Bulldog baseball sees continued success with series win over Morningside, 4-2 and 6-5

Senior pitcher Christian Gutierrez fires a pitch to the batter.

Photo credit: Cohen Carpenter

By Kai Olbrich

The No. 17 Concordia University baseball team extended its win streak to nine as they completed a close two-game series win over Morningside in Sioux City, Iowa going 4-2 and 6-5 on April 6.

The close matchup was to be expected as Concordia leads the Great Plains Athletic Conference and Morningside rounds out the top two.

The first game of the day started off quite even and was tied at two runs apiece through five innings. The Bulldogs took advantage of some wild pitching and throwing errors in the sixth inning and scored the decisive two runs of the game, bringing the final score to 4-2.

It was a tough day of hitting for both teams, in part due to heavy walk numbers from both pitchers. 12 batters walked throughout the game, five from Concordia senior Alex Johnson and seven from Morningside’s Cade Nolan. Johnson had an otherwise solid outing allowing just two runs on one hit and striking out six.

Senior Bradley Hallock made it home twice, junior Dane Garner once, and sophomore Matthew Rhoades had one run and brought in the only two RBIs of the game with a two-run homer in the fourth inning.

In the second game of the day the Bulldogs went behind early and were forced to chase Morningside all the way until the final inning. Despite being low on firepower throughout the series, they swung well in crunch time.

Morningside was up 4-0 heading into the sixth inning when the Bulldogs finally put a number up on the scoreboard, two runs to dig into the deficit.

The Mustangs scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth to put them up 5-2. With two outs in the top of the seventh, Hallock let loose a two-run homer to give life to a struggling Bulldog offense.

The score was 5-4 in favor of Morningside heading into the ninth inning. The Mustangs nearly ended it in the top of the inning as they got the first two Bulldog batters out. With runners on first and third, Rhoades stepped up to the plate and while on two strikes, hit a double down the left-field line that brought home Hallock and junior Jaeden Jordahl and put the Bulldogs up 6-5.

It was then up to the Bulldog defense and junior Daiten Schmidt, who was fresh from the bullpen, to close out the game and series. Schmidt gave up one hit and struck out two of the four batters he faced in a shutout performance. The Bulldogs ended the game victorious 6-5.

Senior Braxton Greenburg started game two for the Bulldogs and pitched 6.2 innings giving up seven hits and five runs, walked two, and struck out 11. Sophomore Alex Griess pitched 1.1 innings, and junior Jake Nelms walked one.

The Bulldogs 24-8 overall, 12-2 in the GPAC. They are back in action on April 7 at Plum Creek Park to take on the Hastings Broncos at two and 5 p.m., a series rescheduled due to inclement weather on April 4.