Pride and Vikings split series with second-straight doubleheader split

PEOSTA, Iowa - On a breezy spring Saturday afternoon in Eastern Iowa, the Clarke University baseball team finished their Heart of America Athletic Conference series against Grand View University similar to how they started it the day prior with a doubleheader split.

The Vikings would clinch at worst a split on their end by opening the day with an 8-4 win before the Pride would bounce back to earn that split with a 5-3 win in the series finale.

Trading punches through the first two innings, Grand View would hold a 4-3 lead that they would keep until the top of the fifth when they extended it by one then would continue to add on in the seventh as Brock Johnson, Nolan Drill, and Hank Himrich would all drive in runs on singles as the Himrich single would drive in runs seven and eight to push their lead to five runs.

Kieron Crowder and Alex Reynozo would lead the offensive effort as both finished with two hits and an RBI in the opener while Jin Hattori and Tommy Peterson also drove in runs for CU.

Peterson would continue his hot weekend in the series finale as he would get the scoring started with a two-RBI single in the top of the first as the Pride would get up 4-0 in the first two innings after a double steal got the first run across in the second before Brendan O'Connor drove in the fourth run on a sacrifice fly.

That would end up being enough for Pride starter Ethan Hefel, who pitched a complete game, allowing three earned runs on 10 hits with only one walk and finishing with four strikeouts on just 81 pitches.

Clarke baseball will be back on the A.J. Spiegel Park diamond to continue their 13-game homestand with a non-conference mid-week game against St. Ambrose University on Tuesday, Mar. 19 for a 4:00 p.m. CT scheduled first pitch.