Bulldog baseball wins final two games in series against Doane Tigers, 14-7 and 10-0
Junior pitcher Ernie Snyder (36) makes a pitch (photo from previous game).
Photo credit: Josiah Seabaugh
By Kai Olbrich
After splitting games on the opening day, the Concordia University baseball team exploded offensively to win the final two games in the four-game series against the Doane University Tigers in Crete.
The first game on March 23, a 14-7 Concordia victory, started near-perfect for the Bulldogs as they brought home eight runs and gave up just one in the opening two innings. A bulk of the production came from senior Bradley Hallock who had a two-run homer, and sophomore Matthew Rhoades who got a three RBI double.
The Tigers were consistent throughout the game offensively, often putting up one or two runs per inning, but they were unable to get over the early deficit. The Bulldogs put the cherry on top with four runs in the fourth inning.
Freshman Micah Sweeton got the win and did the bulk of the pitching with five innings in which he struck out five and gave up five runs. Sophomore Alex Griess and junior Daiten Schmidt finished off the game.
Rhoades led the offense with six RBIs off of four hits. He also made it home three times. Hallock and senior Ty Nekoliczak each had two RBIs with Hallock scoring twice. Junior Jaeden Jordahl had one RBI and three runs.
The final game in the series was a pitching clinic from senior Braxton Greenburg who struck out 13 Tigers while giving up zero runs, zero walks and just two hits. Sophomore Sam Rambajan was on relief duty, striking out three, walking, two, and allowing zero hits through 1.1 innings.
The Bulldog offense backed up Greenburg’s performance with 10 unanswered runs to win the game 10-0. Concordia built its lead gradually throughout the game, never scoring more than three in an inning and having just three scoreless innings throughout the nine.
The players also divided up the scoring between themselves. Four players, Nekoliczak, senior Jaiden Quinn, senior Tanner Tompkins, and senior Michael Welch all put up two RBIs.
The Bulldogs are 18-8 on the season and 6-2 in the conference. They are back in action on March 28 for their first home games of the season as they take on Waldorf University at Plum Creek Ballpark at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
