Pride and Possehl flip the script to split series opening doubleheader against William Penn

PEOSTA, Iowa - In the middle of a string of five-straight doubleheader day splits in Heart of America Athletic Conference play, the Clarke University baseball team finished their sixth-straight doubleheader split in their series openers against William Penn University on Friday afternoon.

Friday's split was a welcome sight following their tough go in the opening game to the tune of a 14-2 win for the Statesmen as the Pride would come back and win the day's finale 7-4 behind the strongest start of the season from Carson Possehl.

Possehl would throw his first complete game of his collegiate career as his only scoring blemishes came from a pair of home runs by WPU's Nick George who sandwiched a first inning solo home run and a seventh inning three-run home run around seven CU runs in the middle. Possehl's final line would be four earned runs on five hits and two hit batters while striking out a career-high tying six Statesmen batters.

William Penn would hold their 1-0 lead until the bottom of the second inning as Tommy Peterson would put Clarke on the board with his third home run of 2024 with a solo shot to lead off the inning then one pitch later the Pride would take the lead on Alex Reynozo's third home run of the season.

The second inning scoring wouldn't end there as Dean Ormonde would crack a two-RBI single into left scoring Jin Hattori and Kieron Crowder to put CU up 4-1 by inning's end.

It wasn't long after that where the Pride would extend their lead to six as back-to-back RBI doubles, first from Donnie Weaver then one batter later from Randy Lopez Acosta to push the game to 7-1 that would hold until two outs in the top of the seventh.

What was the best start of the season for Possehl saw the opposite for Clarke ace Dante Maietta as he gave up eight runs on eight hits and five walks through five innings pitched as the middle to bottom of a potent WPU lineup got to Maietta for a six-run second inning and a run apiece in the fourth and fifth.

Three members of the Statesmen's starting lineup finished with three RBIs as DH Justin Martinez, left fielder Zach Otten, and shortstop Nathan Jessell all finished with two hits and three RBIs while Marco Ayala and Leland Riley II both also added two hits apiece at the bottom of the order.

These two teams will face off again in another doubleheader on Saturday with a game three first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. CT first pitch at A.J. Spiegel Park in Peosta, Iowa.