SEWARD, Neb. – On the heels of a home doubleheader sweep of Jamestown, the Concordia University Baseball team is preparing to play two more conference doubleheaders this weekend. As announced on Tuesday (March 21), the venues for the Saturday-Sunday twin bills have been changed due to unplayable conditions in South Dakota. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will take on Mount Marty at Lee Doyen Field on the Cloud County Community College campus in Concordia, Kan. Then on Sunday, Concordia will host Dakota Wesleyan at Plum Creek Park. Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad stands at 16-8 overall (2-0 GPAC) following Monday’s action.
This Week
*Please note the venue changes.
Saturday, March 25 vs. Mount Marty (21-4, 4-0 GPAC), 12 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast | Live Stats | Location: Lee Doyen Field (Concordia, Kan.)
Sunday, March 26 vs. Dakota Wesleyan (3-10, 0-2 GPAC), 2 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast/Stats | Location: Plum Creek Park (Seward, Neb.)
By the numbers
· Cold temperatures around the GPAC footprint prevented all scheduled games from being played this past Saturday. The Bulldogs pushed back the doubleheader with Jamestown by two days and postponed their scheduled twin bill at Hastings until March 28. Concordia had a full eight days without a game after it won the Warner University Invitational on March 11. Heading into the weekend, the Bulldogs have 26 regular season games (all against league opponents) yet to play. Concordia played all 22 nonconference contests as scheduled. Outside of league play, the Bulldogs won five games over teams that were nationally ranked at the time of first pitch.
· New ratings and metrics were unveiled early this week. In the official GPAC poll (posted to NAIA.org), Concordia is ranked No. 2 behind Doane. The rest of the top five includes Mount Marty, Briar Cliff and Morningside. In addition, a new set of “Bo Chip” ratings were released on March 19. The Bulldogs are listed at No. 47 out of the 201 NAIA baseball programs. Not associated with the official NAIA ratings, Massey Ratings lists Concordia as the No. 20 team in the NAIA. Both sets of national rankings become more accurate over the course of the season as more data points are included.
· The outing for Frankie Cresta versus Jamestown on Monday was the type of performance Concordia fans got used to seeing from Jake Fosgett when he was at his best. The first-year Bulldog fired a seven-inning complete game shutout in game two of the doubleheader. Cresta’s 13 strikeouts were the most by any Bulldog pitcher since Nick Little fanned 13 Northwestern batters on April 15, 2021. To find a Concordia player with more than 13 strikeouts in a game, one would have to go back to March 26, 2021, when Fosgett punched out 17 Dordt hitters in one of the best outings of his career. Dupic had confidence that Cresta would settle in and become a reliable top-of-the-rotation starter. Through six starts, Cresta has posted a 5.50 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 34.1 innings. He’s a native of Johnston, Iowa, and a transfer from Tennessee Tech.
· In the middle of his junior season, Joey Grabanski has already moved to the top of the program’s all-time home run list. His blast in game one on Monday pushed his career total to 48, surpassing the previous standard of 47 by Keaton Candor. Current Bulldog Jesse Garcia is also close behind with 46 career homers. A native of Grand Forks, N.D., Grabanski had little trouble adjusting to the college game. He hit 17 homers in his freshman season and then followed it up with 18 in 2022 and has 13 so far this spring. He’s also produced 166 RBIs and a .738 slugging percentage in 136 career games. Garcia (180) and Grabanski are hot after Candor’s career RBI record of 188.
· Beyond Grabanski’s home run record, some other notable individual milestones have been reached already this season. Both Jesse Garcia (226) and Jay Adams (211) have gone past 200 career hits. The school record in that category remains 234 hits by Zak Goodrich. Additionally, Adams overtook Candor as the program’s all-time runs scored leader (currently with 175 runs). Both Grabanski and Garcia have eclipsed 150 career RBIs while giving chase of Candor’s home run record. Meanwhile, Dupic has become the winningest head coach in the history of the program. Since starting his first season in 2015, Dupic has gone 258-153-1 with five combined GPAC titles, four national tournament trips and an appearance at the 2021 NAIA World Series.
· Through 24 games in 2023, the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 222-135. At the plate, Concordia has collectively hit .338 with a .420 on-base percentage and .579 slugging percentage. Seven of the team’s regulars are hitting better than .300: Garcia (.400), Grabanski (.395), Ty Nekoliczak (.388), Alec Blakestad (.345), Jaidan Quinn (.338), Tanner Tompkins (.318) and Ben Berg (.313). Blakestad emerged as the hero of Monday’s game one when he delivered a walk-off RBI single. With his 13 home runs, Grabanski ranks third among GPAC players in that category. The Bulldogs’ 43 home runs are the seventh most among NAIA squads.
The opponents
Mount Marty has gotten out to a blistering 21-4 start and was ranked 16th in the latest NAIA Bo Chip formula. The Lancers have a new head coach in Josh Teichroew, who took over for Andy Bernatow. After 18 seasons as the head coach, Bernatow transitioned to become the school’s Athletic Director. The Lancers brought plenty of a talent back from their 2022 team that went 35-16 overall. The team’s biggest offensive star is Billy Hancock, who has belted six home runs so far this season. The starting pitching staff has been paced by two hurlers who average more than 12.0 strikeouts per nine innings in Chris Rofe (5-0, 1.97 ERA) and Jett Hasegawa (3-2, 3.46 ERA). Mount Marty has GPAC championship aspirations of its own after coming off a four-game sweep of Briar Cliff.
Dakota Wesleyan played only a few times in February before finally getting the season off the ground. Weather has played a role in a slow start for many far northern schools. Entering the day on Tuesday, the Tigers sat at 3-10 while in the middle of a four-game series at No. 24 Doane. Now in his second season, Head Coach Charlie Dubanoski is working on building up a program that went 15-28 overall in 2022. The Tigers have only one home run and are hitting .227 as a team through the early going of 2023. The pitching staff has been tagged with an 11.18 ERA.
Next week
Because of the rescheduled doubleheader at Hastings, the Bulldogs are slated to play three conference twin bills next week (as listed below).
· March 28 at Hastings, 2 p.m.
· March 31 at Northwestern, 4 p.m.
· April 1 at Northwestern, 2 p.m.