SALINA, Kan. – One of the NAIA’s most potent offensive teams went without a baserunner until there were two outs in fourth inning of Monday (May 11)’s NAIA National Championship Opening Round matchup. NAIA ninth-ranked Kansas Wesleyan University finally found traction in the middle innings against Bulldog starter Micah Sweeton and eked out a 5-4 win over the Concordia University, Nebraska Baseball team. A three-run homer by Niko Olson in the fifth proved to be the game’s big blow and propelled the No. 2 seed Coyotes into the winner’s bracket in Salina, Kan.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic has led his program into the NAIA Opening Round for the eighth time (all appearances since 2017). The Bulldogs will fight to keep their season alive on Tuesday in the consolation bracket.
“I thought we were probably two pitches away in each facet of the game,” Dupic said. “We missed a couple plus-count pitches that we needed to get against a good team like that. I thought Micah did a really nice job against one of the top offenses in the country. There was probably a pitch or two he wishes he could have back, but he threw 118 of them and did pretty well. Defensively, we had a couple plays get away from us. Most days we probably win like that, but when you’re playing a top 10 team in the country, the margin for error is small. We fought really hard. We just came up a little bit short.”
KWU entered the opening round as the national leader in runs scored, home runs and slugging percentage, but Sweeton appeared unfazed. The sophomore from Temecula, Calif., retired the first 11 hitters he faced (eight via strikeout) while combining an overpowering fastball with his array of breaking stuff. Sweeton wound up with 11 punchouts in seven innings. The first hit allowed by Sweeton was an infield grounder that Concordia was unable to convert into an out. The Coyotes turned that play into their first run.
Neither team led by more than two runs all day. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 advantage into the bottom of the fourth and led 2-1 before Olson’s blast in the fifth. KWU got the insurance run it needed in the seventh when Garrett Garfield’s RBI single made it 5-3. The top of the ninth became tense when Concordia’s Jaeden Jordahl drew a one-out walk. Zackery Day pinch ran and stole second to put the potential tying run in scoring position. Workhorse Coyote reliever Riley Gwin made clutch pitches to strike out Carson Burnett and Andrew Fetty to end the game. Before going down on strikes, Fetty lined a ball to right that narrowly fell foul.
The Bulldogs pushed across a run apiece in the second, fourth, seventh and eighth innings. Concordia waited out KWU starter Wil Yamka, who walked two and hit a batter to load the bases in the second. Third baseman Jimmy Blumberg knocked in a run with a fielder’s choice. Blumberg also got the Bulldogs within a run in the eighth when he lined a home run (sixth of 2026) to left. Additionally, Layton Rivas drove in a run with a bunt single in the fourth and Jordahl produced a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
In his first ever appearance in a national tournament game, Sweeton showed he belonged. Sweeton has racked up double-digit strikeout totals in three consecutive starts. Sweeton was relieved by Alex Griess, who worked a 1-2-3 eighth. On the other side, Yamka was pulled after 3.2 innings. Gwin went the final 5.1 innings (nine strikeouts) and earned the win. KWU (49-7) is hosting an NAIA Opening Round for the first time in its program’s history.
This was the first experience at the national tournament for a large number of Bulldogs, but Dupic liked the approach he saw. Said Dupic, “I felt like most of our guys were in the space mentally that they needed to be. We got in-between on some at bats as the game went on, but it was a baseball thing, not a moment thing. We had guys trying to solve problems in those moments.”
Concordia will return to Dean Evans Stadium in Salina for an 11 a.m. CT first pitch on Tuesday. The Bulldogs will play the loser between top seed Johnson University (Tenn.) and No. 4 seed Our Lady of the Lake University (Texas) in an elimination game. Conditions throughout the week are forecast to be warm in Salina. On Monday, the wind blew out towards left field.
Salina Bracket
Site: Dean Evans Stadium | Salina, Kan.
Live Webcasts: Urban Edge Network
Live Stats: Presto Stats
Monday, May 11
Game 1 – (2) Kansas Wesleyan def. (3) Concordia, 5-4 | Box Score
Game 2 – (1) Johnson (Tenn.) vs. No. 4 Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), 2:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 12
Game 3 – (3) Concordia vs. Game 2 Loser, 11 a.m.
Game 4 – (2) Kansas Wesleyan vs. Game 2 Winner, 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 13
Game 5 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser, 11 a.m.
Game 6 – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 2:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 14
Game 7 – Game 6 Winner/Loser (if necessary), 11 a.m.