1 week Ago By By Reese McIltrot [email protected]
The 17th-ranked Concordia University Bulldogs swept the Mount Marty University Lancers, 4-3 and 12-10, in Great Plains Athletic Conference baseball action on Saturday at Yankton’s Riverside Field at Bob Tereshinski Stadium. In game one, Mount Marty’s Aidan Chang finished with two hits. Daniel Vonnegut tallied two hits and two RBIs.
Jackson Noem had two hits, including one home run. For Mount Marty, Zach Hegge pitched five innings, allowing seven hits and striking out six. On offense, Concordia’s Ty Nekoliczak, Matthew Rhoades and Michael Welch led the Bulldogs with two hits each.
Concordia’s Daiten Schmidt grabbed the win with three strikeouts and two hits allowed in two innings. In the bottom of the first, a single by Chang and a walk by Shugo Kondo put two runners on for the Lancers. Vonnegut cracked a triple to right field to put the Lancers up, 2-0.
Both sides remained scoreless until Concordia loaded the bases in the top of the fifth. A sacrifice fly from Jaidan Quinn scored a run to shrink the deficit for the Bulldogs. Jaeden Jordahl followed up with a single to third base to tie the score, 2-2.
The score remained tied as the game moved to extra innings. In the top of the tenth, a pair of singles put runners on the corners for Concordia. Rhoades hit a ground ball up the middle to score a run and put the Bulldogs on top, 3-2.
Another single from Welch extended Concordia’s lead to two runs. Mount Marty’s Garrett Siemsen struck out two to close the inning, but the Bulldogs remained on top, 4-2. In the bottom of the tenth, Concordia’s Schmidt retired the first two hitters.
With two outs, Noem hit a solo home run to leave Mount Marty trailing, 3-4. “We fought back, and we gave ourselves a chance to win at the end of the games, for both of them,” Mount Marty head coach Josh Teichroew said. “That’s all you got to do sometimes, and I think our guys fought hard and they responded.
” A ground out to second base solidified the third out and Concordia took the first game with a 4-3 victory. In the second game, Vonnegut led the Lancers with three hits and three RBIs. Ryan Bachman finished with two hits and three RBIs.
Cannon Marshall and Jalen Owens each tallied two hits. Chang finished with one home run. Mount Marty’s Aspen Dahl pitched three innings, allowing eight hits and striking out three.
Concordia’s offense was led by Bradley Hallock with four hits and three RBIs. Nekoliczak, Quinn and Jordahl each tallied two hits. Jordahl and Jimmy Blumberg each had two RBIs.
For pitching, Seth Claybourne pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out four. Schmidt picked up the save with one hit allowed and one strikeout in 1/3 inning pitched. In the second game, Concordia opened with a single and a walk to put two runners on for Concordia.
A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position. Hallock, Rhoades and Bronx Lewis followed up with hits to score a trio of runs for the Bulldogs before a fly out to right field ended the inning. The Lancers were unable to retaliate despite hits from Bachman and Kondo.
In the top of the third inning, Concordia’s Hallock led off with a double to center field. A sacrifice fly and a single to the outfield allowed one run to score, extending Concordia’s lead to four runs. The bats came to life in the third inning for Mount Marty.
Chang Led off the inning with a solo home run. A triple and a hit by pitch put runners on the corners, and a single from Daniel Vannegut scored another run for the Lancers. A sacrifice bunt followed by a single loaded the bases for the Lancers with one out.
A hit by pitch allowed an additional run to score before a pitching change by Concordia. A squeeze bunt from Will Gardner allowed the Lancers to tie the score, 4-4, to close out the third inning. “Our offense strung together, especially in game two, a lot of good hits,” Teichroew said.
“So that was good, just to see us have some extra base hits and get some good things going offensively.” In the top of the fourth inning, hits from Nekoliczak, Quinn and Jordahl allowed Concordia to take the lead, 5-4. A passed ball and an RBI single helped the Bulldogs extend their lead to three runs.
A strikeout allowed the Lancers to close the inning, but not before Concordia grabbed a 7-4 lead. In the top of the sixth inning, a pair of doubles from Concordia’s Hallock and Tanner Tompkins allowed the Bulldogs to extend their lead to 9-4. In the bottom of the sixth, a single and a walk put two runners on for Mount Marty.
A sacrifice bunt by Owens moved both runners to scoring position, and a hit from Bachman allowed two runs to score as the Lancers trailed the Bulldogs, 6-9. Back-to-back doubles from Vonnegut and Kondo shrank the deficit to one run for the Lancers as the game moved to the seventh inning. In the top of the seventh, a walk opened the inning for the Bulldogs.
Mount Marty’s Liam Bates struck out two before Concordia’s Jordahl hit a double to left field, extending the Bulldog’s lead to two runs. Hallock followed up with a two-run home run to put the Bulldogs on top, 12-8. The Lancers fought back in the bottom of the seventh.
A pair of walks put runners on the bases. Singles from Bachman and Vonnegut tallied a pair of runs for the Lancers, but Concordia grabbed game two with a 12-10 victory. “We fought hard, and in both games, it comes down to just a couple pitches that, if we just would have been a little bit cleaner, I think the outcomes of the games would have been different,” Teichroew said, “Which is frustrating, but also encouraging, just knowing that we’re close, we just got to be cleaner.
” Concordia improves to 28-8 overall and 16-2 in conference. Mount Marty moves to 21-15 overall and 8-10 in conference. The teams face each other again today (Sunday) at 1 p.
m. and 3 p.m.
at Riverside Field. “We just got to clean up a few things, and eliminate the mental layers, and we’ll be alright,” Teichroew said..
