Baseball Goes 1-3 in Kansas

The Dana College baseball team was forced to move its four-game series against Bethany College to Lindsborg, Kan., over the weekend due to weather.  The move was not friendly to the Vikings as they went 1-3 on the road.

Saturday’s two games saw Dana lose game one, 11-0, in five innings and game two, 8-0.  In the opening game, Dana put runners on first and second in the opening inning, but was unable to push a run across the plate.  Dana’s fielding woes allowed Bethany to push across nine unearned runs.  The Vikings put three singles on the board in the first game.  Alex Johnson (FR, Red Oak, Iowa), Austin Lunn (FR, Omaha, Neb.), and Quentin Connealy (SR, Tekamah, Neb.) each had solo hits in the opening-game loss.  Cody Falk (FR, Arlington, Neb.) took the loss.

Game two saw the fielding woes continue as the Vikings committed four more errors.  Viking pitching gave up eight runs and nine hits on the day.  Andrew James (FR, Omaha, Neb.) banged out two hits and stole a base in the loss.  Matt Weeks (JR, Omaha, Neb.) took the loss.

Sunday’s two-game set gave Dana something to be excited about.  The Viking bats came alive as they struck for four runs and six hits.  Taylor Hoskinson (FR, Omaha, Neb.) went two for four on the day with a stolen base and a run batted in.  Second baseman Drew Petersen (FR, Omaha, Neb.) went one for two with a run scored. Lunn was two of three on the day with an RBI. Johnson scored a run and was one for two. 

Robert Riggs (SO, Council Bluffs, Iowa) picked up the win.  Riggs pitched six innings, gave up two runs while scattering five hits.  John Ocken (FR, Omaha, Neb.) picked up his first collegiate save by pitching the final inning and striking out two.

The Vikings good fortunes came to an end in the second game of the day.  The Swedes’ bats came back to life as they scored ten runs while blanking the Vikings.  Dana committed three errors on the day and was held to only one hit.  Kyle Courtney (JR, Omaha, Neb.) pitched three and two-thirds innings and gave up five earned runs on seven hits in the loss.

The Vikings are now 2-4 on the young season.  Dana’s games this week against William Penn University have been cancelled due to weather conditions.  Dana will travel to Arizona to take part in the Greater Phoenix Invitational over Spring Break.  The Vikings will square off against the University of Minnesota-Mankato on Mar. 15.

Coach Misfeldt’s Corner:

OVERALL – “Our fans may think I’m crazy when I say this … but I think our ball club took another step in the right direction this weekend. I realize we were scoreless in three games and only scored four runs the entire weekend. But Bethany is a very, very good veteran ball club. They have a bunch of talented juniors and seniors who had already played ten games this spring. With us having seven freshmen starters who haven’t even practiced outside yet, we really didn’t have any business winning even one game at their place this weekend. But our young guys bowed their necks Sunday and stole one (victory) from them.”

PITCHING – “Rob Riggs got his second win of his career with another brilliant outing Sunday. Once again, he was able to keep their hitters off balance by using a mixture of his curve ball, fast ball and his change-up. More importantly, he threw strikes. For six innings, he made Bethany’s hitters swing the bats, and we made some nice plays behind him. Rob has come a long way since transferring here last year and I look for him to do nothing but get better in the next two years.”

“John Ocken, a freshman from Omaha Roncalli, picked up his first career save by getting the last three outs – two on strike outs – to cap off Sunday’s 4-2 win. He will be adding a whole bunch of numbers to that total before his career is done here at Dana.”

HITTING – “Bethany’s pitching was outstanding. They had three guys who threw the ball very hard. Even though we didn’t get many base hits this weekend, it was good for our guys to see that kind of pitching. I thought our two seniors – Tim Sabadin and Quentin Connealy – looked good at the plate; and so did a number of our freshmen like Austin Lunn, Andrew James, Alex Johnson, Cody Falk and Andy Cookston.

DEFENSE – “Again, it was our first time outside on real grass. We had more errors (8) than hits (7) on Saturday, and the majority of them were throwing errors. Sunday’s games were much better though. Quentin, Tim, Drew, Alex, Andrew and Andy all made some fine plays this weekend — including three double plays. Did we make some mistakes? Yes. Will we get better as the season goes on? You’re darn right we will!

Dana College is a private, Lutheran college located in Blair, Nebraska.  The Vikings participate in the Great Plains Athletic Conference and are members of the NAIA.  Dana College is a place where all students actively participate.

For more information please contact:

 Shad Beam, Sports Information 402-426-7389