Blake dominates on the mound as Pride split with Grand View in regular season finale
PEOSTA, Iowa - On the final day of the regular season, where the Clarke University baseball team needed one win to solidify their place at the top of the North Division in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, the Pride were able to earn a split against Grand View University.
That split however gave the Vikings a series win as they pulled of a 4-3 win in the series finale after CU grabbed a 3-0 win in the day's opener behind the second-straight shutout from right-hander Johnny Blake.
Blake took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before GVU broke it up with two outs in the fifth but Blake finished his seven-inning performance only allowing two hits while striking out seven Viking batters to move to 6-2 on the season and lower his ERA to 1.69, the third-lowest earned run average in the entire NAIA.
Clarke got their runs one at a time in each the third, fourth, and fifth innings as Thomas Brannon singled home two of the three runs in the third and fifth while Daniel Phyle launched a solo home run over the left center field wall in the fourth to make it 2-0 at the time.
In the finale, a four-run third inning from Grand View was able to hold up as the Pride were limited to one run in each inning they scored again and squandered multiple bases loaded situations as they scored two runs in three different innings after loading the bases with one or no outs in the inning.
The biggest of those situations came in the bottom of the seventh inning as two walks and an error packed the bases for the Vikings to turn to Devin Doyle, who came in to get two strikeouts and a flyout to center field to escape the jam and clinch a series victory for Grand View.
CU's bottom of the order combination of Kieron Crowder and Maguire Fitzgerald got most of their rallies started as Crowder went 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI on a sacrifice fly and Fitzgerald went 2-for-3 out of the nine-hole.
Greg Bennett had a solid start on the mound, going five innings, allowing the four runs in the third with three of them coming earned as Connor Crabill came in out of the bullpen to throw two scoreless innings with two strikeouts to keep Clarke in the game for the comeback attempt.
Earning that game three win clinched the No. 2 seed in the Heart Tournament with their North Division title as a rain postponement in another Heart series will delay the offcial seeding to be released until Sunday as the first day of the tournament is scheduled for next Thursday, May 4 in Ozark, Mo.