SEWARD, Neb. – On the heels of rising to the top of the school’s all-time strikeouts list, graduate student Alex Johnson has been honored as the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Pitcher of the Week. The league office announced the award on Tuesday (April 14). Johnson has earned a GPAC weekly award for the second time this season and for the fourth time in his career. As a team, Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball has pulled in four GPAC Player of the Week awards in 2026.
The latest recognition for the Bulldog ace pitcher results from his work last week, which included starts against Dordt and Northwestern. In the 6-3 win at Dordt, Johnson covered 4.2 innings with three runs (two earned) allowed on two hits and three walks. He set down seven Defenders on strikes. Five days later, Johnson racked up a career-high 15 strikeouts in a seven-inning complete game victory over Northwestern. Johnson limited the Red Raiders to one run on four hits (no walks). For the week, Johnson piled up 22 strikeouts in 11.2 innings.
In his outing versus Northwestern, Johnson became the program’s all-time strikeout leader. His 288 career strikeouts surpassed Jason Munsch (281) for the top spot on the list. On the school’s all-time lists, Johnson also ranks first in games started (47), fifth in wins (23), seventh in innings pitched (215.2) and ninth in ERA (3.51). He is the reigning GPAC Pitcher of the Year and was an NAIA Preseason All-American. Johnson heads a pitching staff that currently leads the NAIA in strikeouts per nine innings (11.63).
Said Head Coach Ryan Dupic of Johnson, “I love how Alex pitches, but I love him more as a person. He’s the type of person that goes out of his way to see how you’re doing. He cares about people and he’s a role model for kids. I just can’t say enough good things about him. He’ll never be as good of a pitcher as he is a person.”
The Bulldogs (28-13, 16-4 GPAC) will resume GPAC play this week with doubleheaders at Dakota Wesleyan on Thursday and Sunday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. CT on both days.