JAMESTOWN, N.D. – In the GPAC grind that continued with a quick turnaround trip to North Dakota, the 15th-ranked Concordia University Baseball team outlasted host Jamestown on Monday (April 22) with superior pitching and defense. The Bulldogs rode a dominant game one start from Caden Johnson and a stellar bullpen performance in game two a road sweep of the Jimmies. Concordia won by scores of 4-1 and 6-3 on another breezy spring day. The latter contest (scheduled for seven innings) went nine frames.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad obliterated Hastings (combined score of 32-5) in a home doubleheader on Sunday. The Bulldogs (33-12, 17-7 GPAC) quickly got on the road and headed north for the twin bill that was originally slated to take place this past Friday.
“There are a lot of layers to it when I think about the weekend,” Dupic said. "Our guys took a good approach. You just have to go play. There’s no way around it. I thought Sunday was really big leading into Monday. We played well and got some starters on the bench at certain points … We got a complete game from Christian Gutierrez and a complete game from Caden Johnson. That positioned us to use our bullpen in better roles today. I think we were great defensively. I’m just really proud of them. Our guys did a really nice job.”
The Papillion, Neb., native Johnson put together arguably his best outing of the 2024 season while covering all seven innings of Monday’s game one. In the process of picking up his 23rd career win, Johnson surrendered only one run on three hits and a walk to go along with five strikeouts. A home run with two outs in the seventh by Hayden Brown was the only thing that prevented Johnson from firing a shutout. Johnson piggybacked off Christian Gutierrez’s four-hit shutout in Sunday’s game two.
Concordia built its game one lead versus Jamestown thanks to a solo homer apiece from Jaidan Quinn (first inning), Alex Draper (fourth inning) and Matt Rhoades (sixth inning). Quinn collected his 21st homer of the season (67th of his career) while Draper went deep for the first time at the collegiate level. One insurance run was added when Alec Blakestad drove in Jay Adams with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
The two sides used a combined 14 pitchers in game two – both teams were on their fourth game in two days. The Bulldogs eventually broke the 3-3 deadlock in the top of the ninth. Jimmy Blumberg began the rally with a leadoff double. Two batters later, Ty Nekoliczak singled in the go ahead and run. Then with the bags full and two outs, Brad Hallock delivered a two-run single for some added cushion. Offensively, Adams supplied two hits and two RBIs and Rhoades clubbed another solo homer (14th blast of the season) as part of the night cap.
Dupic made use of six different pitchers to cover the nine innings of game two. The back end of the bullpen came through in a big way as Jacob Lycan went 3.1 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and no hits allowed. He was followed by Maverick Wylder, who retired all five hitters he faced and picked up the win. Wylder did not allow for any bottom-of-the-ninth drama. That frame went strikeout-popout-strikeout. Defensively, Concordia converted 67 of 68 chances on Monday.
There was plenty of credit to go around. Said Dupic of Caden Johnson, “A lot of his numbers don’t make a lot of sense. When you look at his opponent batting average and strikeouts, his expected ERA would be a lot different. Today he always made the big pitch. I was really proud of him.”
Added Dupic, “Alex Draper has come off the bench for us all year. He hit a really big home run in game one and started both games. I was really proud of Jimmy Blumberg too. He hit a double off the right-field wall to get that rally going. The response was really good.”
Jamestown (25-17, 11-13 GPAC) lost all four games it played at home over the past two days. The Jimmies were also beaten twice on Sunday by Morningside. The current GPAC standings now show Doane in first place at 19-5 in league play, followed by Concordia (17-7), Morningside (17-7) and Briar Cliff (16-8).
The Bulldogs will play their final four games of the 2024 regular season at home. They will welcome Mount Marty (26-19, 12-12 GPAC) to town for a 12 p.m. CT doubleheader on Friday. Concordia will then host Dakota Wesleyan (15-30, 7-17 GPAC) for senior day on Saturday with first pitch at 1 p.m. from Plum Creek Park.