Tucker's one-hitter propel's right-hander to Heart Pitcher of the Week

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As the Clarke University baseball team earned their first sweep of a Heart of America Athletic Conference series this past weekend, senior right-handed pitcher Tyson Tucker was named the Heart's Pitcher of the Week following a shutout performance.

In Saturday's first game of a doubleheader to cap a four-game series against Missouri Valley College, Tucker went six shutout innings allowing only one hit while walking three and striking out a season-high 12 batters. 

In that 13-0 win over the Vikings, Tucker took a no-hitter into the sixth inning where MVC's Jumpei Ohashi slashed a two-out single into right field for the only hit against Tucker for Missouri Valley in the game.

As the team's No. 1 starter last season, leading to an All-Heart First Team selection, Tucker hadn't seen the same success early in the 2023 season but has now thrown three-straight quality starts of exactly six innings pitched while allowing three or fewer runs and four or fewer hits to lower his ERA to 4.34 over 47.2 innings pitched with 60 total strikeouts for an 11.33 K/9 average.

Winners of 11 of their last 13 games, the Pride will have a busier than normal week this week as they plan to makeup their final two games against Graceland University this Wednesday in Lamoni, Iowa before returning home for another four-game home series in the Heart against William Penn University this Saturday and Sunday at A.J. Spiegel Park.