SEWARD, Neb. – The No. 7-seed Northwestern College baseball team (22-27, 12-16 GPAC) came up just short in the pod championship today in Seward, Neb. against pod-host and No. 2-seed Concordia (35-15-1, 20-8 GPAC) as the run in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) tournament ends, bringing a close to the 2022 season.
GAME 1: (2) Concordia (Neb.) 20, (7) Northwestern 10
Concordia took a 10-0 lead through four and a half innings. In the bottom of the fifth, Northwestern cut the lead in half with five runs of their own, highlighted by the small ball and RBI singles.
The Bulldogs would tack one more on in the sixth to make it 11-6. For the second straight season the Raiders put another five spot to pull within one (11-10). Drew Dykstra (Fr., Urbandale, Iowa) doubled to left to make it a one-run game.
Concordia would erupt with a nine-run seventh as the Bulldogs would force the winner-take-all game with the 20-10 win.
GAME 2: (2) Concordia (Neb.) 5, (7) Northwestern 4
Northwestern wasted no time getting on the board in the winner-take-all game, plating three of runs to open the game.
Loading the bases with no outs thanks to two singles and a Bulldog error, the first run would score on a wild pitch. Jaden Snyder (Jr., Larchwood, Iowa) would drive in the second run with an opposite field single to left, making it 2-0 Raiders and forcing a Concordia pitching change. An RBI sac bunt from Evan Olesen (So., Estherville, Iowa) would plate the third Raider run of the frame.
With two runners on and two away for the Bulldogs in the bottom half of the first, Mason Porepp (So., Pleasant Hill, Iowa) made a phenomenal diving catch in right center to keep the game at 3-0 in favor of Northwestern.
Mo Watson (So., Ankeny, Iowa) tacks on the fourth Raider run with an RBI single to right field in the second inning, but that was all the runs Northwestern would be able to muster.
The Bulldogs scored five unanswered runs, taking the game 5-4 on a walk-off single through the left side; bringing the Northwestern GPAC tournament run to an end.
Northwestern’s season ends after finishing with a 22-27 record (12-16 GPAC), winning two games in the GPAC tournament for the first time since 2019 (2-2).
