SEWARD, Neb. – For the second time in the venue’s history, Plum Creek Park in Seward will serve as the location for the GPAC postseason baseball championship game. The 20th-ranked and top-seeded Bulldogs are getting ready to square off with rival Doane at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday in a matchup of sides that have already qualified for the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. For Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad, the first GPAC tournament title in program history is at stake.
2021 GPAC Tournament Championship Game
Concordia (37-9) vs. Doane (35-16-1)
Tuesday, May 11 | 6 p.m. CT
Plum Creek Park | Seward, Neb.
Live Webcast/Stats: Concordia Sports Network
Fan attendance: Fans are allowed to attend the games at Plum Creek Park and are encouraged to wear face coverings when not able to maintain physical distancing from other family groups. Admission is $10 for adults/senior citizens and $3 for K-12. Only those with NAIA passes and GPAC student ID’s will be admitted free of charge.
By the numbers
· Not only has Concordia won three of the past four GPAC regular season titles, it will now play in the GPAC postseason championship game for the third time in four seasons. The Bulldogs reached the title game for the first time in school history back in 2017 when they hosted Midland. The result was a 5-3 victory for the Warriors. Then in 2019, Concordia also reached the championship game as the top seed in the tournament. However, the contest was moved to Bob Tereshinski Stadium in Yankton, S.D., due to wet conditions at Plum Creek Park. Jamestown defeated the Bulldogs in the ’19 championship game, 3-0. Concordia began to turn the corner in the postseason in 2016 when it reached the Midland Bracket final after starting out 2-0 in that particular GPAC tournament.
· Briar Cliff certainly knows it all too well now – this Bulldog offense is relentless. Even a quality pitching performance this past Saturday from the Chargers’ Kyler Steinborn turned into a 10-run outing for Concordia. The ’21 Bulldogs had long ago broken the school single-season record for home runs (now at 78). After last week, this Concordia team now owns program standards for wins (37), runs scored (421) and hits (523) in a season. On the NAIA national leaderboard, the Bulldogs rank eighth in batting average (.348), ninth in home runs per game (1.70), 10th in hits per game (11.4), 12th in runs per game (9.2) and 13th in slugging percentage (.583).
· Over the first three GPAC tournament games, Concordia has piled up a combined 32 runs on 43 hits. The hottest hitters in postseason play have been Ben Berg (8-for-13), Jose Cevallos (7-for-12), Joey Grabanski (6-for-12) and Teyt Johnson (6-for-13). Johnson enjoyed a career game in the win over Hastings when he went 4-for-5 with three runs, a double, two home runs and eight RBIs. Berg has also posted two separate four-hit games and has laced three doubles in postseason play. Beau Dorman has also contributed two home runs and Jesse Garcia belted a three-run homer in the first matchup with Briar Cliff. Garcia’s 27 career home runs are tied with Jarrod Pimentel for the most in program history. Keaton Candor is close behind with 26 career blasts.
· Ace Jake Fosgett has not yet thrown in the postseason, but his teammates have picked up the slack. In the GPAC tournament, Concordia pitchers have allowed eight earned runs in 27 innings (2.67 ERA) and have notched 27 strikeouts to just seven walks. Both Caden Bugarske (five innings) and Trent Wood (six innings) pitched at least five shutout innings in winning performances last week. In addition, Nick Little covered seven innings in the victory over Hastings and earned his 26th career win, eclipsing the program’s all-time wins record. The Bulldogs’ season team ERA of 3.72 ranks 13th best in the NAIA.
· The 37 wins surpassed the previous program single-season standard of 34 achieved by the 2017 GPAC championship team. The current winning percentage of .804 (37-9) is far and away the best in school history. The win percentages of the 2017 (34-22) and 2019 (33-20) teams that also reached 30+ wins were .607 and .623, respectively. In seven seasons as head coach, Ryan Dupic has compiled an overall record of 197-125. Only one coach in program history has reached the 200-win mark.
The opponent
There’s no doubt that this matchup features the top two offensive teams in the GPAC. When factoring in GPAC games only, Doane is the conference leader in batting average (.358), runs per game (9.6), slugging percentage (.611) and hits per game (12.3). In other words, both starting pitchers on Tuesday will have to be sharp in order to succeed. There aren’t a lot of holes in a Tiger lineup featuring four players with double-digit homer totals: Talon Little (16), Andy Theiler (14), Lukas White (12) and Joe Osborn (11). Doane used top pitcher (in terms of statistics) Jordan Wisner (9-1, 3.25 ERA) this past Saturday, but seem likely to bring back Travis Cowan (6-3, 4.45 ERA) to throw on Tuesday night. Cowan allowed three earned runs in six innings in a no decision in Doane’s GPAC tournament opener on May 6. The Tigers earned a share of the GPAC regular season title and are looking for their first conference tourney championship since 2011. Head Coach Josh Oltmans (fifth season) has built this program back up after it slipped to near the bottom of the league in 2016 and 2017. Concordia and Doane split a doubleheader in Crete on April 2. There may not seem to be a lot on the line considering both teams have clinched automatic bids to nationals, but this game will come with a trophy – and bragging rights.
NAIA Opening Round announcement
There won’t be a whole lot of notice before the Bulldogs head out for the opening round of the national tournament (May 17-20). The NAIA will announce opening round pairings and site assignments via a live selection show scheduled for 4 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 13. The show will be viewable through the NAIA Facebook page. There are nine possible destinations for the field of 45 national qualifiers.