Seventh inning comebacks determine winners in series finale between Pride and Wildcats
CANTON, Mo. - Closing out their Heart of America Athletic Conference series on a Monday due to weather, the Clarke University baseball team split their doubleheader with Culver-Stockton College with matching 8-7 victories for each team.
Multi-run comebacks in the seventh inning of both games provided plenty of drama as it started with a game three comeback from the Pride who scored four runs after entering the inning trailing 7-4 then Culver-Stockton earned a walkoff win in the finale with a six-run seventh in game four to come back from down 7-2 to start the inning.
CU used five hits to score four runs as Alden Brown started the comeback with a solo home run as the other three run scoring swings came from a Dean Ormonde sacrifice fly, a Brendan O'Connor single, and the go-ahead run was driven in off the bat of Tommy Peterson.
That would put Ethan Hefel into winning position as he would complete the victory with a scoreless seventh despite flirting with a little danger after a walk and hit batter put the winning run on first base with only one out.
Hefel would finish with his fourth-straight complete game allowing only four earned runs out of the seven on 10 hits with two walks and a strikeout to pick up his fourth win of the season.
Brown would open the game four scoring with another solo home run to finish the series with a long ball in three out of the four games as Clarke would jump out to a 4-0 lead that would eventually grow to 5-1 and 7-2 by the sixth inning.
The Wildcats would score four runs before even recording an out and they used four hits and three walks to pull the game to 7-6 as the tying shot came off the bat of Jackson Day but O'Connor threw the potential game-winning run out at the plate to make it first and second with two outs.
Another walk then the fifth RBI single of the inning, this time from Noble Oxford in his second plate appearance of the inning, gave Culver-Stockton the game four win and the series split.
The loss would spoil a strong start from Christian Prull who went five innings allowing two earned runs on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
Along with Brown's two home runs on the day, Thomas Brannon launched a two-run shot in game three, O'Connor and Peterson finished with two hits in each game, and third baseman Brendan Hillis finished the day with four hits and five RBIs.
Clarke will remain on the road next weekend when they travel to Atchison, Kan. for another four-game series in the Heart when they face off with the Ravens of Benedictine College on Apr. 13-14 with both days' doubleheaders slated to begin at 12:00 p.m CT.