Pride finish weekend with doubleheader sweep of Park
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Wrapping up a four-game weekend against a pair of Heart of America Athletic Conference South teams, the Clarke University baseball team earned a pair of wins on Sunday afternoon against Park University by final scores of 5-2 and 4-0.
The Pride were the benefactors of a pair of strong starting pitching performances that started off with junior Travis Gibson going six strong, and even pitching into the seventh, in the opener to allow three earned runs on five hits and five walks with five strikeouts to earn a quality start then sophomore left hander Zach Arnold twirled five shutout innings allowing just two hits, but walking four, while also producing a career-high six punch outs for as both Gibson and Arnold earned their first wins of the season on the mound.
Not to be overlook were a pair of quality relief performances from each game as Curtis Anderson threw the final two innings after Arnold in game two allowing just three walks and striking out two in the two hitless innings and in the day's opener, Caleb Calcut entered in the seventh inning for Gibson to quiet a PU rally by striking out two of the four batters he faced and earn his first CU save after transferring in this season from Walla Walla Community College.
Onto the offensive production for Clarke, game one had the Pride jumping out to an early 2-0 lead behind a Darin Eales RBI single to right, driving in leadoff man Eli Kelley before a wild pitch scored Eales later on in the inning.
Though the Pirates got a run back in the bottom half of the first, three run producing extra base hits in the second, third, and fifth innings, helped CU grow their lead to four runs and give Gibson some extra cushion as Omari Barksdale and Darin Eales each launched solo homers then Bryn Vantiger doubled to right center field to bring Eales across home plate for the third time in the game and make it 5-1.
In the finale, a two-hit game from Nico Reed, who got the start at third base in both games, along with an Alex Cashman, the left fielder for both games, RBI double and Barksdale driving in a run with a ground ball that was misplayed by the Park defense gave all four RBIs in the Pride lineup to their seven, eight, and nine hole hitters for the bottom of the order to produce for head coach Brian McCabe.
Now riding a three-game winning streak, Clarke baseball will head into their spring break with only one game on the schedule for this upcoming week when they travel to Chicago, Ill. for a nine-inning non-conference matchup against Saint Xavier University on Friday, Mar. 13 for a 1:00 p.m. CT scheduled first pitch.