Pride sweep day one doubleheader at William Penn
OSKALOOSA, Iowa - In a most important final series of the 2025 season, the Clarke University baseball team earned a pair of tight wins over William Penn University on Friday afternoon in Oskaloosa, Iowa by final scores of 5-2 and 3-2.
When they needed it most, the Pride got one of senior right-hander Dante Maietta's best starts of the season as he threw a complete game, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with a season-high nine strikeouts for his seventh win on the mound of 2025.
CU got on the board early in the opener after a leadoff double from Dean Ormonde, back-to-back flyouts from the next two batters, the second of which came off the bat of Jaxon Brooks in the form of a sacrifice fly to right would make it a 1-0 game after a half inning.
The Statesmen would answer with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a home run and RBI single but Clarke would get two of their own in the final two innings, first on a Darin Eales two-RBI single in the sixth to regain the lead for the Pride then Brooks added a two-RBI double in the seventh to make it 5-2 where Maietta would produce a pair of drama-free innings in the bottom of the sixth and seventh with one-two-three frames in each.
Clarke would get out in front of game two as well with a pair of runs in the top of the second when Ki Crowder singled home a pair with the other run for CU in the day's finale coming off the bat of Brooks again where he singled in the top of the fifth to give the Pride an important insurance run.
Junior Christian Prull had a solid bounce back performance on the mound, going sixth runs allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts as the first run he allowed was the unearned tally in the bottom of the fourth to make it 2-1 at the time.
Prull would pitch into the seventh inning but give up back-to-back singles where CU would turn to senior Jacob Monday to try and close the door on the Statesmen, who had the tying run on first base and the go-ahead run coming to the plate.
WPU opted to drop a sacrifice bunt to move both runners to scoring position with one out but Monday would do the job, forcing back-to-back fly outs, the first of which being a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-2 game, to earn his fourth save of the season and give the Pride two much-needed wins.
With those wins and a pair of Peru State College losses at Central Methodist University, Clarke holds their Heart Tournament destiny in their own hands on Saturday, moving into a tie for eighth place with the Bobcats where CU earned a 3-1 win in the regular season series against PSC so two more wins over William Penn tomorrow for the Pride, one win and one Peru State loss, or two Peru State losses would clinch a spot in the postseason for CU baseball.
The Pride and Statesmen will close out their 2025 regular season on Saturday afternoon in Oskaloosa with another doubleheader slated to start at 1:00 p.m. CT at Statesmen Ballpark.