SEWARD, Neb. – For the Concordia University Baseball team, an automatic bid to the national tournament will have to wait. However, the Bulldogs still have hopes of claiming the No. 2 seed in the GPAC tournament and the right to host one of the league's two four-team pods. Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad is coming off a four-game series sweep of Dordt. The road swing to close the regular season will continue this Thursday-Friday with four contests at Briar Cliff. The Bulldogs stand at 29-12-1 overall (18-6 GPAC) and reside in second place in the GPAC standings.
This Week
Thursday, April 28 at Briar Cliff (25-15, 13-9 GPAC), 11 a.m. DH
--Live Webcast | Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
Friday, April 29 at Briar Cliff (25-15, 13-9 GPAC), 1 p.m. DH
--Live Webcast | Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
By the numbers
· On the strength of a six-game win streak, Concordia has put itself in a strong position to be one of the two hosts for the GPAC tournament. The streak began with two home wins over Mount Marty and continued last week with a dominant series sweep of Dordt. The Bulldogs defeated the Defenders by scores of 3-2, 15-3, 9-2 and 14-5. Over the four games combined, Concordia outscored Dordt, 41-12, and outhomered Dordt, 12-4. At 18-6 in the GPAC, the Bulldogs entered Tuesday four games behind first-place Doane (22-2 GPAC) and two games in the loss column in front of Mount Marty (14-8 GPAC).
· Right fielder Keaton Candor was recognized as the GPAC Player of the Week following a monster series at Dordt. Over the four-game set, Candor went 7-for-16 (.438) with five runs, a double, four home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.250 slugging percentage. The native of Merrill, Iowa, passed Zak Goodrich (152 runs) on the career runs scored list last week and now has 155 runs. Candor also owns program career records for games played (207), home runs (41), RBIs (173) and walks (102). On the season, Candor has notched 12 home runs and 45 RBIs while approaching the career highs he posted last season – 13 home runs and 50 RBIs.
· The offense gets plenty of well-deserved attention, but the pitching staff has played a key role in the active six-game win streak. Over the six games, Concordia has an ERA of 2.15 with 59 strikeouts and just 11 walks in 46 innings. Bulldog pitchers have held opposing hitters to a .189 batting average during that stretch. Christian Gutierrez has made two starts during the streak and is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 14 innings (two complete games). Of the 46 innings pitched as a staff, the starters have covered all but seven innings.
· The ace of the pitching staff has been sophomore right-hander Alex Johnson, who still has yet to allow more than two earned runs in any of his 10 appearances this season. In his start at Dordt, Johnson racked up a season high 11 strikeouts (one off a career high) in 6.1 innings. The Olathe, Kan., native held the Defenders to one earned run on five hits and three walks. On the season, Johnson is 6-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 44 innings. After being used carefully early in the campaign (in terms of workload), Johnson has gone at least five innings in each of his last five starts.
· The Bulldogs used the gusty conditions at Dordt to their advantage last week. Six different Concordia hitters contributed to the home run total of 12 at Dordt: Candor (four), Joey Grabanski (three), Tanner Tompkins (two), Jay Adams (one), Ben Berg (one) and Jakob Faulk (one). The chase for the team season home run lead has intensified. There’s currently a four-way tie between Adams, Candor, Grabanski and Jaidan Quinn, all of whom have gone deep 12 times in 2022. The 2022 team has also begun to creep up on the school record of 90 home runs in a season by the 2021 NAIA World Series qualifying squad. The ’22 team has homered 77 times.
· With one more victory, Concordia will reach 30 overall wins for the fourth time in seven full seasons during Dupic’s tenure (the 2020 campaign was limited to 21 games due to the COVID-19 shutdown). In each of those seven seasons, the Bulldogs have at least hit the 25-win mark. Prior to Dupic’s arrival, Concordia had reached 25 wins only once in program history. Overall, Dupic sports a career coaching record of 231-140-1. He’s gone 115-61 within conference play. The resume also includes four total GPAC championships (three regular season, one postseason), three national tournaments and an NAIA World Series appearance.
The opponent
Briar Cliff was getting set to take on Mount Marty in a doubleheader on Tuesday. Mathematically, the Chargers could still place as high as second in the GPAC standings. The biggest standouts for Head Coach Corby McGlauflin’s squad include slugger Cam Riemer (.347 BA, 11 HR, .729 SLG) and pitcher Jacob Wesselmann (3-5, 3.44 ERA, 10.15 K/9). Within conference games, Briar Cliff sports GPAC rankings of sixth in runs scored per game (5.4) and fifth in ERA (5.23). During the 2021 season, the Bulldogs won five of six matchups over the Chargers.
GPAC Tournament
Pod play at the GPAC tournament will run May 5-7 with the top two seeds serving as the host teams. The conference tournament championship game is set for May 10. Concordia is aiming to host pod play for the third year in a row and for the fourth time in five seasons.