SEWARD, Neb. – Two senior members of the GPAC champion Concordia University baseball team have collected conference awards. On Tuesday, the league named Tyler Nelson the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Player of the Week and Josh Prater the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Pitcher of the Week. These are the second and third weekly honors for the Bulldogs in 2017. Senior Casey Berg collected GPAC player of the week accolades on April 4.
Nelson has been the team’s primary left fielder during the stretch run. As part of Concordia’s 5-1, six-game week, Nelson went 7-for-17 (.412) with five runs, two doubles, a triple, five RBIs and three walks. His biggest hit came in the 10-8 win over Hastings when he delivered a game-winning two-run double. The native of LaPorte, Texas, is hitting .353 with an impressive .466 on-base percentage in 35 games this season.
Prater is the veteran of the pitching staff. In game 1 of last week’s four-game series at Dakota Wesleyan, the lefty tossed a seven-inning, two-hit shutout that included five strikeouts and just one walk allowed. The native of Colorado Springs, Colo., has been remarkably consistent this season, surrendering more than three earned runs in only one of his 10 starts. Among GPAC pitchers, Prater ranks second in ERA (2.07). Prater is Concordia’s staff leader with 61 innings pitched.
Head coach Ryan Dupic’s squad is set to return to action on Thursday when it plays host to the Concordia Bracket of the GPAC tournament. In the second contest of the day, the top-seeded Bulldogs (30-19, 19-9 GPAC) will be the No. 8 seed, which will be either Briar Cliff (16-32, 9-17 GPAC) or Doane (21-29, 11-17 GPAC) at 6 p.m. CT.