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Northwestern College Athletics

Northwestern College
HOME OF NORTHWESTERN RED RAIDERS ATHLETICS
HONORING CHRIST THROUGH EXCELLENCE IN ATHLETICS
Nike
baseball-concordia-gpac-tournament-recap-5.4.23
4
Northwestern NWC 19-30
7
Winner Concordia (NE) CUNEB 36-15
Northwestern NWC
19-30
4
Final
7
Concordia (NE) CUNEB
36-15
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Northwestern NWC 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 4 11 0
Concordia (NE) CUNEB 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 2 X 7 13 2

W: B. Benson (7-2) L: Roberts, Brady (3-7) S: D. Rivera (3)

Game Recap: Baseball | | NWC Athletic Communications

NWC Drops Opening Game of GPAC Tournament to Concordia

Red Raiders break program’s single-season strikeout record

SEWARD, Neb. – Forced to wait over an extra hour due to the first game going into extra innings, the Northwestern College baseball team (19-30, 12-16 GPAC) opened the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) at the Concordia (Neb.) Pod, falling to the hosts and No. 2-seeded Concordia University (36-15, 21-7 GPAC), 7-4. The Red Raiders would break the single-season program strikeout record in the eighth inning with the seventh strikeout of the day from the pitching staff.  
Pitching Decisions
Win: Blake Benson (7-2)
Loss: Brady Roberts (4-7)
Save: Daniel Rivera (3)
 
How It Happened
It would be the Red Raiders who struck first in Game 2 of the Seward, Neb. pod, as Mo Watson (Jr., Ankeny, Iowa) went deep for the fourth time this season to give Northwestern the 1-0 lead in the second inning.
 
Concordia would strike back with a pair of runs in the third inning. Jaidan Quinn would even things up with a solo home run of his own, and Jesse Garcia would give the Bulldogs their first lead with an RBI single up the middle.
 
The following half inning, a throwing error would put Isaac Short (Fr., Grimes, Iowa) and start the inning with one away. A double to center field from Ethan Buckner (Jr., Aurora, Colo.) would put runners on second and third and Drew Dykstra (So., Urbandale, Iowa) would drive in the tying run with a sacrifice fly to right field. The inning would end with the game tied up at 2-2 heading to the bottom of the fourth.
 
The Bulldogs would threaten again in the bottom of the fourth, but Dylan Kirkeby (Jr., Brandon, S.D.) would work out of it, getting a pop out to Evan Olesen (Sr., Estherville, Iowa) at second to end the inning and keeping the score tied.
 
Northwestern broke the deadlock in the sixth inning, taking a 4-2 lead. A single from Buckner and a Dykstra double set up the Raiders with a second and third situation with one away. Olesen would single to right field, giving Northwestern their second lead of the game.
 
The high-powered Bulldog offense would respond with a three-run home run in the bottom half of the sixth and would take a 5-4 lead into the seventh inning. Concordia would put two more runs on the board in the eighth inning, as they went on to win 7-4 to advance into the winner's bracket of the Seward pod.  
 
Game Notes
  • Northwestern broke the program's single-season strikeout record (377) that was set last season (376).
  • Mo Watson hit his fourth home run of the season.
  • Evan Olesen drives in two runs for his sixth multi-RBI game of the year.
  • Ethan Buckner reached base in all four of his plate appearances today, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a walk.
  • Buckner tallied his 2nd and 3rd double of the season and marks his second multi-hit game of the year (first 3-hit game).
  • Kip Cullinan goes 2-for-5 and records his 15th multi-hit game of the campaign.
  • Drew Dykstra goes 2-for-3 with a double (5th of the season) and picks up his second multi-hit game of the season.
  • Mason Porepp hits 5th double of the season for his lone hit of the day.
  • Dylan Kirkeby made his 11th start of the season against Concordia, throwing 5.0 innings and allowing four runs and striking out four.
  • Brady Roberts (3-7) made his first appearance out of the bullpen this season, tossing 3.0 innings, allowing three runs and striking out three.
Up Next: The Red Raiders will meet the No. 3-seeded Mustangs of Morningside University (34-15, 20-8 GPAC) tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. in an elimination game at Plum Creek Park in Seward, Neb. The Mustangs fell to No. 6-seed Midland in Game 1 of the Concordia pod, 10-9 in 11 innings.

Don't forget to follow Northwestern College Athletics on Facebook @nwcraiders, Twitter @nwcraiders, and Instagram @nwcraiders! #RaidersStandOut
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