With a name like Bronx Lewis, he was meant to play baseball. At a young age, he put on a glove and swung a bat, and that was that. The love affair with the sport only grew. That’s how it was supposed to be within a family bearing first names inspired by New York Yankees legends. Bronx is the older brother of Jeter and Gehrig and the younger brother of sister Morgan, who happens to share a birthday with the famed Derek Jeter.
Was there really any choice as to what Bronx would devote a good portion of his adolescence to? Also consider that his grandfather John Lewis spent 32 years as the head baseball coach at Kirkwood Community College (home to ‘Lewis Field’) in the family’s hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You have your answer.
“That’s the only thing I can remember,” Bronx said. “Before I could even play the game, I was watching the Yankees. Getting to be around the game that early and getting to see my grandpa coach as a bat boy was really cool. They gave me an option to play other sports – but it was basically, you’re going to play baseball because this is what we all love to do. It was never forced. It was a shared love of the game. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been in love with it.”
His love for the game shines through on the diamond. Bronx is the kind of player you show up to the ballpark to watch. If you only saw him play at the 2026 GPAC tournament, you felt it. As he strides to the plate, even the children in attendance stop what they’re doing to watch Bronx – including Coach Ryan Dupic’s boys. They wonder: will Bronx hit another bomb? He’s hit 23 of those in 173 at bats, so there’s a pretty good chance.
Over four games at the GPAC tournament, Lewis could do no wrong. He showcased the full spectrum of his skills and the slash line – .600 BA / .810 OBP / 1.900 SLG – looks like a misprint because it’s so impossibly good. On the first day of the tournament, the right fielder gunned down a runner at third – and then another one at home. He also made a sliding grab and crushed a home run. By the end of the tournament, the Doane Tigers wanted nothing to do with him. They intentionally walked him four straight times after he launched a home run in both the first and second innings.
“I’ve never felt this confident,” Bronx said a day after he was named a first team all-conference selection. “I’ve just trusted the work that I’ve put in. I haven’t had to think about mechanics or anything like that. You put in the work and then it’s time to let it show. Be confident. I think my trust in the guys around me is a big reason why I’m succeeding. Last year sometimes, it was in my head – I want to contribute. I think that kind of got in the way of success a little bit.”
Bronx and Assistant Head Coach Ben Berg are in agreement. The keys were simplicity and less thinking – stop overanalyzing. Bronx also tweaked his stance in the batter’s box following the 2025 season, his first as a Bulldog. The results were fine last season for the lefty hitter and thrower. He slashed .244/.397/.442 and grinded out 40 walks for one of the nation's best offensive teams. Bronx homered six times in 54 games.
What happened between then and now is not the norm. It’s almost as if former All-American slugger Jaidan Quinn (98 career homers at Concordia) transferred all of his powers over to Bronx before moving on to the next chapter of his life. In reality, Bronx believed he had more in the tank, and he was willing to put in the work, physically and mentally. The slash line this season looks like a Jaidan Quinn slash line – .347/.496/.815. The OPS of 1.311 jumps off the page. Bronx’s 23 homers rank as the third highest total in the NAIA this season. He’s grown accustomed to wearing the spiky ‘home run hat’ that is placed upon any Bulldog who leaves the yard.
So really, how did he do it? Says Berg, “He tinkered around with some stuff. He sent me some video over the summer of some stuff that really worked. He kind of changed his setup a little bit in his stance. I give the most credit to him for working really hard. I think one of the biggest things has been his ability to be more simple and convicted in what he’s doing. A lot of times last year, he was very complex in the way he thought about things. He was kind of searching for answers a lot of times. This year, he’s just had a much more confident and convicted demeanor. He’s been very simple with his process.”
These are the stories coaches love to tell – of the players who reached their full potential as upperclassmen who have matured and grown within their programs. That is Bronx. He admits he was far from a finished product when he began his college career at Kaskaskia College in Illinois. He hit .196 in 28 games before transferring to Kirkwood, a place where the Lewis name was well-established, where his father Darren and mother Erica met and where his grandfather reached legendary status (more than 1,000 career wins).
Bronx barely played as a sophomore in 2023, preserving a year of eligibility. He then hit .293 with four home runs in 39 games for the Eagles in 2024. Bronx had hoped he had done enough to attract the interest of college baseball coaches from four-year institutions. The process of finding another school proved stressful, at least in the beginning, for Bronx. Through an existing relationship with Kirkwood hitting coach Pete Lauritson, Concordia became aware of Bronx.
The Bulldogs needed to replace three outfield starters heading into the 2025 season. Bronx was an outfielder needing a place to play. It was an ideal match. It didn’t hurt that Bronx’s girlfriend Grace Zaugg (also a Kirkwood alum) received a scholarship offer to play softball for the Bulldogs. (Bronx was the first to commit to Concordia).
“I honestly hadn’t heard of Concordia at that point,” Bronx said. “I did some research and I was like, okay, they actually win a lot, so that’s good. That’s a good No. 1. Then I talked to Coach Dupic and the first three phone calls I had with him had nothing to do with baseball. The conversation was on such a personal level. That’s when I could tell that something was different about him and this place. It was really special. I was really impressed, especially knowing now that Dupic is straight to business. Him getting to know me on a personal level is not something you would expect out of a college coach talking to you for the first time. I really liked that.”
As Bronx learned, the culture yields winning beyond the results on the baseball field. He was blown away by the totality of the experience. Says Bronx, “I think the Christ-centered community is really cool. I had just gotten baptized that spring and had been diving into my faith. Learning that everyone here is of the same nature was a really big thing for me. I think it was a huge blessing, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to come here.”
Bronx has plenty to do with the maintenance of Concordia’s elite level in 2026 after the graduation of many of the most productive players in program history in recent years. He’s a prime example of how one can flourish when equipped with a healthy growth mindset. Not even a preseason hand injury was going slow him down or derail his final college baseball season. As Dupic commented following the GPAC tournament, “Bronx has played really well on both sides of the ball. It’s fun to see him in the same competitive space mentally in each pitch, and that consistent approach is showing.”
The approach at the plate revolves around discipline, aggression within the striking zone and driving the baseball. There are going to be strikeouts, but the off-the-charts production can’t be argued. With the help of those around him, Bronx has morphed into one of the top players in the GPAC and into an All-American candidate.
Says Bronx, “Honestly, it’s been very much a blessing to have some of those results this year. I put in a lot of work in the summer and over the offseason. We kind of tweaked some things. I talked to Ben a lot. We messed with some different things that we thought might help. The biggest thing I talked to Coach about between seasons was – you can either strike out way less or you can hit more home runs and extra base hits. I’ve struggled with some swing and miss this year, but I’ve been able to put the ball out of the yard a few times.”
Mickey Mantle is his grandfather’s all-time favorite Yankee, but the name Bronx suits him just fine. We won’t call him “Mr. October” or “Mr. November,” but Dupic and company would love for him to become “Mr. May” during the upcoming NAIA National Championship Opening Round. His final time wearing the No. 15 (also famously worn by the Yankees’ Thurman Munson) is soon to arrive.
Regardless of outcome, Bronx will reflect on his two seasons at Concordia as an influential period in his life. It’s part of his baseball journey that will continue in a coaching capacity. The Business Administration graduate plans to work at D-Bat Des Moines (a baseball training facility) and run youth camps with a future goal of coaching college baseball.
Says Bronx in reflection of his time with the Bulldogs, “The love I’ve been shown in this program, I’ve been able to reciprocate it and give it to everyone else. It’s been huge here. I’ll never forget my time here at Concordia.”