OMAHA, Neb. – In terms of setting up the pitching staff, Monday (May 17)’s NAIA National Championship Opening Round win over 21st-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) went about as well as Head Coach Ryan Dupic could have hoped. Jake Fosgett made his return to the mound and dominated the middle innings while catcher Ben Berg drove in three runs in a 4-2 victory for the No. 19 Concordia University Baseball team. The contest was moved to Brown Park in Omaha, Neb., due to rainfall on Sunday.
This marked victory No. 199 for Dupic as a head coach. It was also his third career win at the national tournament. The GPAC champion Bulldogs moved to 39-9 overall.
“MidAmerica Nazarene has one of the best offensive teams in the country from a statistical perspective,” Dupic said. “They have really, really good hitters so I was very pleased with the way we pitched. Nick (Little), Jake and Nathan (Buckallew) all did a really good job. We made one mistake defensively, but other than that we were very good defensively. Their pitcher was good too. I thought we had some good at bats and were close to breaking a couple innings open. You know you’re going to face some good arms at the national tournament – I thought the guys did a nice job.”
Berg had a major hand in the action on Monday. Not only did he catch all three Concordia hurlers, he also supplied a two-run homer in the fourth and added some insurance with an RBI single in the fifth. The Carroll, Iowa, native enjoyed a 3-for-4 day out of the No. 6 spot in a lineup that accumulated 10 hits. That damage was done against Pioneer starter Jhon Vargas (12-2).
Dupic held Fosgett back from the GPAC tournament, but he was happy to unleash his ace on Monday. After Nick Little pitched a solid 2.2 innings, Fosgett toed the rubber and proceeded to work five innings. He allowed one run on three hits and a walk while fanning seven hitters. Fosgett moved his record to 9-0 on the year. Buckallew relieved Fosgett with two outs in the eighth and picked up his seventh save of the season.
“We had a ton of respect for their offense and wanted to mix things up a little bit,” Dupic said. “We wanted to get Jake into the middle innings and turn it over from him to as deep into the bullpen as we could. Nick was huge out of the gate – just very pleased with the way those guys threw the ball.”
Joey Grabanski knocked in the other Concordia run with a fielder’s choice. Other offensive leaders included Jesse Garcia (2-for-5 with a double and two runs) and Beau Dorman (2-for-5 with a double). Second baseman Jayden Adams recorded one hit and has pulled even for the school single-season record (72 hits).
Daunte Freeman went 2-for-4 with two RBIs on the other side. MidAmerica Nazarene (39-15) entered the opening round with NAIA national rankings of third in batting average (.373) and eighth in runs scored per game (9.8). The Pioneers will drop down to an elimination game on Tuesday.
Play is slated to move to the site that was originally booked for the Bellevue Bracket – Don Roddy Field in Bellevue. The Bulldogs will play the winner between top-seeded University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma and fourth-seeded Bellevue with game time on Tuesday currently set for 2:30 p.m. CT. All times are subject to change, pending weather interruptions.