SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia baseball team played host to Dakota Wesleyan to open up GPAC play Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs and Tigers split the day with Dakota Wesleyan taking the first game, 3-0 and Concordia the second, 11-10. Christian Meza hit a walk-off single to bring in Logan Ryan for the winning run.
The ‘Dogs move to 15-15 and 1-1 in the GPAC while the Tigers are now 14-11 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Head coach Ryan Dupic said, “It was pretty crazy. We had a really good pitching outing in the first game, Mark (Harris) was excellent. We just weren’t able to get things going offensively which was unfortunate. Being down 8-2 in the second game and being able to come back offensively was really nice. It was good to see the guys have some fight and to compete…I’m very proud.”
With their backs against the wall in the bottom of the eighth inning, down 8-2, the Bulldogs blasted the Tigers and put up eight runs to take the lead. After Casey Berg and Johnny May both drew walks, Taylor Dudley singled to left field to score Berg. Alex Alstott was walked to fill the bases before a Tiger pitching change. After being walked to score another run, Meza was advanced to third off a two-run double from Christian Montero. Tyler Nelson was up next in the batter’s box and batted in two more with a double. Berg was up for a second time in the inning and recorded a triple this time, sending another Bulldog home. Berg then scored again off a single from May. Heading into the top of the ninth, the Bulldogs held a 10-8 lead.
Wesleyan was not going down without a fight. A walk, double and single from the Tigers made it a tie ballgame at 10 all. The bottom half of the frame featured a single to center from Ryan. Alstott walked, bringing Meza to the plate. The single to center field brought in Ryan for the game-winning run. The Bulldogs recorded 17 hits in the game.
Meza said, “It was fun, everyone around me was awesome, it was a good time. It was defiantly a team win, not all about me. I’m happy for the team to get a win.”
Josue Melchor was credited with the win and struck out two batters. Starting the game was Cole Jackson who pitched 4.1 innings. Josh Prater saw 3.2 innings of action. Each of the latter hurlers struck out three Tigers.
“We strung some really good at bats together, it’s kind of all a blur thinking back to it,” Dupic said.
Mark Harris was on the mound for the first half of Saturday’s twin bill. Harris pitched all seven innings and struck out seven Tigers while walking just one Dakota Wesleyan batter. Alstott, Berg and Jake Adams all recorded a hit during the game.
Concordia will have a very quick turn around and face Briar Cliff tomorrow at Plum Creek Park. The twin bill is slated to begin at 1 p.m. in Seward. A live webcast will be available on the Concordia Sports Network with Frank Greene on the call HERE.