SABETHA, Kan. – A home run derby unfolded on Sunday (March 7) as the Concordia University Baseball team left the yard 10 times in an utterly dominant doubleheader sweep of Grand View University. The Bulldogs won by scores of 10-0 and 18-5 while completing a four-game series that took place at Wilber Bestwick Park in Sabetha, Kan. Concordia’s powerful lineup also muscled up for five home runs on Saturday.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad took three of four from the Vikings and owns a record of 8-2 after two weeks of action. Considering the depth of the roster, the Bulldogs are likely to have an advantage in a long weekend series like this one.
“It was a tough day to pitch. The wind was blowing out about 25 miles per hour so you really had to be good on the mound to put yourself in a good situation,” Dupic said. “Our guys swung the bats really well, did a good job getting pitches to hit and barreling the baseball. It was a pretty good offensive day … we believe one of the strengths of our team is depth. We feel like we have some lineup depth that has the ability to do some pretty good things.”
Concordia wore out the base paths with 46 runs (16 home runs) in the four-game series. The Bulldogs slugged their way to a school record tying seven home runs in the final game of the weekend. Jayden Adams and Beau Dorman both went deep twice while Keaton Candor, Jakob Faulk and Joey Grabanski produced a home run apiece.
In the first game on Sunday, Jesse Garcia connected for two home runs and Candor left the yard once. In other words, four different Concordia players recorded two big flies on a historic day in the power department. Previously, the only time a Bulldog baseball team had ever hit seven homers in a single game was March 24, 2019. Garcia crushed three bombs in that particular outburst.
In Sunday’s opener, freshman Alex Johnson struck out 12 hitters in 5.1 innings. Johnson and fellow freshman Cale Mathison (1.2 innings) combined on the shutout of Grand View. Dupic called upon five pitchers in game 2: Lukas Diehm (3 IP), Nolan Johnson (1 IP), Nathan Buckallew (1 IP), Zach Pinkerton (1 IP) and Shane Whittaker (1 IP). Said Dupic, “Alex was great. He was very poised. He executed and got out of jams when he needed to.”
The Bulldogs will play a single nine-inning game at Sterling College in Sterling, Kan., on Wednesday. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m. CT. Concordia will be back in Sabetha next weekend (March 13-14) for a four-game set with Dickinson State University (N.D.).