Pride produce pair of road wins in midweek trip to Viterbo

LA CROSSE, Wis. - Fitting in a midweek road trip for a non-conference doubleheader, the Clarke University baseball team was able to secure a pair of victories against Viterbo University on Tuesday afternoon by 16-6 and 9-8 final scores.

An 11-run top of the first inning in game one powered the Pride to their comfortable game one win as Alden Brown produced two different RBI hits, most notably finishing off the scoring in the inning with a grand slam to make it 11-0 on his seventh home run of the season.

Dean Ormonde would add a three-run home run in the second to push the lead to 15-0 before the V-Hawks produced a bit of a rally with a solo home run in the third then five runs in the fifth but that's where their scoring would end before Diego Guevara added his first career home run with a solo shot in the seventh to give Clarke their 16-6 lead.

Starting pitcher Kurisu Ueta had a quality outing for CU, going four innings of four-hit ball allowing just the one run on the solo home run in the third with one walk and one strikeout then Riley Fender would be the second pitcher out of the Pride bullpen to pitch two scoreless and hitless innings while striking out a batter himself.

The Pride would have to produce a comeback effort in the day's finale but not before they scored in the top of the first again, this time only a pair of runs however, scoring on a passed ball, then Alex Reynozo driving in a run with an RBI single to make it 2-0 CU.

Viterbo answered with three runs in the bottom of the first then the teams would match that offensive output in the third with two Clarke runs in the top of the third on a Darin Eales RBI double and a Jin Hattori RBI single to make it 4-3 Pride but then another three spot in the bottom half from VU gave them the lead back at 6-4.

Clarke tied the game again in the fourth but again, the V-Hawks answered in the bottom of the inning with two of their own to regain a two-run lead at 8-6 before Bryn Vantiger, Jaxon Brooks, and Brown each produced an RBI in the top of the sixth to give CU a 9-8 lead.

That lead would hold thanks to three shutout innings of relief pitching first a scoreless fifth from David Jacobo before Jacob Monday would pick up the win, pitching two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh while striking out three VU batters including the final out of the game getting out of a jam that saw the go-ahead run step to the plate in the final frame.

Pride baseball will get back to Heart of America Athletic Conference play with their final home weekend scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Apr. 18-19 when they host Mount Mercy University at A.J. Spiegel Park for 1:00 p.m. CT scheduled starts to each doubleheader day.