SIOUX CITY, Iowa – It was a day of Morningside capitalizing on the mistakes and shortcomings of the 15th-ranked Concordia University Baseball team. In Sunday (April 14) action in Sioux City, Iowa, the Bulldogs were unable to hold leads of 6-0 in the first game and 7-4 in the second game while falling twice at the hands of the Mustangs. The home team pounded out 25 hits on the day and triumphed by scores of 14-12 and 11-9 in two more slugfests.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad (29-12, 13-7 GPAC) won the first of the four-game set before dropping the next three. Concordia will look to shore up its pitching and defense moving forward. As Dupic stated simply, “We will have to try and regroup and play better in the games to come.”
The loss in the series finale was a gut punch in the way that it unfolded. The Bulldog lineup did its part in the top of the eighth while scoring four runs on three hits and four walks. An RBI apiece in that frame went to Jaidan Quinn, Joey Grabanski, Alec Blakestad and Brad Hallock, allowing Concordia to take a 7-4 lead. However, things unraveled in the bottom half as Morningside put up five runs on six hits in wrestling away control of the game. A two-out, two-run homer by Quinn (20th of the season) in the ninth proved too little, too late.
The lack of ability to prevent runs marred another solid offensive day for the Bulldogs. They simply couldn’t outhit their mistakes (11 unearned runs in series game No. 3) or find consistency on the mound. Junior right-hander Christian Gutierrez enjoyed the most success from a pitching perspective in logging seven innings in the series finale. Gutierrez was pulled in the eighth after the first three batters reached base. Gutierrez wound up being charged with seven runs on 12 hits and three walks. From a volume perspective, Gutierrez has been a bullpen saver while covering six or more innings in six of his past seven starts.
Concordia’s lineup came through with 25 hits of its own on Sunday. Quinn and Grabanski (79th career homer) notched a home run apiece. Second baseman Ty Nekoliczak went 4-for-6 with six runs and a stolen base while reaching base in seven of nine plate appearances. Meanwhile, Jay Adams (5-for-8 with two RBIs) and Quinn (5-for-10 with six runs and six RBIs) put together five-hit days. Blakestad and Grabanski recorded three hits apiece.
Morningside (26-14, 13-7 GPAC) pulled even with the Bulldogs for second place in the GPAC standings. The Mustangs got three hits from Aiden Bishop in game three and three knocks from Jacob O’Dell in game four. The winning pitchers were Joe Harris and Tanner Vercellino. The major highlights of the day for Morningside were outbursts of eight runs in the second inning of game three and seven runs in the eighth inning of game four.
Prior to first pitch, Morningside took a moment to recognize Grabanski. The Grand Forks, N.D., native became the NAIA’s all-time home record holder on Saturday when he left the yard twice. By the end of the weekend, Grabanski moved to No. 5 among all collegiate players in history, across all divisions, for career home runs. As a team, the Bulldogs homered eight times in the four-game series held at MercyOne Field.
The six-game road swing will continue this coming Friday when the Bulldogs will take on Jamestown (25-11, 11-7 GPAC) up in North Dakota. First pitch from Jack Brown Stadum is slated for 2 p.m. CT. In last season's matchup, Concordia swept a home doubleheader from the Jimmies. This will be Jamestown’s final season as a member of the GPAC.