Pride get off to a hot start in 2025-opening wins over Sterling and Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Opening their 2025 season in the same spot they did in 2024, the Clarke University baseball team got off to a 2-0 start with ressounding wins over Sterling College and Oklahoma City University on Saturday in Oklahoma City.

Starting with their first game against the Warriors of Sterling, the Pride offense got off to an outstanding start to the tune of an 17-11 win as they got the scoring started early with six runs in the first and seven runs in the second.

A pair of bases loaded walks from Jaxon Brooks and DJ Graham tied the score and put CU in front before a Ki Crowder sacrifice fly as the scoring was capped by shortstop Darin Eales cranking a three-run home run in his first at bat with the Pride to make it 6-1.

Brooks would join Eales as a new face to the Clarke lineup to make an early impact as he would hit his own three-run home run in the seven-run second inning as Brooks would also add a solo home run in a three-run third inning that would push the CU lead to 16-1 before a Graham single made it 17-1.

With that lead, the Clarke staff would be able to lighten the load of starting pitcher Dante Maietta, who would finish four innings of work allowing four hits and striking out seven while allowing one earned run for his first win of 2025.

Brooks, Graham, and Crowder all finished with multi-hit games while Brooks' five-RBI game led the way for the run produces that also saw Eales finish with three RBIs with Graham and Cole Swartz each driving in a pair.

In the Pride's finale against OCU, they would earn a 9-4 win over the Stars as they would once again jump out to a lead with two runs in the top of the first on an Alex Reynozo RBi single and an Alden Brown sacrifice fly.

Oklahoma City answered in the bottom of the first with a run but then a big fourth inning would once again give Clarke a sizeable lead as they would score five runs behind an RBI single from Randy Lopez Acosta, a run-scoring balk, an RBI single from Swartz, then a two-run home run from Dean Ormonde would put the score to 7-1.

Ormonde and Swartz would add another RBI each as Swartz hit his second triple of the day and Ormonde drove in Swartz with a single in the top of the seventh to make it 9-2 following a strong pitching performance from Ethan Hefel as the junior from Galena, Ill. went five innings allowing two earned runs on three hits while striking out three Stars hitters.

Lopez Acosta finished with three hits from the nine-hole while the top three in the order of Swartz, Ormonde, and Reynozo all had three hits to lead the offense in CU's second game.

Clarke will finish their trip with one more game against Oklahoma City on Sunday with a scheduled first pitch of 11:00 a.m. CT.