Brooks' strong Pride debut leads to Heart Player of the Week honor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Starting their 2025 season with three-straight wins for the first time since the 2020 season, the Clarke University baseball team also received some individual accolades on Monday as junior outfielder Jaxon Brooks was named Heart of America Athletic Conference Player of the Week, Heart officials announced on Monday afternoon.

Brooks, a Burlington, Iowa native, made his debut for the Pride last weekend after transferring Southwestern Community College as he would make quite the first impression for CU getting the start in right field and batting fifth in head coach Brian McCabe's opening day lineup.

In the opener against Sterling, Brooks would finish 2-for-3 with those two hits both being home runs, first a three-run shot in the seven-run second inning before he followed it up with a solo shot in the third inning as he would finish the day with five RBIs and three runs scored in Clarke's 17-11 win.

Following a bit of a quiet 1-for-3 game in the second game on Saturday, taking on Oklahoma City in a rematch of that game on Sunday, Brooks would once again make a significant impact with his bat, once again going 2-for-3 with a pair of walk as both of his hits drove in runs in the form of a pair of two-RBI doubles, first in the sixth inning to make it a 10-4 game before doing so again in the seventh to get the CU lead to 10 at 15-5 where the Pride would earn a run rule victory over the Stars 17-5 after their 9-4 win over OCU on Saturday.

Through just three games, Brooks is slashing (AVG/OBP/SLG) .556/.692/1.444 with those two home runs, two doubles, and four walks through 13 plate appearances while also playing an error-free right field over that stretch with five putouts.

Pride baseball will get back on the road this weekend when they travel to Salina, Kan. for a four-game trip starting with a pair on Friday against Hastings and St. Ambrose before taking on Kansas Wesleyan and Hastings on Saturday.