Head Coach Ryan Dupic and the Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball program knew the day would come when it would cycle out many of the greatest players in program history. The latest stars to exhaust their eligibility include the likes of program home run king Jaidan Quinn, 2025 breakthrough slugger Brad Hallock and four-year middle infield mainstay Ty Nekoliczak. A year earlier, the Bulldogs said goodbye to Jay Adams, Alec Blakestand and Joey Grabanski.
A whole lot of firepower has moved on. But on a seemingly annual basis, Dupic and his staff retreat to the lab and begin the fall semester concocting yet another 40-win team. In a late-October conversation, Dupic admits that there is more uncertainty facing this particular team than most Concordia editions of the recent past.
“We probably still feel like there are more unknowns within our team than previous years,” Dupic said. “That’s not anybody’s fault. It’s just because in years past we’ve had so many returners coming back and a few things pretty well cemented. I think this team will have a chance to have quality depth at certain spots. There are returners who have come back and are better than the year before. Also, there’s an influx of new players that are going to play for sure. It’ll be a nice blend of returners and newcomers … We’re going to play some different people early in the season to get a sense for how things are going.”
No one on the outside is about to take the Bulldogs lightly, considering they are one of six NAIA baseball programs to win 40 or more games in each of the past five seasons. Somewhat incredibly, there are two players on the current roster who have been around for the entirety of that stretch. Veteran pitchers Caden Bugarske and Alex Johnson are being leaned upon to help set the tone in terms of what is expected inside the Concordia dugout. Injuries and redshirt seasons will keep them around into the spring of 2026.
Dupic would love to be able to lean upon the pitching staff, especially early in the spring when the position player pieces are still coming together. Perhaps most encouraging this fall have been the throwing sessions of Bugarske (who missed all of 2025) and Johnson. A contributor to the 2021 NAIA World Series team and reigning GPAC Pitcher of the Year, Johnson has responded well physically after logging 69 innings in 2025. As for Bugarske, Dupic says the Boerne, Texas, native would be ready to roll now if there were upcoming scrimmages or intra-squads to be played.
“Those guys are such humble and hungry guys,” Dupic said of Bugarske and Johnson. “They always want to keep getting better and keep improving. That’s the thing we’ve learned about the fifth- and sixth-year guys. If you’re a humble guy and really believe in what you do, and have that burning desire to do well, it can work out really well. Those two guys are great. It’s been really encouraging because we lost so many players and so many impactful players and people in our program. To have a little experience and maturity in those guys is nice to help onboard some of these new players and bring up the returners as well.”
Similar to past years, Concordia spent much of the fall engaging in intra-squads while also taking on a junior college opponent and hosting a weekend gathering for family members of staff and players. With more than 30 new student-athletes (freshmen and transfers) arriving at the start of the semester, Dupic and his staff (including top assistant Ben Berg) took advantage of opportunities to evaluate many players in new roles. A year ago, the Bulldogs were tasked with replacing their entire outfield. Now they must break in a whole new infield and replenish the catcher position.
During Dupic’s tenure, the program has been adept at identifying transfers who can blend into the team’s culture and provide immediate production. One example from last season is Miles Community College transfer Jaeden Jordahl, who took hold of the starting left field position and earned First Team All-GPAC honors in year one with the Bulldogs. The Billings, Mont., native posted a junior year slash line of .342 BA / .479 OBP / .604 SLG and projects to hit in the meat of the order in 2026.
Concordia will be looking for more stories like that to emerge as it aims to stay at the top of the GPAC standings. Says Dupic of Jordahl, “He’s a really consistent player. His skills are such that he’s probably going to stay out of the lows and the valleys, if you will. He’s a pretty athletic player in general. I think he’s a lot more of a baseball player than just some physically imposing force. He’s got good bat-to-ball skills. He just knows how to hit. He finds barrel all the time. He doesn’t expand the zone too much. His skills are just so scalable to be consistent over time. We feel like as long as we can keep him healthy – he had some hiccups last year at various times – he’s a quality, foundational player for you. He has a chance to grow and rise to a higher ceiling.”
The list of other returning position players who saw extensive playing time last year is lean. It includes outfielders Bronx Lewis, Cade Vanis and Alex Draper and program base stealing standard bearer Zackery Day. One transfer coming on strong is Luke Wilson (also via Miles CC), who can catch and play outfield. Many of the position battles taking place will be revisited by Dupic post New Year’s.
Though the pitching staff took hits with the graduation of Braxton Greenburg and Christian Gutierrez, there are plenty of proven arms that figure to help make the Bulldogs a contender as usual. In addition to Johnson and Bugarske, Micah Sweeton enters his sophomore season, and closer Daiten Schmidt is back for his senior year. Out of the bullpen, DJ Andersen is capable of dominance if he can return from the injury that kept him out nearly all of 2025 GPAC play.
“We’re going to need to pitch well,” Dupic said. “There’s not a scenario where this team has a great year without pitching well. We definitely have to rely on some of that. We need guys like Alex and Caden Bugarske coming back from injury and Micah Sweeton taking another step as part of his process. We get Daiten Schmidt back. Can we get DJ Andersen healthy for the entire season? We saw what he was capable of down at Southeastern last year. Sam Rambajan was the first pitcher out of the bullpen for us at the national tournament. He really progressed throughout the course of the year. It’s about finding consistency and doing it week by week. Then you supplement them with returners and newcomers who are improving. We have guys like Ernie Synder who have been in the program a long time and have a chance to finish their careers strong. Pitching needs to play a big role for us to have a good season.”
Player development does not stop simply because official fall practices and scrimmages have concluded. Indoor bullpen sessions and hitting within the on-campus hitting center will carry on during the winter months. As Dupic points out, “There might be a guy or two that can jump or come out of nowhere. Daiten Schmidt was that way this time last year. He wasn’t even really healthy or doing a lot. He ended up having a great year. A lot can change between right now and the spring. You have to keep plugging away and hope for some good things down the line.”
The 2026 Concordia Baseball schedule is yet to be announced at the time of publication. When finalized, the ’26 slate will be made public on the program’s official schedule webpage HERE.