Plenty of offense between Pride and Wildcats in second-straight doubleheader split
PEOSTA, Iowa - Hoping to avoid their fourth-staright series loss and pick up their first series win in about a month, the Clarke University baseball team ended up splitting their four-game set against Culver-Stockton as the teams split their second-straight doubleheader with a 10-9 Pride win in game three and a 13-11 win for CSC in the finale.
CU got off and running offensively on Sunday at A.J. Spiegel Park when Jaxon Brooks hit a three-run home run in his first at bat of the game to jump out 3-0 in the bottom of the first before Ethan Hefel doubled home Alex Reynozo to make it 4-0 after one.
The Wildcats answered with a run in the second on a solo home run but the Pride would answer in the bottom of the inning with Bryn Vantiger produced a two-RBI single to right then Darin Eales drove in a run with a sacrifice fly later in the inning to make it 7-1.
Randy Lopez Acosta would make it 9-1 Clarke with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the fourth but the CU offense would go a little quiet until the sixth inning when Lopez Acosta drove in another with a ground out for an important insurance run heading into the seventh.
In between Clarke's ninth and 10th runs, Culver-Stockton came storming back with a five-run top of the fifth and two more runs in the top of the sixth to make it 9-8 in favor of the home team before a solo home run in the top of the seventh made that insurance run in the sixth important to make the game 10-9 but that would be all Jacob Monday would allow in his 1.1-inning relief appearance for his third save of the season.
Reynozo, Lopez Acosta, William Ramirez, and Dean Ormonde all had multi-hit games in game three with Reynozo going 4-for-4 with three runs scored and the trio of Lopez Acosta, Ramirez, and Ormonde all had two-hit games.
The finale went back-and-forth with both teams scoring two runs in the first inning as the Pride had another RBI extra base hit from Brooks, this time an RBI double before he was driven in by an Eales single to right to make it a 2-2 game.
The Wildcats answered with four runs in the second before a six-run bottom of the third gave Clarke their first lead of game four with Ramirez producing the big swing of the inning in the form of a three-run home run for the junior's second home run of the season as that would make it a 7-6 CU lead before Vantiger doubled home Ormonde to extend the lead and Cole Swartz would later score on a wild pitch as a courtesy runner for the Pride backstop.
Ormonde produced a two-out RBI double to extend Clarke's lead to 11-6 in the fourth inning and the Pride would even load the bases on a hit batter and walk to the next two hitters before CSC reliever Gavin Reames would get a strikeout on a 3-2 pitch to limit the CU damage at just those two runs.
Reames would produced the most quality innings on the mound for either team on the day, pitching 3.1 innings of shutout ball in relief with only that hit batter and walk being the only runners he'd allow while striking out two batters for his first win of the season.
Those quality innings would pay off once the Wildcats began their comeback rally in the fifth for the second-straight game, this time tying the game on a Noble Oxford two-run home run and taking the lead on a botched rundown between third and home by the Pride.
Oxford would add another home run, this time a solo shot in the top of the seventh to add a little cushion for Culver-Stockton at 13-11 where the game would end to clinch the series split.
Clarke baseball will hit the road for a midweek doubleheader in La Crosse, Wis. against Viterbo University on Tuesday, Apr. 15 with a game one scheduled first pitch of 1:00 p.m. CT between the Pride and V-Hawks.