No shortage of offense in Pride and Yellowjackets doubleheader split

LAMONI, Iowa - Making up games lost due to weather from back in March, the Clarke University baseball team was able to clinch a full series win with a doubleheader split at Graceland University on Wednesday afternoon.

Runs were scored in bunches in both games on the way to a Pride 18-2 win in the first game of the day as Graceland used three-straight eight-run innings to pull away from CU in the finale by a final of 27-8 to salvage a game in the series.

In Clarke's win, Kainoa Torres continued his offensive outburst as he blasted two solo home runs for his fifth and sixth long balls of the season to move into a tie for the team lead.

Victor Lara and Jose Perez both went deep for the Pride as Lara's two-run shot came in the six-run third inning for CU and Perez launched a pinch-hit two-run shot in the sixth inning to move Clarke's lead to 14-2. Lara finished with three hits and four RBIs on the game as Paul Von Zboray and Maguire Fitzgerald also finished with multi-hit games out of the eight and nine spots in the lineup along with Lara and Torres.

Greg Bennett was able to turn around from his start last Friday to go 4.1 innings on Wednesday to pick up his fifth win of the season as he allowed one earned run on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts. The combination of Brendan Boily, Ethan James, and Luke Fredrick finished the final 2.2 innnings with a shutout effort and only two baserunners allowed via two walks.

In a difficult pitching spot in the finale, the Pride tried to piece together innings on the mound as they ended up using nine different pitchers with mixed results as the Yellowjackets had those eight-run innings in the fourth, fifth, and sixth to move leads to 11-3, 19-6, and 27-8 as Clarke answered multiple times with runs but never the following shut down innings they needed to mount a complete comeback.

CU had a pair of three-hit games at the top of the order from Thomas Brannon and Brendan O'Connor was Brannon had a three-RBI game as well to continue his hot stretch at the plate since being inserted into the lineup as the team's starting catcher.

Clarke baseball will return home to A.J. Spiegel Park for a four-game series in the Heart of America Athletic Conference as William Penn University will be in Peosta starting this Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. CT series-opening first pitch.