SEWARD, Neb. – Vintage Jake Fosgett showed up on Friday (March 26) afternoon for the 24th-ranked Concordia University Baseball team. The fifth-year member of the Bulldogs fanned 17 hitters in a dazzling performance that highlighted a doubleheader sweep of visiting Dordt in a matchup at Plum Creek Park. Concordia got two fine pitching performances and did just enough to hold off the Defenders while winning by scores of 3-1 and 6-5.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad has won five of its first six GPAC games and has moved to 18-3 overall. Nothing came easy in a tussle with the improved Defenders.
“It’s very key to step up and win those close games late,” Dupic said. “We haven’t had tons of them early in the season, one way or the other. I was pleased with us being able to step up and executive pitches and make some plays. We got some good offense late in both games … The way we pitched was pretty good for the most part. The way we defended was good for the most part. We’re headed in the right direction.”
When he’s right, Fosgett is filthy. While taking the ball in game 1, the righty from Carlsbad, Calif., allowed one run on two hits in the opening inning before proceeding to lay waste to the Dordt lineup. Only in the third inning did the Defenders manage to prevent Fosgett from striking out the side. Fosgett scattered five hits over his six dominant frames before giving way to Shane Whittaker in the seventh.
Fosgett had total control of his fastball-slider-curve repertoire. As he admitted afterwards, he entered the spring unsure if his arm would allow him to work this deep into games this spring. A healthy Fosgett is a game changer.
“I had everything working for me,” Fosgett said. “We noticed they were sitting on the fastball. They were trying to jump on it early in the count so we started working backwards more with fastballs middle and late in the count.”
On the other side, Gyeongju Kim was also dealing. He shut out the Bulldogs until the sixth inning of game 1. Jayden Adams doubled with two outs to begin the rally with Concordia down 1-0. He then scored when Joey Grabanski reached on an error. The Bulldogs really made that error hurt when Beau Dorman doubled home two runs in what proved to be the game-winning hit. In the top of the seventh, Shane Whittaker walked the bases loaded, but managed to coax a fielder’s choice for the game’s final out.
Concordia got things going earlier in game 2 with the help of Jesse Garcia’s RBI double in the first and RBI single in the second. The Bulldogs tacked onto a 3-1 lead with three crucial runs in the seventh. Keaton Candor singled in a run and Noah Janssen delivered a clutch two-out, two-run double. Concordia needed each and every one of those runs as the Defenders pushed across three runs in the eighth and one in the ninth in what became a nail-biter.
Bulldog game 2 starter Trent Wood pushed his record to 4-0 with another spectacular outing. He covered seven innings, allowing one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out nine hitters. Concordia hurlers combined to record 28 strikeouts on the day.
At the plate, Candor went 4-for-7 while Dorman went 3-for-5 with three RBIs on the day. The Bulldogs were limited to 14 total hits (nine singles and five doubles). A rarity this season, Concordia was kept inside the park.
Said Dupic, “You’re going to get everybody’s best. This was kind of a classic, day one (of a series) type baseball where it might be tougher to score sometimes. You have to make plays defensively and execute on the mound. The other team is going to have a guy who can do that too.”
The Bulldogs and Defenders (9-15, 2-4 GPAC) will resume the series with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday. Fan access is not restricted at Plum Creek Park.