POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – In continuing an early theme, the pitching staff was nearly spotless as the Concordia University Baseball team took two from host College of the Ozarks on Saturday (Feb. 27). The Bulldogs allowed a grand total of four hits while winning by scores of 5-0 and 5-1 in action at Bob Smith Field in Point Lookout, Mo. Jake Fosgett and Trenton Wood dazzled on the mound.
Seventh-year Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad won three of four overall in the weekend series with the Bobcats. Concordia went 5-1 in its first week of the 2021 season.
“We got two good starts,” Dupic said of his pitchers. “Those guys really got us off to a good start and did a great job and we played well defensively. We got to see guys play outside and get a better pulse for where we stand. I think some of our thoughts were confirmed and there were some things we were surprised by in a good way. We’ll keep improving and go from there.”
Fosgett retired the first nine hitters he faced before running into a bout of wildness in the fourth inning of game 1. Fosgett did not surrender a single hit over four frames while striking out six. Lukas Diehm (two innings) and Caden Johnson (one inning) shared the workload the rest of the way while polishing off a combined two-hit shutout. Ozarks went hitless until a two-out double in the sixth.
Wood has flashed dominant stuff in his first two starts as a Bulldog. The native of Troy, Ohio, covered 5.2 innings of game 2 and collected his first win with his new team. Wood fanned eight hitters and allowed just one run on two hits and three walks. Cale Mathison recorded the final out of the sixth before Adrian Cotton fired a 1-2-3 seventh to close the weekend.
Concordia jumped out to a quick lead in the opener on Saturday when Jesse Garcia connected for his first homer of the season. Keaton Candor and Joey Grabanski also produced a home run apiece in game 2. In game 1, Garcia went 3-for-3 with a walk while Jayden Adams went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. It was a big weekend for Candor, who notched three hits in six at-bats on Saturday. He drove in two runs in game 2. Kyle Berg and Alec Blakestad also contributed with an RBI apiece.
The only run of the day for College of the Ozarks (2-6) came home on a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning of game 2. The Bobcats likely won’t be the last team to flail away at Bulldog pitching. Ozarks went down on strikes 19 times on Saturday – after striking out 20 times on Friday.
The stolen base may be a more useful element of the Concordia offense this season. Pinch runner extraordinaire Peyton Scott has already swiped eight bags (in nine tries), including five in the series. The Bulldogs have stolen 17 bases through six games.
The Bulldogs will wait until next Saturday (March 6) to return to action. They have a doubleheader scheduled for that date in Sabetha, Kan., where they will take on Grand View University (Iowa) (1-2). The same two sides are also set to play a twin bill on Sunday, March 7.