MITCHELL, S.D. – Strong winds that blew in towards home plate negated some of the impressive power the Concordia University Baseball team brings to the table. As a sign of a championship contender, the Bulldogs found other ways to put runs on the board as they swept a road doubleheader from Dakota Wesleyan on Tuesday (April 11). Qwin Zabokrtsky fired a complete game gem in the second contest and Concordia won by scores of 11-7 and 4-0.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic was pleased to see how his group handled its business, especially after falling behind 3-0 in Tuesday’s first game. The Bulldogs have won seven in a row to move to 27-11 overall (13-3 GPAC).
“It was kind of a tough day – the wind was blowing in really hard,” Dupic said. “It made it kind of challenging for both teams offensively. It made it a little more of a stressful day, but our guys did a good job. We just had to adjust and I thought our guys did a nice job putting some pressure on them and making some things happen on the bases. It was nice to see us be very versatile like that. I’m proud of our defense in game two. We’ve won a lot of high-scoring games this year so it’s nice to see us win a tighter, pitcher-friendly type of game.”
The offense did not come as easily on the heels of Concordia’s four-game sweep of Dordt that featured 69 runs scored and 13 home runs. The Bulldogs were unable to leave the yard even once on Tuesday, but they made up for it with timely hits and solid pitching. The work of Zabokrtsky shined through as the story of the day. The Beatrice, Neb., native covered all seven innings of game two and allowed just three hits without issuing a single free pass. Zabokrstky faced the most adversity in the first inning when Dakota Wesleyan opened with a double and a hit-by-pitch.
Zabokrstky proceeded to retire the next three hitters on his way to a masterpiece. He retired the side in order in four separate frames.
Said Dupic, “He executed his fastball really well and as the game went along, he found his slider. When you’re getting a start like that when it’s just his second career start, that’s pretty key. We got into a jam in the first, but he really settled in after that.”
After digging a 3-0 hole in game one, the Bulldogs righted themselves in the fourth with a six-run inning. That frame included a two-run single by Alec Blakestad, a steal of home by Zack Day, RBI ground outs by Teyt Johnson and Ty Nekoliczak and an RBI base hit by Joey Grabanski. Three Concordia players registered multiple hits in game one: Ben Berg (3-for-4), Grabanski (2-for-3 with two walks) and Adams (2-for-5 with two doubles).
The Bulldogs never trailed in game two, thanks in large part to Zabokrstky’s shutout. GPAC Player of the Week Jesse Garcia doubled home a run in the first to open the scoring. Concordia then got two runs in the third (one via a Jaidan Quinn RBI double) and one in the seventh (via Adams’ sac fly). In the No. 9 spot in the lineup, Nekoliczak reached base four times on the day while scoring three times and driving in two runs. The Tiger pitching combo of Jereko Martinez and Troy Wilhelm did a solid job in limiting the Bulldogs’ potent attack to five hits.
Dupic needed only three pitchers for the entire two games. In game one, Christian Gutierrez got the start and allowed two earned runs in 6.1 innings. He allowed five hits (no walks) and fanned four batters. Ben Coldiron then got the final two outs with strikeouts.
As the opposite of what one might have expected, DWU (4-23, 1-15 GPAC) outhomered Concordia on Tuesday. Seth Christiansen hit the lone home run by either side when he belted a three-run blast in the seventh inning of game one.
GPAC action will resume this weekend with doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday. A pivotal GPAC twill bill will take place on Saturday in Crete, where last season’s GPAC regular season champion Doane (26-8, 12-4 GPAC) will host last season’s GPAC tournament champion Concordia. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m. CT.