SEWARD, Neb. – Members of the 24th-ranked Concordia University Baseball team are simply focused on finishing out the 2023 regular season strong – but they know what’s at stake. The Bulldogs enter this week tied with Doane atop the GPAC standings. The ridiculously hot Jaidan Quinn spurred Concordia to a four-game sweep of Midland this past weekend. The Bulldogs won by scores of 17-0, 17-8, 7-6 and 26-2. Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad has pushed its overall record to 33-13 (19-5 GPAC). The program has hit the 30-win mark for the fifth time in Dupic’s tenure. Concordia will be challenged this weekend with four games at home versus Morningside.
This Week
Friday, April 28 vs. Morningside (30-12, 16-6 GPAC), 4 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast/Stats | Location: Plum Creek Park (Seward, Neb.)
Saturday, April 29 vs. Morningside (30-12, 16-6 GPAC), 1 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast/Stats | Location: Plum Creek Park (Seward, Neb.)
By the numbers
· A debate can be had about which team should be rated higher nationally between Concordia and Doane. The Bulldogs got the nod early last week (prior to the doubleheader played in Crete) in the official GPAC poll. That was enough to push Concordia back into the NAIA coaches’ poll at No. 24 in the rankings released on April 19. The program waited until the 2021 season to crack the NAIA top 25 for the first time ever. The ’21 squad landed at No. 12 in the postseason poll following a trip to the NAIA World Series. That ranking remains the highest in program history. The Bulldogs also climbed as high as No. 18 in 2022 and then were snubbed in the postseason ranking after coming within one win of a return trip to the World Series. The ’23 season marks the sixth year in a row that Dupic’s program has at least garnered votes in the NAIA national poll. Currently, Massey Ratings calculates Concordia as the NAIA’s 17th best team.
· The Bulldogs have several offensive players capable of putting together awe-inspiring stretches of eye-popping production. The latest Concordia player to grab the headlines has been third baseman Jaidan Quinn, who did the incredible in homering in each of his first four at bats in game one of the series with Midland. In doing so, Quinn became the first player in program history to launch four homers in a single game. Prior to Quinn’s four-homer outburst, there had been 10 instances in program history in which an individual belted exactly three home runs in a single game. Among current Bulldogs, Joey Grabanski (three), Jay Adams (two) and Joey Garcia (two) have each enjoyed multiple three-homer games in their careers.
· Quinn led the offensive attack to a combined 67 runs in the four-game walloping of Midland (19-24, 10-14 GPAC). For the series, Concordia outscored the Warriors, 67-16, outhit them, 69-33, and outhomered them, 16-1. Quinn went 10-for-14 with 10 runs scored, a double, six home runs, 10 RBIs and 29 total bases (2.071 slugging) for the series. Six of his teammates also collected at least seven hits over the four games: Grabanski (8-for-15), Alec Blakestad (7-for-10), Ben Berg (7-for-13), Ty Nekoliczak (7-for-14), Garcia (7-for-15) and Adams (7-for-17). Adams, Blakestad and Grabanski each contributed two homers on the weekend. One homer apiece came from Berg, Jose Cevallos, Teyt Johnson and Nekoliczak.
· Continuing with the home run theme, the 16 homers over the past weekend pushed the Bulldogs over 100 for the second season in a row. The 2022 GPAC tournament championship team broke the school record by hitting 113 blasts. The count for 2023 stands at 103 entering the week. Five Concordia players have cracked double digits in homers: Grabanski (23), Quinn (22), Garcia (16), Blakestad (12) and Adams (11) – and Berg (eight) isn’t far off. Entering the week, the Bulldogs can claim the distinction of being the only college baseball program in the nation (including the NAIA, all levels of the NCAA and the NJCAA) to have two players with at least 20 home runs. Grabanski and Quinn enter the week ranked third and fourth in the NAIA, respectively, in home runs.
· Concordia continues to dominate the GPAC leaderboards from an offensive perspective. The Bulldogs pace the league in runs scored (488), hits (537), doubles (104), home runs (103), walks (209), stolen bases (83), batting average (.366), on-base percentage (.453) and slugging percentage (.651). Individual conference leaders include Nekoliczak in batting average (.428), Grabanski in hits (66), home runs (23), RBIs (67) and slugging percentage (.894), Quinn in on-base percentage (.520) and Zackery Day in stolen bases (32). Grabanski has equaled his own program record for RBIs in a single season. He needs six more RBIs to reach 200 for his career. Garcia remains the program’s all-time RBI king with 207.
· Several pitchers also performed well in the series with Midland. In a relief role in game one, Ernie Snyder fired five shutout innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out four. In game two, Christian Gutierrez threw a seven-inning, six-hit shutout (six strikeouts) in which he needed only 74 pitches to complete. One of the five seniors honored this past Sunday, Dan Rivera had the good stuff working in a 2.1-inning save. Rivera fanned five hitters. The native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., owns an impressive rate of 18.21 strikeouts per nine innings (29 strikeouts in 14.1 innings). Also noteworthy, Caden Johnson moved his season record to 7-3 to go along with a 3.80 ERA in 42.2 innings (10 starts). Three other Bulldogs have at least five wins: Gutierrez (5-1), Blake Benson (5-2) and Frankie Cresta (5-4).
· Concordia has been especially dominant at home, going 12-0 at Plum Creek Park. In those 12 contests, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents, 178-47, and outhomered them, 36-12. Dating back to last season, Concordia has won 17-straight home games. That run includes five 2022 GPAC tournament victories. The Bulldogs claimed conference tournament titles at home in both 2021 and 2022. During the GPAC era (2000-present), Concordia has never gone undefeated at home (and likely hasn’t in the history of the program).
The opponent
As of Monday (April 24) afternoon, Morningside was in the midst of a doubleheader at Briar Cliff (to close a four-game series). The Mustangs split two Sunday games with their intra-city rival. According to the NAIA Bo Chip ratings (essentially an RPI), the matchup this weekend will feature two of the NAIA’s top 20 teams: No. 17 Morningside and No. 20 Concordia. Head Coach Adam Boeve’s squad has been prolific offensively in its own right. Entering the week, the Mustangs own a team slash line of .345/.421/.506 (AVG/OBP/SLG). They rank second in the league in runs scored (345). Morningside’s top hitter has been Jayson Willers, who is hitting .387 with 24 extra base hits (10 home runs) and 51 RBIs. Eddie Brancato and Alex Calabrese have homered six times apiece. The team’s top arm is Wade Canaday, who is 7-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 58.2 innings. Among GPAC squads, the Mustangs also rank third in ERA (5.06) and fifth in fielding percentage (.956).
Next week
GPAC tournament pod play will run May 4-6 with the top two teams in the final GPAC standings earning the right to host separate four-team pods. In recent years, the Bulldogs have hosted GPAC tournament action in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022, reaching the conference championship game in each instance. The 2023 GPAC tournament title game will take place on May 9.