WATCH: Jay Adams' walk-off RBI single sends Bulldogs to GPAC Championship Game
SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia University Baseball team had reached the GPAC Championship Game three times before, but never like this. After a loss to begin the 2022 conference tournament – and due to the reconfiguration of the schedule – the Bulldogs needed to win three times on Monday (May 9) in order to reach the title game. Behind a monstrous 10-hit day from Jay Adams, Concordia did just that. The Bulldogs ended a muggy spring night at Plum Creek Park with a walk-off celebration near first base.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad earned a win on Monday over Briar Cliff, 25-6, and then two over Northwestern, 20-10 and 5-4. The Red Raiders had entered the day in the driver’s seat of the Concordia Bracket, but it would have been foolish to count out the powerful Bulldogs (35-14-1).
“It took a lot of gutsy performances by a lot of guys,” Dupic said. “The first thing you have to start with is we scored 50 runs in three games and did that in 21 innings. We were able to put so much pressure on people offensively that it allowed us to do some things and make some good decisions. We got some gutsy performances out of Christian Gutierrez and Caden Bugarske. They pitched deep into the game to allow us to have some bullpen options available for the last game. We had guys step up like Alec Blakestad and Shane Whittaker – we have some guys playing hurt and just pushing through.”
The pride of Waverly, Neb., Adams won’t ever forget this day. It started with him belting a home run in each of his first three at bats and concluded with him driving in the walk-off run in the bottom of the seventh of the nail-biting finale with Northwestern. Adams and company effectively completed a comeback from a 4-0 deficit in the winner-take-all Concordia Bracket battle. Fittingly, Adams began the rally with a two-run homer (fourth blast of the day) in the third inning.
Only the eye-popping numbers by Adams could make the team’s total home run output for the day something of a footnote. The hot and breezy conditions on Monday perfectly suited the Bulldogs’ thunderous lineup. In the process of breaking the school record for home runs in a single season (now at an even 100), Concordia went deep 14 times on the day. In addition to four blasts from Adams, Keaton Candor and Joey Grabanski slugged three homers apiece while Jakob Faulk, Jesse Garcia, Teyt Johnson and Jaidan Quinn left the yard once apiece.
Said Adams, “It was do-or-die today and we came out together and fought for each other. It really showed. We just gave it to the next guy – that’s really all we did today. It seemed to work out pretty well for us.”
Adams went 6-for-6 with six runs, three home runs a double and eight RBIs in the demolition of Briar Cliff. Adams tied a program single game record for home runs while breaking school standards for hits and runs scored. As a team, the Bulldogs pounded out 22 hits and took six walks versus the Chargers. The team’s nine homers in that contest set a new school record for one game. All six Briar Cliff pitchers who saw action allowed at least three hits.
It wasn’t just Adams. On the day, Grabanski went 5-for-10 with three homers and 10 RBIs. Garcia went 6-for-13 with a homer and four RBIs. Candor went 5-for-13 with three blasts and eight RBIs. By day’s end, Candor pushed his career homer total to 45. One of his hits was a grand slam that provided plenty of breathing room in the first matchup with Northwestern. The Red Raiders (22-26) had clawed back within 11-10 after trailing 10-0. Concordia responded with a nine-run top of the seventh.
In the day’s first game, Gutierrez tossed all seven innings and got the win. Bugarske then went 5.2 innings in the second game and also picked up a victory. In the capper, Nathan Buckallew and Jacob Lycan were the stars on the mound. Buckallew helped save the Bulldogs’ bacon with 4.1 shutout innings of relief. Lycan then got the final four outs and was credited with the win.
There were plenty of other noteworthy plays and performances. Never an easy out near the bottom of the Concordia lineup, Ty Nekoliczak led off the bottom of the seventh of the final game by being hit by the pitch. He moved to second on Tanner Tompkins’ sac bunt and then aggressively took third on a ball in the dirt. With the Northwestern infield drawn in, Adams clinched another run to the GPAC title game.
“We did a great job of just staying with things,” Dupic said. “I didn’t really sense that anyone was getting too into their own head about it, which I really appreciated. The closer for Northwestern (Colton Schuchart) is outstanding – he’s an exceptional pitcher. He did a really good job, and we really had to scratch and claw for that. I thought our guys really battled and competed.”
Next up is the GPAC Championship Game. As the No. 2 seed, Concordia will host fifth-seeded Jamestown (28-22) with first pitch set for 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday (May 10). Below is a quick rundown on the title matchup. The prize for winning the game will be an automatic berth in the NAIA national tournament.
2022 GPAC Baseball Championship Game
(5) Jamestown at (2) Concordia
Tuesday, May 10 | 6 p.m. CT | Plum Creek Park
--Live Webcast | Live Stats
Admission: Admission is $10 for adults/senior citizens and $3 for K-12. Only those with NAIA passes and GPAC student ID’s will be admitted free of charge.
By the numbers
· The Bulldogs have advanced to the GPAC Championship Game for the fourth time in program history. The three prior appearances came in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Below are the results of those championship games. Concordia and Jamestown also met in the title game in 2019.
o 2017 – Midland 5, Concordia 3 (Seward)
o 2019 – Jamestown 3, Concordia 0 (Yankton, S.D.)
o 2021 – Concordia 7, Doane 2 (Seward)
· Not even the NAIA World Series qualifying Bulldog squad of 2021 pounded more homers than this 2022 edition. Concordia entered Monday with 86 homers for the season and ended it at 100. The ’21 team produced 90 homers as part of a 42-win season.
· The team home run chase of 2022 is still a four-horse race between Joey Grabanski (17), Jay Adams (16), Keaton Candor (16) and Jaidan Quinn (15). With 17 homers, Grabanski has equaled his program single-season record set in 2021. In addition, Grabanski and Adams now both have 60 RBIs in 2022. That ties another program record held by Grabanski (2021).
· Adams went 10-for-16 with nine runs, a double, four homers and 11 RBIs on Monday. He’s now broken his own program record in a single season for hits with 78. Adams’ previous record of 76 was set last season in 2021. On the season, Adams is hitting .396 with 61 runs, 14 doubles, 16 home runs, 60 RBIs, a .472 on-base percentage and .711 slugging percentage.
· Concordia will have to be creative with its pitching staff on Tuesday. The Bulldogs have burned their four main starting hurlers over the past few days – Alex Johnson, Caden Johnson, Christian Gutierrez and Caden Bugarske (in that order). Shane Whittaker got the start in the final game on Monday before giving way to the bullpen.
· Jamestown emerged as the winner of the Doane Bracket while claiming GPAC tournament victories over Morningside, 8-2, Doane, 5-2, and Doane, 13-6, (again). Doane has already earned an automatic bid to nationals by way of winning the GPAC regular season title. The Jimmies have yet to win the conference regular season championship since joining the GPAC (first season in 2019), but they now have their sights set on a second GPAC tournament title. Now in his 23rd season as head coach, Tom Hager has won more than 750 games at the helm of the Jimmies.