OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – After opening the 2025 season with a pair of tense nail-biters on Friday, the 20th-ranked Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball team used a nine-run second inning on Saturday to run away from No. 23 Oklahoma City University on a chilly Saturday (Feb. 8) afternoon. The Bulldog offense waited out 12 walks while veteran righty Christian Gutierrez pounded the strike zone in a 15-3 thumping of the Stars at their home park in Oklahoma City, Okla. Five Concordia batters notched exactly two hits on the day.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad went 3-0 on the weekend stay, which included two wins over Oklahoma City and one over No. 15 Bellevue University. The Bulldogs went a combined 1-5 on this same road trip over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
“We won the strike zone today,” Dupic said. “Guti really mixed pitches well and threw a ton of strikes on a colder day, a little bit harder day to drive the ball. Our hitters did a tremendous job of not expanding the strike zone. That’s what really what made that inning blow up in the second and gave us a big lead. That let Guti settle in and do his thing. We also got a ton of bullpen arms in that hadn’t had a chance to pitch. There isn’t much more to say other than our guys did a really good job.”
The second-inning parade around the bases was a result of Concordia producing four hits while also working five walks and capitalizing on two OCU errors. In the nine-run frame, Alex Draper came through with a two-run single and Bronx Lewis delivered an RBI single while Jimmy Blumberg and Matt Rhoades both walked with the bags full. The Bulldogs later tacked on with three runs apiece in the fourth and seventh innings.
The run support paved the way for Gutierrez to earn the 22nd win of his collegiate career. The senior from La Mirada, Calif., worked 4.1 innings, struck out eight hitters and allowed no runs, three hits and a walk in his 2025 debut. Dupic mixed and matched the rest of the way with Micah Sweeton, Jake Nelms, Harrison Hoiekvam and Sam Rambajan each nailing down two outs apiece. The Stars put up all three of their runs in the sixth. They were limited to four total hits (one for extra bases).
Bulldogs with two hits apiece included Brad Hallock (2-for-3), Lewis (2-for-3), Tanner Tompkins (2-for-3), Ty Nekoliczak (2-for-3) and Jaidan Quinn (2-for-4). All nine position players who started reached base safely at least once. Hallock drew two walks and scored three runs and Draper walked twice and drove in three runs. Concordia also stole four bases with two of those thefts coming from Jaeden Jordahl.
While the 2025 Bulldogs have a different look to them, they made an early statement in Oklahoma City. The pitching staff churned out three strong starts and the lineup appears to be a potent one that will be less reliant on the long ball.
Said Dupic, “I think we have a chance to have really good depth in all areas. We had different guys step up. In game one of the weekend, the bottom of the order crushed it. We have guys at the top who are really good, and I thought we got better defensively as the weekend went on. We have a lot of arms with a lot of potential. At our best, we can be a good team. I like where we are at this point in the season.”
Up next on the slate will be a weekend (Feb. 15-16) excursion in Joplin, Mo., where the Bulldogs will play one game apiece against Dakota State University (S.D.), Mission University (Mo.), Graceland University (Iowa) and William Penn University (Iowa). Concordia will be at Joe Becker Stadium for the first day before shifting to Joplin High School for day two.