It wasn’t just his 5-foot-9 frame that made Ty Nekoliczak easy for college baseball coaches to overlook. It was also his location in a tiny central Nebraska town of barely 400 people and the fact that he played only about 25 baseball games per year as part of summer legion ball. Instead of college baseball programs seeking him out, Nekoliczak realized it was going to have to be the other way around.
No, Nekoliczak wasn’t going to be the one who threw the ball hardest or hit the ball the farthest, but he had ‘it.’ It wasn’t until the spring of 2022 that either Ty or the Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball coaching staff would learn exactly what that meant. When Ty looked around, he had saw sluggers like Jay Adams, Keaton Candor, Jesse Garcia, Joey Grabanski and Jaidan Quinn. But Ty wasn’t that kind of player.
“I can’t copy and paste their style into my play,” Ty said. “It doesn't work like that. I think it was my freshman year – Wade Council was our GA at the time. He talked to me when I was frustrated that I wasn’t getting extra-base hits or hitting the ball as far or as hard as everybody else in the lineup. He was like, ‘So what? You’re here for a reason. You’re in the lineup because of who you are. Don’t try to change. Be the person you are and the player you are. The team needs you in that role as much as anybody else.’ I took that and ran with it.”
He sure did. He ran with it all the way to the brink of 200 career hits, an achievement only seven other players in program history have unlocked. The guy very few college baseball programs even knew about became an immediate starter in 2022 for a program fresh off an NAIA World Series berth. Chicks may dig the long ball, but Nekoliczak’s all-around game is quite attractive, especially when you consider that he won the 2024 NAIA Gold Glove award at second base and is a career .356 hitter. From a team perspective, all the Bulldogs have done during Ty’s career is win in a big way.
While Nekoliczak has played during an era of Concordia Baseball when the ball has flown out of the ballpark at a dizzying rate, Head Coach Ryan Dupic and his staff could can talk at length about what the middle infielder from Greeley, Neb., has meant to the program. When asked about Nekoliczak, Dupic barely mentions anything about baseball skills. What first comes to mind is Nekoliczak’s exceptional character. Dupic insists that guys like Nekoliczak are the program’s secret sauce. He’s the Raising Cane’s sauce to those melt-in-your-mouth chicken fingers.
Says Dupic, “He’s one of my favorite kids I’ve ever coached. He’s an incredible kid, terrific character and has a really good feel for people, certain situations and for the game. He’s a guy who is listening to every message when you’re delivering something, and he’s a guy who’s extending the message to the rest of the team. You don’t have to worry about him having buy-in and who you can trust. I could go on and on about Ty. He’s a special kid. You really make your program with guys like that who weren’t necessarily highly recruited but turn out to be incredible players and people. He’s a special guy. He’s a big, big part of what we do.”
As he contemplates those thoughts from Dupic, Nekoliczak briefly finds himself at a loss for words. That doesn’t happen often for someone teammate Jaidan Quinn calls “one of those people who can talk to absolutely anybody.” An outgoing personality and natural leader, Nekoliczak helps set the tone in the dugout as an example for others to follow.
Of course, Ty has added to his credibility with his play on the field. In each of his first three collegiate seasons (2022-24), Nekoliczak has posted an on-base percentage of at least .445. As a sophomore in 2023, he hit .411, led all GPAC players in batting average during the regular season and was named First Team All-GPAC. He’s even done something his older sister Jami (a Concordia volleyball alum) said he would never do – hit the ball out of the park. Ty has left the yard six times in his career. One of those was a three-run blast in the sixth inning of 7-4 GPAC tournament win over Northwestern in 2023. It’s safe to say Jami is happy for his success.
As a junior last season, Nekoliczak agreed to move from shortstop to second base in a show of his selflessness. A former teammate of Ty, and now Dupic’s top assistant coach, Ben Berg shares Dupic’s adoration for the youngest of six Nekoliczak siblings (children to Tom and Jackie Nekoliczak).
Says Berg, “He’s probably been a little bit overlooked the last couple of years because of the way that we’ve slugged it at the top of the order. He’s kind of been the guy that’s hit towards the bottom of the order and been a really good on-base guy. It’s been cool this year to see him step into that leadoff role and take that on. He puts together such good at-bats all the time. He’s such a steadying, mature, calm presence at the top of the order … He’s such a leader. He’s very bought-in on everything we do. He’s the guy that carries the standard.”
Overlook Ty at your own peril. You won’t know it by looking at him, but Ty measures off the charts in the sort of things that you can’t measure, like his passion and love for the game. In high school, Ty competed in football in the fall, basketball in the winter, track in the spring and baseball in the summer. As a youngster, he played baseball regularly in the family’s massive front yard, part of the family farm that has kept Ty and each of his siblings busy throughout their lives. But Ty always made time for baseball, a game sometimes played underneath the lights when darkness set upon the farm. As Ty referred to it, this was their version of ‘Field of Dreams.’
Though Ty got little attention in the way of recruiting, he accomplished feats in high school such as scoring 1,000 points in basketball and winning a track state gold medal as a member of the 4x100-meter relay. Even so, Ty had to be proactive if he wanted to find a place to play baseball in college. Concordia was one school that entered his thought process. He remembered attending his sister’s volleyball matches at Concordia and catching footballs thrown by his father on the court afterwards.
Explains Ty, “I kind of knew that I wanted to play baseball after high school, but our high school is so small that we didn’t have high school ball. We just had legion in the summer. I had to do the recruiting on my own. I recruited myself here in a way. I went to a couple showcases and was able to send video out to a couple coaches. Coach Jonas Lovin reached out to me. He was here at the time. That was how I got connected. It was my only offer out of high school. It was come here and play baseball or go to school without playing any sports. It was a no-brainer for sure.”
Perhaps fittingly, Ty had been driving a tractor on the family farm this past summer when he saw a call coming in from Coach Dupic. There was good news. Ty had just been named the NAIA Gold Glove award winner at second base. Solid and steady at the position, Ty made his share of highlight reel diving stabs while earning the award in 2024. He credited Ben Berg with implementing new practice plans and processes that had been shared by an infield coach within the Minnesota Twins organization (an organization in which Ben’s older brother Bryce continues to work).
Said Nekoliczak of his shift to second base, “I think that’s where I was meant to be at the college level.” Those same words would apply to Ty and his college decision. Concordia has been the right place at the right time in his life. He’s also been surrounded by the right people to allow him to flourish.
“I have so much, so much respect for Coach Dupic I can’t even really put it into words,” Nekoliczak said. “He’s completely changed me as a person and as a player. Just the way he’s able to lead people – he’s such a good leader of men. It’s not even about baseball really. It’s about how much he’s able to change people’s lives when they come here. It lasts forever. He makes an impact through four years that lasts a lifetime.”
That impact will carry with Nekoliczak beyond his college days. The K-12 Education major is in the midst of student teaching in Seward and believes it’s his calling to teach and coach. Undoubtedly, he’ll pass along the lessons he’s learned as a member of the Concordia Baseball program. The thrilling postseason GPAC tournament title runs of 2022 and 2024 (and perhaps 2025?) will stick with him, but there’s a whole lot more to it than that.
Said Ty, “I know that teaching and coaching is where my heart’s at. Sophomore year, I was navigating what I wanted to do. I talked to my mom a little bit and prayed about it. I think God put me here to serve others and keep pushing forward to help other people by teaching and coaching. I think that’s the route I’m going to go.”
There’s no more sleeping on Ty. People know. As Jaidan Quinn says of the team’s chemistry, “I give props to Ty. You can be some stranger on the street, and he can make a connection with you.”