2025 NAIA Opening Round Schedule
SEWARD, Neb. – History will be made this coming Monday (May 12) when the Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball program plays the role of NAIA National Championship Opening Round host for the first time ever. As part of national tournament selection day on Wednesday, the Bulldogs learned they had been tagged with the No. 2 seed in the Lincoln Bracket. As part of next week’s action, Concordia will be joined at Sherman Field in Lincoln, Neb., by top seed Webber International (Fla.), No. 3 seed Science and Arts (Okla.), No. 4 seed Indiana Wesleyan and No. 5 seed Mount Mercy. The opening round features a double-elimination style bracket.
The field for the 2025 Lincoln Bracket includes:
· No. 1 Webber International (41-13)
· No. 2 Concordia (40-11)
· No. 3 Science and Arts (34-18)
· No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan (29-21)
· No. 5 Mount Mercy (33-21)
Location: Sherman Field | Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln Bracket Schedule
All times CDT
Monday, May 12
Game 1 – (4) Indiana Wesleyan vs. (5) Mount Mercy, 11 a.m.
Game 2 – (2) Concordia vs. (3) Science and Arts, 3 p.m.
Game 3 – (1) Webber International vs. Game 1 Winner, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, May 13
Game 4 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 11 a.m.
Game 5 – Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 3 p.m.
Game 6 – Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Winner, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 14
Game 7 – Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 Winner, 12 p.m.
Game 8 – Game 5 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 4 p.m.
Thursday, May 15
Game 9 – Game 8 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser (if necessary), 12 p.m.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad will enter the national tournament with an overall record of 40-11 and as champion of the GPAC regular season. The 2025 national tournament appearance will mark the seventh in the program’s history. Ranked No. 12 in the most recent NAIA coaches’ poll, the Bulldogs are one of only six NAIA baseball programs to win at least 40 games for the fifth-straight season. Concordia dominated the GPAC during the regular season, placing atop the standings by a full six games.
Each of the opposing teams headed to Lincoln have made at least one prior national tournament appearance. Among the group, Science and Arts leads the way with 10 national tournament qualifications. Every team in the Lincoln Bracket earned an automatic bid to the opening round.
The winners of all 10 opening round sites will head to Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) for the 68th annual Avista NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, May 23-31. For more information on the World Series, click HERE.
This year’s championship field includes 30 automatic qualifiers, 15 at-large selections, and one host bid. Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title or regular-season championship, or finished runner-up at the conference tournament or regular season as determined by each conference's qualification plan. The at-large bids were determined by the NAIA Baseball National Selection Committee.
Facts about Concordia at the national tournament
· A 2021 NAIA World Series qualifier, Concordia will appear in the opening round of the national tournament for the seventh time in program history. Each of those appearances have come during the tenure of Ryan Dupic, who first took the Bulldogs to the opening round in 2017. In previous appearances, the Bulldogs made their way to Hutchinson, Kan., in 2017, to Henderson, Tenn., in 2019, to Bellevue, Neb., in both 2021 and 2022, to Lawrenceville, Ga., in 2023, and to Bossier City, La., in 2024. Concordia is 13-11 all-time in opening round games and has won at least one national tournament game in each of the six prior appearances. Opening round wins have come over Jamestown (2017), Clarke University (2019), MidAmerica Nazarene University (twice in 2021), Bellevue (twice in 2021 and once in 2022), Central Methodist University (2022), Judson University (2022), Tabor College (2022), Saint Xavier University (2023), Midway University (2023) and Blue Mountain College (2024).
· It’s been rare for a GPAC team to reach the NAIA World Series. In fact, only once before Concordia reached that stage in 2021 had a GPAC squad advanced to the World Series – Briar Cliff accomplished that feat in 2005. One current GPAC member appeared in the World Series before the GPAC formed: Morningside in 1960. Briar Cliff went 0-2 in its 2005 trip to the World Series. No GPAC team has ever won a game at the World Series.
· The ’22 Bulldogs came within one win of a return trip to the World Series. While being sent to Bellevue for a second year in a row, Concordia dropped its first game of the tournament (5-1 to Judson) and then rallied back to claim four straight victories. The Bulldogs turned some heads when they routed host and sixth-ranked Bellevue, 16-2, to force a winner-take-all contest. In that blowout, Concordia went deep six times with one home run apiece coming from Jay Adams, Joey Grabanski, Jaidan Quinn, Keaton Candor, Jesse Garcia and Teyt Johnson. Caden Johnson fired seven strong innings in the triumph. Ultimately, the Bruins took the next game, 5-2, and booked their trip to the NAIA World Series. In 2023, the Bulldogs traveled to the home of Georgia Gwinnett and went 2-2. They were eliminated by Freed-Hardeman University in a game they led 8-5 after eight innings. A win in that contest would have put Concordia in the finals of the opening round against the host team. In last season’s opening round trip, the Bulldogs won once before being eliminated by host LSU Shreveport.
· While going 4-1 during the 2021 opening round, the Bulldogs outscored their opponents, 38-32. Four of the games were played at Brown Park in Omaha while one contest was played at Don Roddy Field in Bellevue. Keaton Candor paced the team at the plate in the opening round by going 8-for-23 (.348) with four doubles, three home runs and eight RBIs. Jakob Faulk also pounded three home runs (including two in the clinching game) and Jesse Garcia belted two blasts. Twelve different pitchers were used. Nick Little (9 IP) and Caden Bugarske (8.1 IP) logged the most innings during the opening round. Nathan Buckallew earned credit for two wins.
· Dupic has brought about what is certainly the golden age of Concordia Baseball. Prior to Dupic’s arrival in 2015, the Bulldogs had never been to a national tournament. The program had also not experienced a winning season since 1979 and had not won a conference championship since 1986 (8-4 in NIAC play) when Athletic Trainer Randy Baack pitched and played first base. In addition to leading Concordia to seven national tournaments, Dupic (364-188-1) became the winningest coach in program history as part of the 2024 season. During Dupic’s tenure (2015-present), the Bulldogs lead all GPAC baseball programs in overall wins (364), GPAC regular season wins (184), overall winning percentage (.659), conference regular season winning percentage (.674) and total GPAC championships (eight).
· The 2017 Bulldogs won the GPAC regular season title (tournament runner up) and became the first national tournament qualifier in program history. As part of that run, Casey Berg recorded the program’s first-ever hit at the national tournament with a single in the bottom of the first versus Jamestown on May 15, 2017. That appearance helped pave the way for the success Concordia is enjoying now. As a national tournament regular in the present, the Bulldog postseason roster includes five players making their fourth national tournament appearance: Christian Gutierrez, Ty Nekoliczak, Jaidan Quinn, Tanner Tompkins and Michael Welch. In addition, GPAC Pitcher of the Year Alex Johnson played a significant role for the ’21 team the advanced to the NAIA World Series. In 13 career national tournament games, GPAC Player of the Year Jaidan Quinn has batted .367 (18-for-49) with 18 runs, two doubles, five home runs and 19 RBIs.