(Kansas City, MO) – The Concordia Cardinals baseball team is back for the second day of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) World Series. The second-seeded Cardinals dropped their first game to #7 Mission University on Saturday, 9-6. 

The tournament features 10 teams from across the country and the teams have to battle through a double-elimination bracket to become the champions. The Cards will await the results of a matchup between Campbellsville University and Judson University to see who their next opponent will be.

Game Information

#2 Concordia Cardinals vs. Winner of #8 Judson University & #5 Campbellsville University | May 19 | 5 PM ET | McGuff Field

Live Video ($) | Live Stats | Bracket

ABOUT THE JUDSON EAGLES

The Judson University Eagles enter the tournament as the North Central Region Representative and enter with a 30-24 overall record, earning them the #8 seed. 

In their first game at the NCCAA World Series the Eagles took on the #9 seed and hosts Kansas Christian. Ryan Risch started on the mound for Judson and was knocked out of the game in the third inning when the Falcons scored five runs. Kansas Christian went on to score another eight runs in the next two innings. Judson mounted a comeback effort in the sixth inning, which started with a Blake Stempowski 2 RBI single. Then Ryan Pitzer had a bases clearing double in the eighth, but it was too little, too late for the Eagles as the Falcons went on to win 15-13 and send Judson to the consolation bracket. 

Three qualified hitters have recorded at least a .350 batting average as Kyle Schwartz recorded a .360 to lead the team. Nate Stempowski and Blake Stempowski are right behind him with a .358 and .353 average respectively. Hudson Deal leads the team in RBIs and home runs with 59 and 11 respectively while hitting .322. Daley Thompson has 17 doubles with nine home runs on the year. 

Two Eagles pitchers have at least five wins on the year, led by Ryan Risch with seven on the campaign, while Aiden Nery has five. Alijah Acevaedo leads the team in strikeouts with 50 while Matt Johnston is second with 47.   

The Eagles are coached by Evan Ruechel who is currently in his second year with Judson and has a record of 39-48

ABOUT THE CAMPBELLSVILLE TIGERS

The Campbellsville University Tigers are the Mideast Regional Champion and have a 34-20 overall record on the season which earned them the #5 seed. 

In their first game of the World Series Campbellsville got the scoring started right away in the first inning with three straight hits that brought in two runs, unfortunately that was the only time they were able to plate any runs or hits in the game before #4 Jessup put up 15 unanswered runs to win 15-2 in 7 innings. Tristen Crusenberry started for the Tigers, going 3.1 innings, giving up seven runs (four earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts. Zane Skansi recorded a 2 RBI double in the first inning, while Trent Buchanan and Lorenzo Gonzalez each recorded a single. 

Two of the Tigers qualified hitters have an average over .350 with Antony Gilbert leading the pair with a .364 and Zane Skansi batting .354 on the year. Those two also lead the hits category with 60 and 64 respectively while Youske Fujie has 56 hits on the year. Four Tigers have at least 10 home runs as they are led by Fojie with 15, Skansi with 13, and Henry Wright and Tanner Park both with 10. 

Three Tigers have tallied five wins as Garrett Maloney has seven wins while both Ian Roemer and Ryan McFarland both have five. Maloney leads qualified pitchers with a 3.36 ERA while PJ Ledesma and Joe McBride are the top bullpen arms with 3.77 and 4.18 ERA's respectively, both pitchers have three saves on the year. Maloney also leads the team in strikeouts with 68. 

Campbellsville is led by Beauford Sanders who is in his 35th year as the head coach for the Tigers. Sanders has an overall record of 1,064-717. 

ABOUT THE CARDINALS

The Concordia Cardinals enter the tournament as the Midwest Region Representative with a 43-12 overall record, earning the #2 seed in the World Series.

The Cardinal offense is led by Jake Kuhlman who has a team-high 74 hits (8th highest in NCCAA) and 51 stolen bases which is tied for the most in the NCCAA. Josh Burke brings power to the lineup with 19 home runs (3rd in NCCAA) and 68 RBI (5th in NCCAA). Concordia has 12 hitters with over 40 at bats that have at least a .400 On Base Percentage including Kuhlman, Burke, Harrison Ryan, Tyler Wressel, Matthew Dubrick, Justin Kozlowski, Derek Hebner, Alex Piotrowski, Clayton McKinstry, Gus Simon, Kyle Hebner, and Logan Hylek. 

Four Cardinals have started eight or more games for the team and have at least four wins including Trey Acker, Bryon Mane, Logan Morris, and Drew Murphy. Blake Weaver, Kenneth (Dave) Rozmys, Landen Harris, and Ryan VanSlambrouck were the most utilized arms out of the bullpen, each making 15 or more appearances this season.

The Cardinals are coached by Zach Johnston who is in his 11th season with Concordia and has a 394-198 overall record. 

CUAA'S PREVIOUS GAME

Trey Acker earned the start for the Cardinals in game number 1, he pitched five innings, giving up five hits and five runs (two earned) with three strikeouts. 

The Cardinals struck first with Kozlowski scoring on a double play in the first inning and then the Patriots tied the game up in the third on a sacrifice fly. 

All five of the next runs came from Concordia as they responded with two in the third, one in the fourth, and two in the fifth. Gus Simon, Logan Hylek, Justin Kozlowski, and Clayton McKinstry all recorded RBI singles, while Alex Piotrowski had an RBI double. 

The Patriots didn't go away as they mounted a comeback starting in the sixth inning. They recorded four runs in the sixth to make it a 6-5 game, before tying it up in the ninth and eventually adding three insurance runs to win 9-6. 

2025 NCCAA World Series Schedule

*Lower seed will play in Game 17 and higher seed will play in Game 16. Higher seed is defined as team with a seed value closer to one.

**Loser Game 17 if WG13 loses G17. Loser Game 18 if WG13 wins G17 and loses G18.