The Doane Baseball team hosted the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament on their home field over the weekend. The Tigers took advantage of playing on their home field as they won the first four games to move on to the championship game.
The Tigers kicked things off on May 2 against University of Jamestown. Doane picked up two runs in the third inning and the Tigers defense was integral in this first game as they held the Jimmies to just one run in the seventh inning. A low scoring game resulted in a Doane win of 2-1 to move on to the next round.
In the second round, Doane was taking on Northwestern College in the winner’s bracket. Doane jumped out quickly as they put themselves on the board in the second inning with one run and followed it up with three runs in the third inning.
The Tigers added one more run in the fourth inning before the Red Raiders finally brought in a run. Doane was leading 5-1 through the fifth inning before Northwestern attempted to make a comeback.
In the sixth inning, the Raiders added two runs and collected another run in the seventh inning. That was the closest they could come and Doane’s defense held strong through the final innings to win the second game 5-4.
The following day, Doane was facing off against the University of Jamestown after the Jimmies worked their way back to the winner’s bracket. Jamestown came back with a vengeance as they struck first with a run in the first inning.
Doane came back to take the lead in the third inning with four runs, but Jamestown hung close as they added another run to their score in the same inning. The Jimmies followed it up with two additional runs in the fourth inning to tie things up.
Each team put up two runs in the sixth inning to keep things tied 6-6. Jamestown shut down the Tiger comeback with two runs in the seventh inning, giving them a lead they would hold to the end. The Jimmies won their second game against Doane 8-6.
The following day, Doane was back on the field against University of Jamestown again. This game proceeded to kick off a bit slower than the others, as neither team was on the board until the third inning. In the third, both teams brought in a run to tie things at 1-1.
In the fourth inning, Doane added two runs to go up 3-1. The Jimmies retook the lead in the fifth with three runs, but the Tigers answered right away with three runs of their own. Doane was up 6-4 going into the sixth inning.
The Tigers proceeded to go on a scoring run as they added one run in the seventh inning and four more runs in the eighth. Doane won the game 11-4 to move on to the championship game. The Baseball team will be competing in the GPAC Championship against Concordia University on May 7 in Seward, Nebraska.