Through heavy rain and a late night, Bulldog baseball team continues to victory over Wesleyan Tigers, 9-4

Sophomore infielder Matthew Rhoades (7) prepares to receive a pitch (photo from previous game).

Photo credit: Cohen Carpenter

By Cohen Carpenter

Plum Creek Park, after enduring hours of non-stop rainfall, bore witness to a Great Plains Athletic Conference opening round 9-4 win by the Concordia Bulldogs Wednesday night versus the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers – a contest that saw 13 runs spanned across two calendar days which propelled the home team into the second round of the GPAC conference tournament.

Overnight showers gave way to an afternoon drizzle that threatened GPAC playoff baseball Wednesday night – however, thanks to a break in the weather (and an assist from the Concordia football team who helped dry the field) first pitch went off without a hitch, albeit delayed by three hours to 9 p.m. Game time temperatures brought with them a chill that, while not piercing, let all in attendance know playoff baseball was upon them. It was an atmosphere that was as apparent to Concordia’s head coach Ryan Dupic as it was to the fans in attendance.

“[The atmosphere] was great tonight,” said Dupic, “It was a long day for the guys, but I thought they did a good job of handling all the stuff today with them having to take care of the field and the water and all the rest. It’s not often you play at nine o’clock at night, but the guys did a good job of handling that too. You just roll with it the best you can.”

Along with a tailor made, late-April evening, another hallmark of postseason baseball is quality starting pitching, which despite the game’s final score, was what defined this contest. Alex Johnson got the nod for the opening round for the Bulldogs – a sure bet as the graduate senior led his squad in starting pitching ERA (3.06) and strikeouts (96) across his 11 starts in the regular season.

Through the first two innings, Alex Johnson pitched like Alex Johsnon with the Kansas native facing seven batters, striking out five. In the third however, a couple of walks and a single loaded the bases full of Tigers with one out when Caleb Meyers singled into left field, scoring two. Despite this hiccup early on, Johnson got out of the third and pitched three more crisp innings, only allowing two more hits and collecting five more strikeouts. By the time Dupic took the ball out of his hand, his final line read as follows: 6.0 innings pitched, two runs on five hits and two walks with a gaudy 13 strikeouts.

“Obviously our focus was to win the game,” Dupic said, “but you have to keep in mind, when you are potentially playing so many games in a short period, you’ve got to save your pitching staff a little bit. For [Alex] to get through six innings was big.”

Seth Claybourne took the Bulldogs the rest of the way, earning his first save of the season by pitching the game’s three final innings, allowing only two runs on two hits and striking out five. Concordia needed only the two arms to pitch all nine innings, which as Coach Dupic alluded to, can be crucial in tournament play.

Across the diamond however, the Tigers had an ace of their own – a junior southpaw by the name of Caleb Meyers, the same Caleb Meyers that put Dak Wes up two in the top of the third. The Tigers’ two-way talent (as their starting pitcher he went 2-3 with two RBIs with a walk at the plate) did a phenomenal job of keeping the Concordia offense at bay – going five and two thirds of four hit, four run baseball. He struggled with his command at times, walking five Bulldogs, but only two of his four runs allowed were earned, as the defense behind him did little to help their ace – committing three errors through the first six innings.

With opposing pitching in mind, perhaps Concordia’s biggest hit of the game came in the sixth inning. After freshman right fielder Cade Vanis walked, sophomore left fielder Alex Draper came up to the plate with two outs and one with Meyers still on the bump. On a 3-1 pitch, Draper got a fast ball he could handle over the heart of the plate and poked it into shallow right center. The ball had a decent hang-time, giving both the center and right fielder the notion they could make a play on it. Both Tigers dove for the ball, neither one came up with it. Vanis scored from first and Draper would have had an easy triple had he not slipped rounding first – nevertheless, the RBI double made it a 3-2 game and, more importantly, forced Dak Wes to make the call to the bullpen. Concordia seized the opportunity and ended up scoring four more in the sixth, all with two outs, to bust the game open.

“That was huge,” said Dupic. “Their pitcher was awesome – he did a really good job. Once he got out and started to struggle to find the zone a little bit though, obviously things swung our way. Big swing there by Alex to get us going.”

Patience ended up being the name of the game for the Bulldogs offensively. Concordia scored nine runs on a measly six hits, but walked an incredible 16 times – highlighted by senior second baseman Ty Nekoliczak who officially went 1-1 with an RBI and four walks. Similarly, senior designated hitter Brad Hallock salvaged his 0-2 night by also drawing four walks.

By the time Dak Wes grounded out to record the third out of the ninth, the clock read 12:20 a.m., meaning the Bulldogs would be lining up for another GPAC tournament contest the same day they won their first one. Coach Dupic, when asked after the game what will it take for this team to finish strong in the tournament, had this to say.

“Hopefully some sleep and then come back and get a little food in us and all the basics of life. But seriously, it takes them to just stay the same, being the way they’ve always been. They’ve done a really nice job this year. If we can just keep the same approach and keep rolling, we’ll hopefully put ourselves in a good situation to do the best we can,” he said.

A hopefully well-rested and energized Concordia squad will take the field again Thursday in a 1 p.m. contest versus the fourth-seeded Briar Cliff who are coming off a 4-2 win versus Midland.