SEWARD, Neb. – The battery of pitcher Alex Johnson and catcher Jake Watson have combined for a Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball sweep of GPAC weekly awards. As announced by the league office on Tuesday (April 21), Johnson was named GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Pitcher of the Week and Watson was tabbed GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Player of the Week. Both Johnson (three) and Watson (two) have earned multiple GPAC weekly honors in 2026.
A graduate student from Olathe, Kan., Johnson has surged down the stretch of the regular season. In his start at Dakota Wesleyan last week, Johnson covered six innings and amassed 14 strikeouts while surrendering one run on six hits and two walks. Over his past two starts, Johnson has tallied 29 punchouts in 13 innings. Johnson has won all six of his outings within conference play and sports a 3.81 ERA overall this season (52 innings). Johnson leads all NAIA starting pitchers with a strikeout rate of 15.75 per nine innings. On Concordia’s all-time lists, Johnson currently ranks first in strikeouts (302), first in games started (48), fifth in wins (24), seventh in innings pitched (221.2) and seventh in ERA (3.45). Johnson holds a degree in Psychology and is in the MBA program at Concordia.
A sophomore out of Lincoln Christian High School, Watson has enjoyed a breakout season. He caught every inning of last week’s series at Dakota Wesleyan and went 9-for-17 (.529) at the plate. His production included three doubles, a home run and nine RBIs. At catcher, he handled 54 of 55 chances and was on the receiving end of 53 strikeouts totaled by Bulldog pitchers in 29 innings. On the season, Watson is batting .360 with a .468 on-base percentage and a .664 slugging percentage to go along with 12 doubles, eight home runs and 39 RBIs.
During the final week of the regular season, Concordia (31-14, 19-5 GPAC) will host Morningside on Thursday and will travel to Hastings on Saturday. The GPAC tournament is scheduled to get underway on April 29.
2026 GPAC Players of the Week
April 21 – Alex Johnson (Pitcher) / Jake Watson (Player)
April 14 – Alex Johnson (Pitcher)
March 3 – Jake Watson (Player)
Feb. 24 – Alex Johnson (Pitcher)
Feb. 11 – Sam Bespoyasny (Pitcher)