Students entertain at Saltdog’s Faith Night event
Jacey Powell and Jordan Ernstmeyer compete in a dizzy bat race.
Photo credit: Keith Siek
By Keith Siek
Concordia students headlined the entertainment at the Lincoln Saltdogs Faith Night baseball game in August, participating in games and competitions between innings.
The action on the diamond left Saltdogs fans with little reason to cheer — it was a 9-1 loss to the Kansas City Monarchs — but the Bulldog faithful turned out to cheer on their friends.
Campus Pastor Rev. Ryan Matthias began the festivities by throwing a curveball for the ceremonial first pitch.
“I said I was going to pitch a curveball, and I did,” he said.
Matthias said he loved how faith surrounded the experience at the ballpark. “It’s great to listen to the band,” Matthias said. “It’s great to see Concordia. It is fun that all these people are surrounding you with faith.”
Going into the bottom of the eighth inning, it was Frozone, a character from the “Incredibles” movies, taking on junior Jonathan Jurchen in an all-out sprint across the warning track from the right field foul pole to the left field line.
“Man, I just won. I’m so glad Frozone gave me a head start,” Jurchen said. “The Lord was with me in this race.”
Frozone noted Jurchen’s performance and said he “figured out he’s a Dawg today.”
Seniors Jacey Powell and Jordan Ernstmeyer went head-to-head in the second-inning dizzy bat race. The two competitors spun around the bat head just before running toward home plate. Powell claimed the win, glad that she accomplished what she set out to do.
“It was really amazing. That was my only goal, to go out and beat Jordan,” Powell said.
After stumbling to the ground during the race, Ernstmeyer admitted that it was true to form for her.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a little clumsy, so it is a bit in the character for me unfortunately,” Ernstmeyer said.
Competition aside, Powell and Ernstmeyer loved the opportunity to share their faith with familiar and unfamiliar faces.
“It’s great to represent Concordia and show our faith out here,” Powell said.
“It was great to have a bunch of people I knew, a bunch of people that I didn’t know, here and to hear the gospel music playing,” Ernstmeyer added.
Concordia graduate Terry Kenow supported as vocalist and guitar player for a praise band that performed for fans walking the concourse before the game began.
Among the songs the worship team played were Crowder’s “There is Power,” “Holy Water” by We the Kingdom, and Bethel’s “Goodness of God.”
Kenow, who was a student from 2016 through 2019, studied communications, enjoyed playing intramurals-all and served on a worship team at his church.
“It honestly does mean the world. Being able to do something like this is my dream,” he said. “It gets Christ into the community.”
Assistant Director of Student Life Nick Wiles helped make the event a reality, offering students the chance to get to know each other and Nebraska better.
“We thought it was a great idea to have an event off-campus, especially for new students, to give them an opportunity to be a part of the Concordia community but then also experience the broader community in Nebraska,” Wiles said. “We want to have enjoyable experiences or bring joy to our student body with experiences that stick out to our students as memorable and formative.”
Sophomore Matty Sprengel, a transfer student in her first year at Concordia, walked away from the game with a Saltdog T-shirt, snagging the only memorabilia that reached the upper deck during the seventh inning.
“I was getting it no matter what,” Sprengel said. “I’m so happy; I’m going to remember this forever.”
Senior Emily Bonilla caught a bag of rainbow popcorn, which was thrown into the stands in the fifth inning of play.
“It was very unexpected. I was not expecting the popcorn to land in the seat right next to me, but it was just timing, I guess,” Bonilla said. “I saw the guy, and then I saw the popcorn fly, and I’m like, ‘the wind is going to blow it this way!'”
Sophomores Jack Habbeger and Chloe Abramson competed against each other in the scrub race in the fourth inning of play. During the race, the participants were tasked with putting on a full scrub outfit, complete with pants, a shirt, and a cap, all while racing around the diamond on the outfield grass. Habbeger took the win, despite getting confused mid-race as to where he was to run.
“I definitely did not pay attention when they gave me the directions, though, and I almost went back to where I started,” he said. “I wasn’t paying attention because I thought my pants were going to fall off.”
Abramson said the student section cheered for both of them.
“Jack was tough competition, but I felt the Concordia spirit here,” she said. “I heard the Bulldogs go loud. I heard people cheering for me and Jack.”
