Baseball Recap: Concord Drops Highest Score of Season Against Elkhart Christian Academy

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Concord). Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Elkhart Christian Academy Eagles a 21-0 shutout on Thursday. The Minutemen have beaten the Eagles the last six times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Eagles has come to flipping the script.

Jesus Esparza

Batters Struck Out (Career)

04/24/25 vs Elkhart Christian Academy	10
04/17/24 vs Plymouth	6
05/15/24 @ Wawasee	5
05/03/24 @ Plymouth	5
04/24/24 @ Goshen	5

Jesus Esparza was a major factor while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Those ten strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, going a perfect 1-for-1 with two RBI and one run.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Damian Ponce, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with one home run, four runs, and two stolen bases. Noah Norwood was another key player, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with three runs, three RBI, and one triple.

Concord always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .675. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

Concord pushed their record up to 4-3 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 14.3 runs over those games. As for Elkhart Christian Academy, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 2-5.

Looking ahead, Concord will host Northridge at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The Minutemen's pitchers better be ready for this one: the Raiders have averaged an impressive 9.1 runs per game this season. As for Elkhart Christian Academy, they will head out to face off against North Judson-San Pierre at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.