SEWARD, Neb. – Doane has been a team on a mission in 2022. After sharing the GPAC regular season title last season with the Concordia University Baseball program, the Tigers have opened up a four-game lead atop the GPAC standings at the conclusion of play on Friday (April 15). In action at Plum Creek Park, Doane edged the Bulldogs, 2-1, in the first game before winning the second in a rout, 9-2. On the bright side, Concordia got another strong start from righty pitcher Alex Johnson.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad has dropped five in a row since beginning GPAC play at 12-1. Halfway through a pivotal weekend homestand, the Bulldogs sit at 23-12-1 overall (12-6 GPAC).
“The focus was on us today. I wanted to see how well we could play,” Dupic said. “I thought Alex Johnson did a really nice job competing. He didn’t have his breaking ball today, but he put us in a position to have a chance to win. I thought Caden Bugarske was a little bit better than the numbers show. There were some good things at times. We kind of let that first one slip away – a couple pitches got away. We were better defensively that first game. That was a really good sign. Second game we had a couple slip-ups. It was a tough day to hit for both teams with the wind blowing in. You have to be really clean. Doane has a good club.”
The bleachers were mostly full for game one on a day when the temperature hovered in the 40s. Behind its ace, Johnson, Concordia led the opener, 1-0, at the conclusion of five innings. It felt like the lead should have been at least a run or two greater. The Bulldogs failed to score in the third after a Keaton Candor double put men at second and third with one out (nine left on base for the game). Concordia cracked the scoreboard first when Ben Berg delivered an RBI single in the fourth.
Johnson was relieved by Shane Whittaker with one out and the bases loaded in the top of the sixth. Whittaker limited the damage to one run in that frame. Unfortunately, lack of control was an issue in the seventh when the go-ahead run came home on a wild pitch. Daniel Rivera got the final two outs of the half inning to keep Concordia within one. In the bottom half, Doane’s Thaniel Trumper worked around two walks and picked up the save, making a winner out of Jordan Wisner (6 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, BB, 6 K).
Game two eventually got away from the Bulldogs when they conceded three runs in the fifth, one in the sixth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth. The game had started inauspiciously when Andy Theiler led it off with a no-doubter of home run to right center. Bugarske worked the first 5.2 innings before giving way to Jackson Eaton (3.1 IP) out of the bullpen. Concordia’s two runs in game two were driven in by Jesse Garcia (bases-loaded walk) and Jay Adams (RBI double).
The pitching line for Johnson in game one read: 5.1 innings, three hits, one earned run, three walks and one strikeout. Statistically, the best pitching performance on either side came from the Tigers’ Julian Vargas, who threw seven shutout frames, allowing only two hits and two walks while recording nine strikeouts. Doane entered the weekend leading the GPAC in ERA during conference play by a wide margin.
The two losses meant the Bulldogs dropped back into third place in the GPAC behind Doane (17-1) and Mount Marty (13-5). The focus for Concordia is going to be on playing cleaner baseball (four errors in game two) while trying to get back into the win column on Saturday.
Said Dupic, “I didn’t view today as a day where we had to catch up in the standings. We just need to play better. We did that the first part of the first game but didn’t play as well as we needed to towards the back half. I’m hopeful we can take the positives from today and build on it for tomorrow. Let’s have a good day for our program and celebrate our seniors.”
Saturday’s first pitch from Plum Creek Park is slated for 1 p.m. CT against Mount Marty (28-10, 13-5 GPAC). The Lancers went on the road on Friday and took two from Hastings. In between games of the twin bill, the Bulldogs will honor a senior class that includes Nathan Buckallew, Keaton Candor, Noah Janssen, Thomas Otte, Shane Whittaker, Dresden Wilson and Andy Xapsos.