SEWARD, Neb. – With the regular season home slate in the books, the Concordia University Baseball team now directs its attention to a four-game series at Dordt. The Bulldogs have played 14 of their first 20 GPAC contests at Plum Creek Park, where they have gone 11-3 in 2022. This past weekend, Concordia dropped a pair of games to GPAC leading Doane before bouncing back with a doubleheader sweep of Mount Marty on senior day. Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad has moved to 25-12-1 overall (14-6 GPAC) with eight games remaining in the regular season.
This Week
Thursday, April 21 at Dordt (12-24, 8-12 GPAC), 1 p.m. DH
-- Live Webcast | Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
Friday, April 22 at Dordt (12-24, 8-12 GPAC), 4 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast | Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
By the numbers
· It will be a challenge to catch Doane at the top of the league standings at this point. At 18-2 in the GPAC, the Tigers have opened up a four-game lead over Concordia (14-6), with Mount Marty (13-7) five back and Briar Cliff (12-8) six back. The official GPAC rankings this week are reflective of those standings as Doane moved to the No. 1 spot by itself with the Bulldogs at No. 2. Concordia hopes to at least hold onto the No. 2 spot and earn the right to hose one of the two four-team pods for the GPAC tournament. Under Dupic, Concordia garnered the league’s No. 1 seed in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
· With the exception of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the Bulldogs have reached at least 25 wins in each season under Dupic’s leadership. In his eight seasons, Dupic has compiled an overall record of 227-140-1. Since the start of the 2019 season, Concordia has produced a combined GPAC record of 60-18 – far and away the best of any team in the league (next best is Doane at 51-25). The Bulldogs have also enjoyed success in GPAC postseason play, reaching the championship game in 2017 and 2019 before winning it in 2021. In 2016, as Concordia was on the cusp of breaking through, it was one win away from getting to the GPAC title game.
· In last week’s action, the Bulldogs felt like they let one get away in the 2-1 game one loss to Doane. The Tigers then won in a rout in game two, 9-2. Cold temperatures and a wind blowing in from center field played a role in limiting the powerful Concordia offense. The Bulldogs found ways to manufacture some runs in winning both ends of the doubleheader against Mount Marty by 4-1 scores. In game one versus the Lancers, Concordia came up with two-first inning runs with the help of two walks, an error, a wild pitch and a double steal. Alec Blakestad provided some breathing room in the sixth when he belted a two-run homer to left. It was the only homer of the weekend for the Bulldogs. Concordia scored twice in game two via RBI sacrifice bunts, including one apiece from Ty Nekoliczak and Tanner Tompkins. Joey Grabanski and Jay Adams also knocked in one reach each with an RBI single.
· The pitching staff stepped up this past weekend and recorded a 2.53 ERA over the four games against Doane/Mount Marty. Particularly noteworthy were the efforts of Christian Gutierrez and Caden Johnson versus Mount Marty. In game one, Gutierrez threw all seven innings and allowed just one run on two hits and three walks to along with five strikeouts. In the second contest, Johnson did not concede a single run while covering 7.1 innings. He notched nine strikeouts and allowed only two hits and a walk. It was an encouraging sign for a pitching staff that had struggled a bit a week earlier in road doubleheaders at Morningside and Jamestown.
· The offensive numbers took a bit of a hit over the weekend, but the Bulldogs remain the GPAC’s most potent offensive force. In conference games only, Concordia leads the league in runs scored (187), hits (206), home runs (37), walks (112), batting average (.335), on-base percentage (.462) and slugging percentage (.574). Blakestad was the only Bulldog to hit a homer last week and he happens to lead the GPAC (in conference games only) in batting average (.436) and on-base percentage (.544). Three Concordia players have hit exactly six home runs during conference play: Jay Adams, Ben Berg and Jaidan Quinn. A third baseman from Bonner Springs, Kan., Quinn continues to lead the team in overall home runs with 12. Adams is close behind with 11 while Grabanski has slugged nine blasts.
· A native of Merrill, Iowa, Keaton Candor surpassed 200 career games played this past weekend. Over his career, he’s totaled 207 hits, 150 runs, 38 doubles, 37 home runs, 164 RBIs and 102 walks. He is the program’s all-time leader for games played, home runs, RBIs and walks. As part of senior day festivities, Candor was presented with a bat that commemorated his 200th hit. Only two others in program history have reached that mark: Zak Goodrich (234) and Christian Meza (216). On the season, Candor is hitting .321 with eight home runs and 36 RBIs to go along with a .435 on-base percentage and .565 slugging percentage.
The opponent
Currently tied for eighth place in the GPAC, Dordt has work to do in order to lock down a spot in the GPAC tournament over these next couple of weeks. Head Coach Nathan Bacon’s squad has dropped each of its last five league games and is coming off an 0-4 weekend that included two losses at both Morningside and Jamestown. The Defenders have a shot any time Gyeongju Kim is on the mound. He is the GPAC’s most dominant strikeout pitcher. Within league games, he’s averaged 15.61 strikeouts per nine innings and sports a 1.73 ERA (second only to Doane’s Julian Vargas). The team’s offense has been inconsistent, but Logan Cline (.430 BA, .514 OBP, .793 SLG) is enjoying an outstanding season.
Next week
The regular season will conclude over two days (April 29-30) in Sioux City, Iowa, where Concordia will play a four-game series with Briar Cliff. The GPAC tournament is slated to get started on May 5.