YANKTON, S.D. – One victory away from tying the school record for longest winning streak, the 17th-ranked Concordia University, Baseball team failed to hold onto a lead as large as five runs. Ultimately, the Bulldogs settled for taking three of four from Mount Marty while splitting Sunday (April 13)’s doubleheader in Yankton, S.D. The Bulldogs followed the lead of red-hot Brad Hallock to a 14-1 blowout in Sunday’s first contest before surrendering a 13-12 10-inning, walk-off decision to the Lancers in the capper. Hallock belted three home runs and drove in 10 runs on the day.
Head Coach Ryan Dupic’s squad had not tasted defeat since the first of a four-game series at Doane back on March 22. Despite the win streak being halted at 14, Concordia (29-9, 17-3 GPAC) remains firmly in the driver’s seat atop the GPAC standings.
“Our offensive guys did a really good job, especially in that second game when we struggled to close things down,” Dupic said. “I wish we could have found a way to reward that with a win. There was some good process stuff there. We just weren’t clean enough on the mound or defensively in that second game. We had a couple guys in relief that threw day one that we maybe could have used, but we just didn’t want to push it too much this time of year. It’s good for some of those guys to be in moments like that. Hopefully they’ll learn from it because we’re going to need a lot of people throughout the year.”
The Carrollton, Texas, native Hallock put on a show all weekend as he slugged four home runs and knocked in 13 runs in the series. In Sunday’s first game, Hallock went 3-for-3 with a two-run homer in the first, a three-run blast in the fourth and a two-run double in the seventh. For good measure, Matt Rhoades followed Hallock with a two-run bomb in the seventh to put the finishing touches on the rout. As an offense, the Bulldogs posted 26 runs on 27 hits and 12 walks for the day.
Senior pitcher Braxton Greenburg (4-0) was the beneficiary of that run support in Sunday’s opener. Greenburg navigated through traffic (five hits and four walks) in tossing 5.1 shutout innings. The Plymouth, Minn., native notched eight strikeouts before turning it over to Ernie Snyder, who recorded the game’s final five outs in relief.
In the final game of the series, both sides took advantage of conditions that invited offensive firepower. Concordia was unable to hang on despite jumping out to a 5-0 lead. After Bulldog center fielder Bronx Lewis sent a go-ahead homer over the fence in the top of the 10th (12-11 Concordia lead), Mount Marty responded in the bottom half. A bases-loaded walk tied the game, and Jackson Noem ended it with a sacrifice fly to right. Just defeating the Bulldogs once in a series felt like a monumental feat.
The result meant the Bulldogs wasted another strong offensive performance. In the series finale, Jaeden Jordahl and Ty Nekoliczak collected three hits apiece and three Concordia players notched two knocks each: Lewis, Rhoades and Michael Welch. Jordahl came through with a clutch two-run single in the seventh to stake the Bulldogs to an 11-9 advantage. On the other side, Daniel Vonnegut produced a three-run homer in the sixth and a two-run shot in the eighth to help lead the Lancers (22-16, 9-11 GPAC) to the comeback win.
The 2025 Concordia team nearly equaled the program record winning streak of 15 achieved by the 2019 GPAC championship squad. Run prevention was the culprit. The series finale saw the Bulldogs mix and match with five different pitchers. Starter Micah Sweeton logged 5.1 innings with seven runs allowed on 10 hits (no walks). Mount Marty left the yard for four home runs of its own in Sunday’s game two.
Lancer pitching managed to keep Jaidan Quinn in the ballpark, although he enjoyed a productive day with three walks, a hit-by-pitch, an RBI double and a sacrifice fly. Pitchers have been especially careful with Quinn, who has walked 43 times on the season. Now the GPAC leader in home runs with 18 this season, Hallock has been on a tear that has yielded video game type of statistics.
Said Dupic of Hallock, “He’s done a great job. There have been games where even his outs have been lasers. He’s been on a really good run.”
The final eight regular season games for the Bulldogs will all be played at Plum Creek Park. That stretch begins this Friday (April 18) when Dordt (17-25, 6-14 GPAC) pays a visit to town. Concordia will play the Defenders four times during Easter weekend as the push for a GPAC regular season crown continues. The Bulldogs have won each of the past 18 series games against Dordt.