SEWARD, Neb. – The final eight games of the regular season for Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball will all be played at Plum Creek Park. The homestand begins on Friday when the 17th-ranked Bulldogs get started with a four-game series versus Dordt. Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad will look to begin a new winning streak after having its 14-game win streak snapped at Mount Marty on Sunday. Despite that defeat, Concordia remains firmly in the driver’s seat atop the GPAC standings with a 17-3 league mark (29-9 overall). Between games on Saturday, the Bulldogs will celebrate a group of 13 seniors.
This Weekend
Friday, April 18 vs. Dordt (17-25, 6-14 GPAC), 1 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast | Live Stats: Game 1 – Game 2 | Location: Plum Creek Park (Seward, Neb.)
Senior Day – Saturday, April 19 vs. Dordt (17-25, 6-14 GPAC), 1 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast | Live Stats: Game 1 – Game 2 | Location: Plum Creek Park (Seward, Neb.)
By the numbers
· Concordia has positioned itself exactly where it hoped to be heading into the stretch run of the regular season. With their 17-3 GPAC record, the Bulldogs own a five-game lead over three squads tied for second place: Doane, Morningside and Northwestern (all 12-8). Under Dupic, Concordia has been stood out as the league’s premier baseball program. The Bulldogs won GPAC regular season championships in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 and captured GPAC tournament titles in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Each of the past five GPAC tournament championship games have featured Concordia. The ’25 squad is now on the hunt to equal or surpass the program record for GPAC regular season wins in a single season – 23 by the ’19 edition. The current team’s magic number for clinching the GPAC regular season title has shriveled to four.
· The 2025 Bulldogs narrowly missed out on matching a program record for longest winning streak. The streak that just ended on Sunday began with game two of a four-game series at Doane on March 22 and finally ended at Mount Marty on April 13. The 14-game streak was one shy of the program record of 15 by the 2019 GPAC championship squad. Other win streaks of at least 10 games were produced in by past Concordia teams of 1974 (11) and 2024 (10). In another statistical note, there have been six Bulldog squads that have won at least 30 games (all under Dupic’s direction). The 2025 team needs one more victory to join the group.
· The series at Mount Marty (April 12-13) featured three competitive games and one Concordia blowout. The Bulldogs took the first three games, winning by scores of 4-3 (10 innings), 12-10 and 14-1. The Lancers managed to take the series finale, 13-12, on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. Over the weekend series, senior Brad Hallock smoldered at the plate, going 8-for-19 (.421) with 10 runs scored, two doubles, four home runs and 13 RBIs. On day two in Yankton, Hallock homered three times and drove in 10 runs. Other offensive standouts at Mount Marty were Ty Nekoliczak (8-for-17, 7 R, 5 SB), Jaidan Quinn (4-for-10, 6 BB, 6 R, 3 RBIs) and Jaeden Jordahl (6-for-16, 5 R, 7 RBIs). Additionally, Matt Rhoades homered twice in the series. The top pitching performances came from Alex Johnson (8 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) and Braxton Greenburg (5.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K). In addition, closer Daiten Schmidt recorded a win and a save on the first day in Yankton.
· The All-American Jaidan Quinn remains at 88 home runs for his career (tied with Joey Grabanski for the program’s all-time record). Both Quinn (238 hits) and Ty Nekoliczak (243 hits) have cracked the top five on the program’s all-time hits list (as shown below). This season, Quinn has broken the school record for career walks (162 and counting). In other categories, Quinn ranks second in runs scored (254) and second in RBIs (252). In this 2025 season, Brad Hallock has taken over the GPAC lead for home runs (18) and RBIs (51). Hallock is followed on the GPAC home run leaderboard by Quinn (15) and Matt Rhoades (13).
o Program’s top five in hits:
o Jayden Adams – 352
o Joey Grabanski – 309
o Jesse Garcia – 270
o Ty Nekoliczak – 243
o Jaidan Quinn – 238
· Not only well positioned from a conference perspective, Concordia has earned respect from a national perspective. Ranked No. 17 in the most recent NAIA coaches’ poll, the Bulldogs landed at No. 7 in the NAIA Bo Chip ratings (NAIA RPI) unveiled on Monday (April 14). Concordia sports the NAIA’s 33rd ranked strength of schedule, according to Bo Chip. In addition, the Bulldogs appeared at No. 2 in the West region in the first official NAIA ARC Ratings released by the NAIA on April 8. The top team in the west is listed as Hoper International of California.
· The four-man pitching rotation has consistently provided Concordia opportunities to win. The rotation consists of Alex Johnson (5-2, 1.90 ERA, 13.31 K/9), Braxton Greenburg (4-0, 3.54 ERA, 11.54 K/9), Christian Gutierrez (6-2, 4.36 ERA, 8.22 K/9) and Micah Sweeton (5-1, 5.89 ERA, 10.06 K/9). Out of the bullpen, Daiten Schmidt has allowed only two runs in 13.2 innings and has piled up eight saves (second most in the GPAC). Schmidt’s importance has been heightened as the team has dealt with injuries to other relief standouts such as DJ Andersen and Maverick Wylder. Among GPAC teams, the Bulldog staff ranks first in strikeouts per nine innings (10.40), first in WHIP (1.43) and second in ERA (4.93).
· Thirteen seniors will be honored between games on Saturday. Those seniors are Jimmy Blumberg, Seth Claybourne, Logan Fragomeni, Braxton Greenburg, Christian Gutierrez, Brad Hallock, Alex Johnson, Ty Nekoliczak, Jaidan Quinn, Tanner Tompkins, Nate Weaver, Michael Welch and Maverick Wylder. For the four-year seniors, their Concordia Baseball careers began with the 2022 season. From the 2022 campaign through the present, the Bulldogs have put together a combined record of 151-59 with one GPAC regular season title, two GPAC tournament championships and three national tournament appearances. Alex Johnson’s career dates back to the 2021 season when Concordia made a historic run to the NAIA World Series. Johnson was a teammate on the ’21 squad with current assistant coaches Ben Berg and Evan Bohman.
The opponent
At 17-25 overall (6-14 GPAC) Dordt has nearly doubled its win total from 2024 when it finished at 9-40 (3-25 GPAC). Looking to pump life into the program, the Defenders tabbed Ian Eshelman as the program’s head coach following the ’24 campaign. From last season’s squad, Dordt brought back Honorable Mention All-GPAC award winners in outfielder Logan Harris, pitchers Jared Hughes and Mason Price and catcher Morgan Wilkins. Third baseman Logan Templeton and Wilkins have provided some punch in the lineup with six home runs apiece on the season. The pitching staff sports a 7.42 ERA and has been led by Hughes, who has logged 49.2 innings and is 3-7 with a 5.44 ERA. One of the high points of this season thus far was a three-out-of-four series win over Mount Marty. Currently situated outside the top eight of the GPAC, Dordt is in need of a late-season run in order to qualify for the GPAC tournament. The Defenders have endured defeats each of the last 18 times they have played the Bulldogs.
Next week
It will be the final week of the 2025 regular season as Concordia will wrap it up from Plum Creek Park. The Bulldogs will welcome Dakota Wesleyan to town for a four-game series, April 24-25. The Tigers have hovered at second place in the GPAC standings for much of the season.