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Baseball NWC Athletic Communications

PREVIEW: 2023 GPAC Baseball Tournament

Red Raiders to travel to Seward, Neb. as the No. 7 seed

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The Northwestern College baseball team (19-29, 12-16 GPAC) is set to make their fifth-straight appearance in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) baseball tournament, and 14th under head coach Brian Wede's tenure in Orange City this weekend from Seward, Neb. on the campus of Concordia University (Neb.).
 
The Raiders will enter the 2022 GPAC conference tournament as the No. 7 seed. Against the Seward pod opponents, Northwestern holds a 3-7 record this season.
 
NEED TO KNOW
Dates: Thursday-Saturday, May 4-6 (Championship game, Tuesday, May 9)
Location: Seward, Neb.
Ballpark: Plum Creek Park
Live Stats: www.nwcraiders.com
Livestream ($): www.cune.edu/athletics
 
TEAM NOTES
  • NWC is one win away from 20 wins for the 13th time under head coach Brian Wede.
  • Dylan Kirkeby sits second in the GPAC with his 2.72 ERA (53.0 IP).
  • Ryan Reynolds leads the GPAC with his 10 saves on the season.
  • Brady Roberts sits fifth in the GPAC with his 71 strikeouts.
  • He needs just five (5) strikeouts to lay claim to the program's all-time strikeout mark.
  • Kirkeby and Brett Shelton share the team lead with four wins on the mound.
  • Mason Porepp leads the team with his 11 stolen bases (11-for-16).
  • NWC has 25 home runs as a team this season, including five multi-home run games.
  • Sam Stanford and Porepp vying for the team lead in hits with 55 and 53, respectively.
  • Porepp and Stanford also lead the team with their 15 multi-hit games.
  • The Raider pitching staff needs just seven (7) strike outs to break 2022's mark (376).
  • NWC holds a 0.274 batting average, 6.45 ERA, and 0.958 fielding percentage.
FORECAST
All three days in Seward, Neb. call for temps to be in the 70s with Saturday reaching a high of 79 degrees. Day one on Thursday calls for mostly cloudy conditions with a high of 78 degrees and small chances of rain with winds from the south-southeast at 15mph. Friday shows chances of isolated thunderstorms (40% chance) with a high of 72 degrees with winds from the east at 15mph.

RECORD WATCH
Entering the conference tournament, the Raider pitching staff is just seven (7) strikeouts away from topping the record set last year (376), breaking the previous record of 365 set back in 2014.
 
Northwestern enters the tournament with 370 strikeouts as a team, which sits second in the GPAC. Brady Roberts (Sr., Urbandale, Iowa) leads the team with his 71 punch outs, sitting fifth in the league. Dylan Kirkeby (Jr., Brandon, S.D.) sits right behind in sixth-place with his 69 strikeouts, after notching a career-high 13 in his last start against Dordt and eclipsing the 200-strikeout career milestone.
 
SCOUTING CONCORDIA
The Bulldogs have been all about offense this season, to be more specific: slugging. Leading nearly every offensive category this season, the Bulldogs have been headaches for opposing pitching staffs all year long. Pitching has been the Achilles heel for the Bulldogs, but their team ERA of 5.21 still ranks third in the GPAC, while also sitting just behind Northwestern in strikeouts (364).
 
Northwestern, arguably, has had the most success against the Bulldogs this season. Northwestern and the tournament's top-seed Doane are the only two teams to have two wins against Concordia in league play this season. Northwestern won the first game of each day in the four-game set in Orange City back on March 30 and April 3.
 
Concordia looks to make it back to the GPAC tournament championship game for the fifth time in the past six seasons, not including the GPAC-canceled 2020 season.
 
