staying with a couple tough things. The guys did a good job.”
After facing that 4-0 deficit in the middle of the third inning versus Mount Marty, the Concordia bats came to life. There were some catchable balls that landed in the outfield during the bottom of the third – and the Bulldogs capitalized. Four-straight Concordia batters delivered an RBI hit – Jesse Garcia (double), Keaton Candor (single), Jaidan Quinn (double) and Ben Berg (single). Tanner Tompkins also drove home the go-ahead run with a ground out.
The Lancers (35-16) couldn’t quite escape the bottom of the sixth. With the score tied 5-5 and two outs, Jakob Faulk blooped a double to center that scored Ty Nekoliczak. Jay Adams tacked onto the lead by lacing an RBI single to left. Those two runs held up in the seventh as starter Caden Johnson got the first two outs and Nathan Buckallew got the last one on a grounder to short. Johnson worked 6.2 innings and moved his record to 7-1 this season.
Northwestern (22-25) has put itself in the driver's seat in the Concordia Bracket by going 2-0 on Saturday. All games were scheduled to go seven innings, but the Bulldog-Red Raider matchup needed nine to decide a winner. In the top of the ninth, Mason Porepp supplied a sac fly that broke the 4-4 tie. In the proceeding half inning, Concordia put a runner on second with one out, but Northwestern reliever Ryan Reynolds got Adams and Candor to ground out and seal the game. The Red Raiders went on to beat Briar Cliff, 9-3, in their next game.
For the Bulldog lineup, no one took better swings on Saturday than Jesse Garcia. He went 4-for-6 with three runs, a double, a home run and two RBIs for the day. Joey Grabanski also homered against the Red Raiders. Grabanski would have had two homers if not for a no-doubter early in that same game being ruled to have hooked foul down the left field line.
Alex Johnson got the ball on the mound in the first game and went four innings before being relieved by Daniel Rivera and Jacob Lycan. For the day, Concordia pitching allowed 10 runs on 18 hits and seven walks in 16 innings.
The Bulldogs hope to get another shot at Northwestern in the bracket, but they will first have to get past Briar Cliff (28-20) in a 12 p.m. CT game on Monday (May 9). The winner of that contest will then have to defeat the Red Raiders twice in order to reach the GPAC Championship Game.
Said Dupic, “We’ll try to be prepared to go get the first one. I think our pitching is okay. We got 6.2 out of Caden. We got multiple innings out of our relievers (versus Northwestern), but I think those guys should be good for Monday. We just have to go play.”
Concordia Bracket | GPAC Tournament
Saturday, May 7
Game 1 – (6) Briar Cliff 7, (3) Mount Marty 6
Game 2 – (7) Northwestern 5, (2) Concordia 4 | 9 inn.
Game 3 – (7) Northwestern 9, (6) Briar Cliff 3
Game 4 – (2) Concordia 7, (3) Mount Marty 5
Monday, May 9
Game 5 – (2) Concordia vs. (6) Briar Cliff, 12 p.m.
Game 6 – (7) Northwestern vs. Concordia/Briar Cliff winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 7 – If necessary, 5 p.m.