By Sam Firminhac, Athletic Communications
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Concordia University Baseball team opened the weekend of conference play with a doubleheader split against Morningside on a chilly Friday (April 8) in Sioux City, Iowa. It took a while for the bats to come alive in game one, but a ten-run sixth inning blew the contest open, ultimately resulting in a 13-4 victory. The GPAC’s No. 1 offense was uncharacteristically quiet in game two. The Bulldogs could only plate one run in the 11-1 loss.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s team moves to 23-8-1 (12-2 GPAC) on the season. Dupic was impressed with his team’s game one performance, especially pitcher Alex Johnson.
“We played well the first game,” said Dupic. “We got a good start from Alex Johnson and defended pretty well. Our offense did a great job putting together a big inning late in (game one). We didn’t play well in game two. We made too many mistakes defensively and just didn’t prevent runs well enough.”
Johnson tossed five innings while allowing only two hits and one earned run and striking out four. With the win, Johnson improved to 5-0 on the season. Ben Coldiron threw two innings of relief to close out game one, allowing two earned runs. In game two, the tandem of Caden Bugarske and Dan Rivera each allowed five earned runs. Rivera struck out eight in his four innings of work. Bugarske falls to 5-2 as a starter.
Offensively for the Bulldogs, Jaiden Quinn added to his home run tally, hitting his team-leading 12th of the season. Quinn had three hits and three RBIs on the day. Joey Grabanski also circled the bases for the Bulldogs, blasting a grand slam in Concordia's ten-run sixth inning of game one. Grabanski batted in the Bulldogs’ only run of game two. Freshman catcher Tanner Thompkins had a three-RBI day, collecting three hits over the course of the two games. Jayden Adams also had three hits on the day, including one RBI. Ben Berg and Jessie Garcia also notched an RBI apiece.
Defensive struggles contributed to the lopsided game two defeat. The Bulldogs committed four errors in the second game alone and six on the day. Mustang catcher Jayson Willers went 4-for-5 with three RBIs in the second contest. Morningside is now 18-11 overall (5-9 GPAC).
The Bulldogs look to finish the conference road trip strong against Jamestown (16-17, 5-7 GPAC) on Saturday. Last season, the two teams split a doubleheader in Seward. First pitch in North Dakota on Saturday is set for 3 p.m. CT.