Pride baseball splits opening doubleheader with No. 6 Faulkner

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Facing a tough task in one of the top ranked teams in the NAIA to start their 2022, the Clarke University baseball could have come away with a pair of victories as they settle for a doubleheader split with No. 6 Faulkner on Saturday.

The Pride and Eagles went into extra innings in the seven-inning game one as they took a 5-4 lead in the top of the eight before giving up a pair of runs in the bottom half to fall 6-5 in the opener. In game two, the only runs CU pitching allowed came in the first inning as Clarke shut it down for the remainder of the game to pull away late to a 6-2 victory to star their year off 1-1.

On a brisk day in Montgomery, Ala. pitching and defense told the story as four Clarke arms stood out over the 15 innings of baseball, most notably Devan Quesada's bounceback performance over his final three innings after allowing those two early runs in the CU win. Quesada finished his four innings workload only allowing four hits, those two earned runs, and striking out four Faulkner hitters on his way to a win.

Brendan Boily came in to finish off the last three innings, throwing shutout ball without allowing a hit as he struck out three and walked three to pick up the save. In game one, relievers Carsie Walker and Isaac Rohde combined for 5.2 innings, one unearned run on two hits with 10 strikeouts and three walks as Walker went 3.1 innings with six strikeouts and one hit allowed and Rohde went 2.1 innings with four strikeouts and a hit.

At the plate, Hayden Siebers was the only member of the Pride to have a multi-hit game in the first game as he went 2-for-4 as the big swing at the time came off the bat of Maguire Fitzgerald, who singled to center field to give Clarke the 5-4 lead in the top of the eight.

In game two, both Bryce Hinton and Paul Von Zboray finished with two hits as Hinton went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Von Zboray went 2-for-3 with an RBI in his first start as a member of the Pride.

Darius Bradley had a strong overall day at the top of the CU order finishing with a hit in each game, scoring three total runs, and adding an RBI in five at bats.

Clarke and Faulkner will get back on the field for the final game of their series on Sunday for a 1:00 p.m. CT scheduled first pitch.