Bulldogs complete series sweep of Dordt Defenders, winning 9-1 and 8-3
Senior outfielder Alec Blakestad (10) at the plate
Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh (photo from previous game)
By Darien Semedo
The No. 17 Concordia Bulldogs (23-8, 7-3) completed the series sweep of the Dordt Defenders (6-25, 0-10) on Saturday with 9-1 and 8-3 wins.
After splitting with Northwestern in their last series, the Bulldogs played well to reach a 5-game win streak in Sioux Center, Iowa. On the second day of the series, the Bulldogs opened the scoring in the second inning behind senior Bradely Hallock’s three-run homerun.
It was a rough day defensively for the Defenders, as in this game they allowed three errors, which led to three runs for the visiting Bulldogs.
Junior Christian Gutierrez snagged the win in 6.0 innings pitched, allowing only one earned run on six hits. Gutierrez also added five strikeouts, while senior reliever Kellen Ingram struck out three more in the final inning.
On offense, RBIs also came by senior Jayden Adams, junior Jaidan Quinn (2), senior Joey Grabanski, freshman Matthew Rhoades, and senior Michael Welch. Interestingly, all the 11 Bulldog hits except Hallock’s bomb were singles.
In the second game of the double header, the Bulldogs pitching shone again, as Freshman Matthew Rhoads got the start, and completed 6.0 innings of work. Rhoades allowed no runners, and only four hits and one walk.
More impressively, Rhoades was able to make the Dordt batters miss as he tallied seven strikeouts. The bats gave Rhoades support in the second again, as two leadoff singles led to a runner scoring on a walk from Adams and another coming in on a Quinn fielder’s choice.
Junior Tanner Tompkins added to the scoring with a solo shot out of the park in the sixth inning, before two more unearned runs came in for the Bulldogs thanks to three more errors from the Defenders. After the Defenders made a run late in the game, a couple insurance runs came in the ninth thanks to a wild pitch and a single from senior Alec Blakestad to seal the series for the Bulldogs.
Adams, Tompkins, and junior Ty Nekoliczak finished the game with two hits each.
The Bulldogs will now prepare for their April 2 matchup against No. 9 Doane University (23-5, 9-1) after having been rescheduled multiple times recently. The Tigers hold the top position in the Great Plains Athletic Conference, above Morningside and Concordia. The games are currently slated to be at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Plum Creek Ballpark.
