Bulldog baseball destroys Midland, Quinn sets new homer record
Photo Description: Junior Joey Grabanski prepares to take a swing
Photo Credit: CUNE Photo Gallery
Madeline Peters
Sower Staff
The Concordia baseball team blew out the Midland University Warriors in a doubleheader Saturday, winning the first game 17-8 and the second game 17-0.
The Bulldogs began their explosive series in Fremont with four runs just in the first inning. Midland responded with four runs of their own, promising a high-scoring back and forth. In the second inning, The Bulldogs scored another three runs, with the Warriors once again matching whatever Concordia put on the scoreboard.
In the third inning, Concordia scored another three runs, but Midland only managed one, allowing the Bulldogs to pull ahead. Concordia had an explosive fourth inning, scoring seven runs. Neither team scored after the fourth inning.
Junior Jaidan Quinn had a fantastic game at bat, going 4-5 with all four hits being home runs. He is the new school record holder for most single game home runs by one player; he narrowly missed tying the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics record of single game home runs by one player, which is five. Juniors Joey Grabanski and Jose Cevallos each scored a home run also. Cevallos’ home run was his first hit of the season.
Junior Caden Bugarske and freshman Ernie Snyder were the pitchers for the first game. Bugarske pitched for two innings, and had eight hits with eight runs and two strikeouts. Snyder pitched for the final five innings, and had three hits with zero runs and four strikeouts.
The second game went even better for the Bulldogs. They spread their runs out through the game with three in the first inning, five in the second, one in the third, four in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the seventh.
Sophomore Christian Gutierrez pitched all seven innings and did not allow a single run from the Warriors. He had six hits and strikeouts. As for batting, Grabanski had another home run in the second game, bringing his school record season homer count to 23. Junior Jayden Adams had two home runs in the second game. Sophomore Ty Nekoliczak, senior Ben Berg and junior Alec Blakestad each scored a home run as well.
The team is now 31-13 overall and 17-5 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. It will continue its series against Midland in another doubleheader in Seward on April 23.
