VIDEO: Seth Claybourne dominates in relief
VIDEO: Jaidan Quinn's 98th career home run
LINCOLN, Neb. – Both teams fought like their seasons depended upon it in a seemingly endless elimination battle in the NAIA Opening Round Lincoln Bracket. At long last, in the bottom of the 16th, the aggressive baserunning of Ty Matthews resulted in the walk-off run that ignited a Wildcat celebration near first base. Fourth-seeded Indiana Wesleyan University outlasted the second-seeded Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball team, 8-7, in a grueling clash played in 90-degree spring heat on Wednesday (May 14). Out of gas, the Wildcats then fell to Webber International University (Fla.), 11-1, in the Lincoln Bracket final.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad ended the 2025 campaign at 41-13 overall while extending program streaks of 40-win seasons to four and national tournament appearances to six. It took a special group of seniors to make such dream seasons become reality.
“Obviously we’re bummed out about the result today,” Dupic said. “Baseball can be a crazy game sometimes. Nobody could stop anybody from scoring the first six or seven innings and then nobody could score for about eight. It was a weird flow to the game … I’ll really miss the seniors. They’re good kids. They’re really good players and all that kind of stuff, but I just enjoy being around them. I’ll miss that as much as anything. They’ve accomplished so much over the past few years. It’s hard to put it into words.”
There were plenty of postgame hugs for Concordia senior pitcher Seth Claybourne, an Omaha product. Claybourne entered the game with one out in the bottom of the eighth and the game tied at 7-7. Another eight innings later, the Millard West High School alum remained on the hill. Claybourne kept throwing scoreless innings while making 99 pitches. He allowed just a single unearned run on two hits and two walks (eight strikeouts) in 8.1 innings.
On the other side, Brock Buckley put together a superhuman performance of his own. Two days after firing a one-hit shutout to beat Mount Mercy, Buckley came back and went 7.1 innings with just one run surrendered as the third Wildcat out of the bullpen on Wednesday. Once Buckley was finally removed after the 12th inning, Kevin Corcoran took the ball and worked four shutout frames with not even a single hit allowed. In other words, both bullpens were dynamite.
Said Dupic, “I’ve never seen anything like it in 18 years of college baseball. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone do such a good job just running on fumes those last couple of innings. It says a lot about Seth and his heart. He was so tired, but I felt like we had to keep rolling with him. Everyone was pretty proud of him and what he did.”
The prime extra-innings scoring chance for Concordia occurred in the 12th when Cade Vanis and Ty Nekoliczak drew back-to-back walks to open the inning. After slugger Jaidan Quinn put down a rare sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, Buckley fanned both Jaeden Jordahl and Brad Hallock to end the threat. An inning later, Corcoran wriggled himself free of a first-and-third, no-out jam.
Finally, Indiana Wesleyan (33-22) ended it in the 16th. The push began when Matthews reached on an error with one out. Two batters later, Caleb Engelsman singled to right field. Instead of settling for third, Matthews raced home while catching the Bulldogs napping. Drained of their pitching depth, the Wildcats forged one more memorable moment in their season.
The man who caught Claybourne enjoyed a fine day himself as Tanner Tompkins notched four hits and drove in three runs. His two-run single immediately put Concordia in front in the top of the first. One inning later, Quinn left the yard for one final time in his impeccable career. Quinn’s two-run shot to left center marked his 98th blast in a Bulldog uniform. Concordia led by a 4-1 score at the time and owned a 7-4 advantage after six frames.
The contest also signaled the end of the line for senior Christian Gutierrez, who made the 43rd start of his collegiate career. The program’s all-time winningest pitcher covered 6.2 innings (six runs on 10 hits) on Wednesday. Dupic then turned to Alex Griess for two outs before Claybourne put forth his workhorse performance.
There are eight Concordia seniors who earned GPAC All-Conference awards in 2025, including the GPAC Player of the Year Quinn and GPAC Pitcher of the Year Alex Johnson. Their production will be difficult to replace, but the statistics and accolades won’t ever be what comes to mind first when Dupic recalls this collection of young men.
In summing things up, Dupic offered, “I’ll miss the seniors more as people than anything. I’ll miss seeing them at practice every day. Sometimes when you’re a coach, you feel like you have to be somebody else. Around these guys, I didn’t have to be somebody else. I could just be myself. I think that’s as good of a compliment as you can give. Everybody looks at you as a coach and you’re supposed to do everything right and never make any mistakes. These guys didn’t view me like that. That’s when you’re part of a family. I’ll miss their maturity and the way they invested in relationships.”
Lincoln Bracket Game Schedule | Bracket (PDF)
Monday, May 12
· Game 1 – (4) Indiana Wesleyan def. (5) Mount Mercy, 3-0
· Game 2 – (2) Concordia def. (3) Science and Arts, 5-4
· Game 3 – (1) Webber International vs. (4) Indiana Wesleyan, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, May 13
· Game 4 – (3) Science and Arts def. (5) Mount Mercy, 6-3
· Game 5 – (1) Webber International def. (2) Concordia, 3-0
· Game 6 – (4) Indiana Wesleyan def. (3) Science and Arts, 11-9
Wednesday, May 14
· Game 7 – (4) Indiana Wesleyan def. (2) Concordia, 8-7 (16 inn.)
· Game 8 – (1) Webber International def. (4) Indiana Wesleyan, 11-1
--Webber International has advanced to the NAIA World Series.