TEAM NOTES
  • The Bulldogs lead the GPAC in nearly every offensive category: runs scored (516), hits (574), home runs (105), walks (219), slugging percentage (.637).
  • For the second-straight season, Joey Grabanski has set a CUNE single-season RBI record, sitting with 69 on the season entering the tournament.
  • He also owns the program's single-season home run record (24 and counting) this season and in his career (59 and counting).
POTENTIAL OPPONENTS
Morningside Mustangs
  • Morningside enters the tournament as the No. 2-seed with a GPAC record of 20-8 and 34-14 overall.
  • The Mustangs sit second in the league with a .337 team batting average and fourth in ERA (5.35).
  • Sophomore catcher Jayson Willers paces the team with his .379 average, 10 home runs, and 54 RBIs.
  • Willers 54 RBIs sits fourth in the GPAC entering the tournament.
  • The Mustang starting rotation has three guys with seven wins in Wade Canaday (7-3), Aiden Bishop (7-3), and Kai Purdy-Burton (7-1).
  • Canaday leads the team with his 64.2 innings thrown and four complete games, leading the starters with his 4.18 ERA.
  • Out of the bullpen, sophomore Josh Pratt leads with a 3.38 ERA (14 app., 34.2 innings, 3-1 record).
  • The staff's 7.74 strikeouts per nine innings (K/9) ranks ninth in the league.
  • Sophomore Alex Calabrese sits third in the GPAC with his eight saves on the season.
  • Morningside took both games of the regular season series in Orange City (10-2, 9-2) back on April 6.
Midland Warriors
  • Midland enters the GPAC tournament as the No. 6-seed, holding the same league record as NWC (12-16) but taking the series 3-1 from the Raiders to open league play.
  • The Warriors have an overall mark of 21-26 under head coach Chad Miller (8th season).
  • Hadyn Crawford (So., INF) leads the Warriors with his .377 batting average and on-base percentage (.439) (min. 100 ABs), 10 home runs, and 39 RBI.
  • Five Warriors have notched at least five starts this season, as Lucas Hamzeh holds the best record of the bunch with a 4-4 mark.
  • Of the starters, Owen Kelley (Fr., RHP) leads the team with his 6.59 ERA in 41.0 innings, holding a 3-3 record.
  • Crawford and Connor Petersen sit tied for the team lead with 13 doubles each.
  • Jay Lambert leads the team with 9.96 K/9 (38 Ks in 34.1 IP) (min. 20 IP), though Jonathan Foreman leads the team with 40 punch outs.
  • Of the bullpen arms, Trey Nichols (Sr., RHP) leads the pen with a 5.08 ERA in 13 appearances and 33.2 innings (min. 5 appearances).
  • Midland and NWC opened GPAC play against each other back on March 20-21 in Fremont, Neb. with Midland taking three games (1-0, 2-0, 11-10), while Northwestern won Game 2 (6-5). 
TICKET INFORMATION
The conference office sets the ticket prices for the league's conference tournaments. The prices are as follow:
Adults: $10
K-12: $3
GPAC Students: Free with showing of current (2022-23) institutional ID

Stay up to date with Raider baseball throughout the GPAC conference tournament on nwcraiders.com. Live stat and livestream links are listed above.
Don't forget to follow Northwestern College Athletics on Facebook @nwcraiders, Twitter @nwcraiders, and Instagram @nwcraiders! #RaidersStandOut
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Players Mentioned

Dylan Kirkeby

#14 Dylan Kirkeby

RHP
6' 2"
Junior
R/R
Mason Porepp

#3 Mason Porepp

OF
5' 11"
Junior
R/R
Ryan Reynolds

#18 Ryan Reynolds

LHP
6' 1"
Senior
L/L
Brady Roberts

#15 Brady Roberts

RHP
6' 0"
Senior
R/R
Brett Shelton

#5 Brett Shelton

RHP
6' 1"
Senior
R/R
Sam Stanford

#24 Sam Stanford

INF
Junior
R/R

Players Mentioned

Dylan Kirkeby

#14 Dylan Kirkeby

6' 2"
Junior
R/R
RHP
Mason Porepp

#3 Mason Porepp

5' 11"
Junior
R/R
OF
Ryan Reynolds

#18 Ryan Reynolds

6' 1"
Senior
L/L
LHP
Brady Roberts

#15 Brady Roberts

6' 0"
Senior
R/R
RHP
Brett Shelton

#5 Brett Shelton

6' 1"
Senior
R/R
RHP
Sam Stanford

#24 Sam Stanford

Junior
R/R
INF