NOTE: Saturday (April 29)’s first pitch has been moved to 2 p.m. CT.
SEWARD, Neb. – It was nearly midnight local time when the 24th-ranked Concordia University Baseball team and Morningside wrapped up the first of two in a four-game series at Plum Creek Park. Rainy conditions pushed back first pitch, which came after 7 p.m. in Seward. In game one, the Bulldogs rode a strong pitching performance from Caden Johnson to an 8-1 victory. A series of mistakes then doomed Concordia in a 9-4 defeat at the hands of the Mustangs.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s program had won 18-straight games at Plum Creek Park before dropping game two. At 20-6 in league play (34-14 overall), the Bulldogs hope to secure one of the GPAC’s top two seeds when they finish the regular season on Saturday.
“I thought the first game was as well as we’ve played all year,” Dupic said. “We pitched it really well, we defended really well and our offensive guys were awesome against a really good pitcher. We played super clean and it was fun to watch. It was a great game to be a part of. We didn’t do that the second game, but we can’t dwell on that. We just have to move on. I was pleased with the pitching we got. There were a lot of positives to build on. We got some good bullpen outings. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
The potent Concordia lineup ambushed Morningside ace Wade Canaday with seven runs over the game’s first three innings. Joey Grabanski broke his own single season record for RBIs by knocking in Jay Adams with a double in the first inning. Grabanski also delivered a solo homer (24th of the year) in the third inning. The slugger from Grand Forks, N.D., was one of four Bulldogs with two hits in game one. He was joined in that department by Adams, Jesse Garcia and Teyt Johnson. Johnson drove in a pair of runs out of the No. 8 spot in the lineup.
On the hill, Caden Johnson went six innings and surrendered just one run on four hits and a walk. He notched six strikeouts while pushing his team high win total to eight for the season. Frankie Cresta came on in relief and recorded the final three outs. Cresta also threw 2.2 innings in relief in game two and allowed six runs that were all unearned.
Concordia’s game two pitchers deserved a better fate. Six Bulldog errors let in eight unearned runs for the Mustangs (33-13, 19-7 GPAC). Towards the bottom of the Morningside lineup, Alex Calabrese and Brian Garcia combined for five hits and four RBIs. Concordia starting pitcher Christian Gutierrez covered 3.1 innings before being replaced by Cresta. Ben Coldiron worked a scoreless seventh inning.
Freshman Mustang pitcher Kai Purdy-Burton pitched solidly in limiting the Bulldogs to four runs on six hits in his six innings. Two of those runs scored on a Ben Berg double that was a catchable ball for the first baseman. Berg collected two hits in the game while Adams and Ty Nekoliczak knocked in one run apiece. Morningside managed to contain reigning GPAC Player of the Week Jaidan Quinn (1-for-7 on the day).
The Bulldogs and Mustangs will wrap up the regular season on Saturday with a twin bill set for a 2 p.m. CT first pitch from Plum Creek Park. At stake for both teams is an opportunity to clinch one of the top two seeds for the GPAC tournament. The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds will host separate four-team pods in next week’s conference tournament. Concordia still has a shot at a GPAC regular season title but likely needs to sweep on Saturday (and then hope Doane loses at least one of two games at Midland on Sunday).