By Sam Firminhac, Athletic Communications
HILLSBORO, Kan. – The 18th-ranked Concordia University Baseball team went 0-1-1 in its Sunday (Feb. 27) doubleheader at Tabor College (Kan.). After a slow start in the first of two games, the Bulldogs were not able to mount a comeback and fell 11-5. Game two was a back-and-forth extra innings battle that ended in a 5-5 tie (the game was called due to darkness).
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad is now 5-2-1 on the young season. After the cancellation of the scheduled weekend series against the College of Ozarks, Concordia made the impromptu trip to Hillsboro, Kan., to take on Tabor (11-3-1), a program it met up with at the 2017 national tournament.
“I fully expect Tabor to compete and in be in the national tournament this year,” Dupic said. “We saw better arms and better players than what we had played against so far. We obviously got off to a slow start in the first game and couldn’t stop their offense. Game two, we were better and had a chance. The disappointment was that we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be in terms of our execution.”
The Bulldogs faced an 8-0 deficit before they were able to get any offense going in game one. Keaton Candor and Jaidan Quinn hit back-to-back home runs, which provide three of the five runs in the first game. Quinn scored a pair of runs in the opener. Freshman catcher Tanner Tompkins went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in the second game of the doubleheader. Freshman Ty Nekoliczak and Jacob Faulk had one RBI apiece in the game. Nekoliczak also had an RBI in game one. Jayden Adams reached via walk four times on the day and also had an RBI.
Said Dupic, “We gave some plays away and gave some pitches away. When you play a good team and you’re not at your best, it’s going to be tough. We almost found a way to get that second one but couldn’t quite make enough pitches or plays.”
The bullpen was very active for the Bulldogs on Sunday – nine pitchers were used. Game one starter Caden Bugarske moved to 1-1 on the season after throwing 2.2 innings and allowing seven earned runs. The trio of Benjamin Coldiron, Cale Mathison and Andrew Bohrer finished out the game on the mound. They allowed four runs, only one of which was earned.
Caden Johnson got the nod in game two. Johnson put in three innings of work and allowed three earned runs. Jacob Lycan and Shane Whittaker both had scoreless outings in relief, striking out two each. Jake Davey and Nathan Buckallew also appeared in the game.
Concordia won’t be in action again until Saturday (March 5) in Auburndale, Fla., for its annual spring break trip. The Bulldogs’ first matchup of the trip will be a doubleheader against Cornerstone University (Mich.). First pitch is set for 2 p.m. CT. Concordia will also match up against Bellevue University on the trip, which they beat in last year's NAIA Opening Round to advance to the NAIA World Series. That game is set for March 11.