JOPLIN, Mo. – A rugged early season slate continued on Saturday (Feb. 18) as the Concordia University Baseball team went up against two squads that qualified for the 2022 national tournament. In action in Joplin, Mo., the Bulldogs were edged by Columbia College (Mo.), 7-6, in the first game before they rebounded to win, 5-3, over 14th-ranked Central Methodist University (Mo.) in the second game. Both contests were seven innings and were played at Joplin High School.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad will enter Sunday’s games with a record of 1-4. All five games have been played against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA preseason poll.
“We definitely pitched better,” Dupic said when comparing the latest two games to last weekend in Oklahoma City. “We defended pretty well. There’s still some room for improvement, but we’re moving the right direction there. I was pleased with us offensively because we faced four arms today that were all very good. We battled really well and got some big hits to come back in the second game. We did a good job up and down the lineup.”
The game with Central Methodist was a rematch of the 2022 NAIA opening round game won by Concordia. A 3-3 tie after six innings was broken by Joey Grabanski’s RBI double that proved to be the game-winning hit. The work of Alex Johnson and Kellen Ingram helped keep the Eagles in check.
The day’s first game saw the Bulldog fall behind 4-0 against Columbia, which improved to 7-1 this season. The Bulldogs got their scoring started with Ben Berg’s RBI single in the second. Jaidan Quinn delivered a two-run homer and Jesse Garcia went 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs. The final out of the game was recorded in the bottom of the seventh when Concordia had put runners at first and second. Blake Benson made his Bulldog debut on the mound and went 5.2 innings with eight strikeouts. Three of the seven runs he surrendered were unearned.
The Bulldogs will stay in Joplin, Mo., for two more games on Sunday – this time at Redden Stadium. Concordia will take on William Penn University (Iowa) at 10 a.m. CT before going up against University of Saint Mary (Kan.) at 12:30 p.m. The Statesment went 25-21 in 2022 while the Spires went 16-37 last season.