Pride drop both ends of finale doubleheader in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Hoping to have their first winning weekend of the 2024 season, the Clarke University baseball team was unable to produce even a split as they fell 13-4 to Doane University and 3-2 to Morningside University on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers, who entered the 2024 as a team receiving votes in the preseason coaches poll, were able to jump out to an early lead, scoring nine runs in the first three innings on four home runs and taking advantage of an error by the Pride in their six-run second inning.

Six different members of Doane's lineup went deep in the game as Brayden Jones sent two over the outfield fence as Clarke's Jin Hattori also launched his second homer of the season with a two-run shot in the fifth for Hattori's third-straight two RBI game.

The Pride's matchup against Morningside was a lower scoring affair that saw CU manage one hit off of Mustangs' starter Cade Norris as he struck out 12 in 6.2 innings before surrendering the lone hit of the game for Clarke on a Thomas Brannon single.

That single would start a rally that would lead to Clarke coming within one run after entering the top of the seventh down 3-0 as the Pride loaded the bases and scored two runs thanks to four-straight walks, forcing the second MU pitching change of the inning before Logan Warkentin shut the door with a strikeout.

Pride pitchers Chris Ueta, Christian Prull, and David Guevara combined for six innings of three-run ball on the mound as Ueta surrendered all three runs, only one earned, in the third innings before Prull entered to throw 2.2 two-hit innings before Guevara got the final out of the bottom of the sixth.

Clarke baseball will be back on the road next weekend as they will take on Doane twice more in a four-game road trip to St. Louis, Mo. where they will face Missouri Baptist University for two games and Doane for two more on Mar. 1-2.