OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – A highly anticipated 2023 season of Concordia University Baseball is underway. The 21st-ranked Bulldogs got things started amidst chilly but sunny conditions on Saturday (Feb. 11) in Oklahoma City, Okla. Opening Day saw Concordia come up on the short end of a 6-5 loss (nine innings) to No. 11 Oklahoma City University and an 18-10 defeat at the hands of No. 5 Bellevue University. It was the start of a nonconference slate that appears on paper to be the most challenging ever faced by the program.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic wasn’t discouraged by what he saw on Saturday despite the results. The Bulldogs have a lot of belief in who they are following back-to-back 40-win seasons.
“It was unfortunate to come up short in that first game,” Dupic said. “They have a really good pitcher that was a preseason All-American. I thought our team really battled him well and that we did a good job offensively. We also made some nice plays defensively and got a good start from Alex Johnson. It just got away from us late in the game.
“The second game we came out great and did a nice job getting six runs over the first two innings and bounced their starter. We had one huge inning that got away from us. We didn’t make enough pitches. Our position players did a nice job, but we have a ton of things we have to do better. That’s really common this time of year.”
Concordia did manage to hit four home runs on the day and seemed to have host Oklahoma City on the ropes in the opening game of the day. In a contest scheduled for seven innings, the Bulldogs took a 4-1 lead in the top of the eighth with the help of Joey Grabanski’s two-run homer. After the Stars knotted things up, 4-4, in the bottom half, Concordia regained the lead in the ninth on Jaidan Quinn’s solo blast only to watch Trent Kiraly deliver a walk-off RBI single to complete a comeback win for Oklahoma City.
In the capper to the day, the Bulldogs led fifth-ranked Bellevue, 6-0 after two innings before the wheels came off. Concordia had gotten an RBI single apiece from Quinn and Jesse Garcia as part of the four-run second frame. The Bruins then put together a 12-run third and tacked on with four more runs in the fourth to put the Bulldogs in a 16-6 hole they never recovered from. Concordia starting pitcher Caden Johnson was chased after 2.1 innings of work.
For the day, Quinn led the offensive attack while going 4-for-8 with three runs, a home run and three RBIs. Grabanski went deep twice while Garcia added a homer of his own. Garcia (39) and Grabanski (37) rank Nos. 2 and 3 on the program’s all-time home runs list (behind Keaton Candor’s 47). Other Bulldogs with at least two hits on the day were Ty Nekoliczak (3-for-6), Garcia (3-for-8) and Grabanksi (2-for-8).
Alex Johnson got the best results of any Concordia pitcher. He fired four shutout innings and allowed only one hit and two walks while fanning six hitters. Dupic used a total of nine pitchers on the day. A starter in 2022, Caden Bugarske tossed an inning in relief of Alex Johnson in the first contest and Daniel Rivera fired two scoreless frames and racked up four strikeouts.
The two games on Saturday served as a very early barometer for the Bulldogs, who have aspirations of being able to compete with the top teams in the NAIA. Said Dupic, “Playing teams of this caliber, we certainly think that’s going to help us as the year moves on. When you look at all phases of the game, I’m fairly pleased. We’re not all that far away, even though things blew up on us in a couple innings. We’re on the right track.”
Concordia will get another shot at Oklahoma City (3-5) in a single game beginning at 1:30 p.m. CT on Sunday. The location will be the same: Jim Wade Stadium in Oklahoma City. The Stars lost their second game on Saturday, 5-1, at the hands of the Bruins, a 2022 NAIA World Series qualifier.