Brown plays hero in extras as Pride open weekend with 6-5 win over No. 10 Missouri Baptist
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Starting the month of March with a matchup against the preseason No. 10 team in the NAIA rankings, the Clarke University baseball team pulled off a 6-5 win over No. 10 Missouri Baptist University on Friday afternoon.
The scheduled seven inning game would end up hitting extra innings following an eventful seventh inning that saw a total of seven runs scored as the Spartans entered the seventh up 2-1 before the game would head to the eighth tied 5-5.
Both teams removed their starting pitchers to begin the seventh inning as MBU pulled starter Teague Robinson after six innings of three-hit ball as he allowed one earned run with four strikeouts and two walks while the Pride got a repeat performance from the reigning Heart Pitcher of the Week, Dante Maietta, as the right-hander also threw six innings of three-hit ball allowing one earned run but walked four and struck out two with another run scoring unearned.
Both relievers to enter first for each team combined to only get one out and surrender all seven runs in the seventh as CU scored four times in the top of the seventh on RBI singles from Andrew Swartz and Jin Hattori with RBIs on a Brendan O'Connor hit by pitch and Thomas Brannon grounder that was misplayed by the third baseman sandwiched in the middle.
Now holding a 5-2 lead, the first three batters of the inning singled to load the bases for Missouri Baptist before a two-RBI double from Alex Adams made it a one-run game again leading to a sacrifice fly from DJ Schmidt tied the game as Luke Fredrick was able to escape the inning tied to head to extras.
In the eighth, Dean Ormonde lead off with a single then proceeded to steal second before Alden Brown took his first at bat of the game, subbing in defensively in the bottom of the seventh, as he doubled home Ormonde to break the tie and give CU another one-run lead where he would end up stranded on third in the inning.
That one-run lead was enough for Fredrick as he came out in the bottom of the eighth and pitched around a walk and a hit batter to enduce a ground ball double play and end the inning on a foul pop out to none other than Brown at first to close out the 6-5 win.
The Pride will be back in action for two games tomorrow starting with a rematch against MBU with first pitch of that game scheduled for 10:00 a.m. CT before they take on Doane University for the second time in a week and the first of two times this weekend for a scheduled 3:00 p.m. CT first pitch for CU's finale of the day.