Brannon's three-homer game highlights Pride's 25-run outburst at Benedictine
ATCHISON, Kan. - Back on the road for the second-straight weekend in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, the Clarke University baseball team earned their 10th-straight doubleheader split in conference play with a 11-5 loss and a thrilling 25-12 victory against Benedictine College on Saturday.
The Pride looked to get the series off to a strong start in game one as they opened the game with a four-run first inning behind RBIs from Thomas Brannon and Kevin Javier, get used to those names, as CU also used a double steal and a wild pitch to get out to a 4-0 lead.
Adding a run on a Brannon sacrifice fly to make it 5-0 in the top of the fourth, the Ravens would answer with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-3 before another in the fifth then a seven-run bottom of the sixth would give BC the lead and extend it with two more home runs.
Benedictine leadoff hitter Ashton Neuman did a lion's share of the damage, hitting two home runs in the game, with his final blow being a three-run shot in the sixth to extend BC's lead from 7-5 to 10-5 before Jack Harpole would go back-to-back with Neuman to make it the eventual final of 11-5.
There were plenty of offensive fireworks in the day's finale with 37 total runs scored, 31 hits, seven home runs, 16 extra base hits, two lead changes and a tie before the Pride took full control by towards the end of the game.
Another early lead was taken by CU in the top of the first as Brannon would launch a two-run home run to take a 2-0 lead but that would be short lived as the Ravens would produce a seven-run inning for their second-straight offensive inning going back to the bottom of the sixth in game one with BC catcher Dominic Ferrari hit his second home run of the day with a three-run shot to make it 6-2 at the time.
This time it would be the Pride to score seven in an inning and this time it would be a Brannon three-run home run to finish the scoring in the inning at a 9-7 Clarke lead as he would be 2-for-2 with two home runs and five RBIs after just two plate appearances in two innings.
Three runs would be the largest lead the Pride could grow to in the middle innings before another home run from the Ravens would pull them within one in the fourth before a Brice Martin double tied the game at 12-12.
From that point on it would be all Clarke starting with a Javier RBi single to regain the lead in the fifth as a five run sixth would push CU out to an 18-12 lead behind RBIs from Alden Brown, and Alex Reynozo before Javier capped the inning off with an RBI ground rule double.
The final seven-run inning would come in the top of the seventh as it would be long ball again for the Pride with Brannon launching his third home run of the game over the left field fence for a three run shot, then Javier would put an exclamation point on the 25-run effort with a grand slam to make it 25-12.
Clarke and Benedictine baseball will finish their four-game series on Sunday afternoon when they open up their second-straight doubleheader with a 12:00 p.m. CT first pitch between the Pride and Ravens.