Pride play their way into Heart Tournament with Saturday's sweep of William Penn
OSKALOOSA, Iowa - Entering Saturday in full control of their postseason destiny, the Clarke University baseball team left no doubt in a pair of wins over William Penn University to clinch a full series sweep by 5-2 and 5-1 final scores in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
With those wins, the Pride earned the eighth and final spot into the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament next week in Ozark, Mo. after using the weekend to jump Peru State College for that spot as CU's four wins this weekend put them at a 14-18 conference record over the Bobcats' 12-20 Heart record following PSC being swept at the hands of Central Methodist University.
To the games themselves, the Clarke pitching staff combined for two earned runs over 14 innings as game three starting pitcher Carson Possehl produced a top-two start of his season, going six strong innings of five-hit ball allowing two runs, one earned, while striking out three Statesmen hitters.
Possehl would give way to Jacob Monday as the senior would produce his second-straight save after closing out their game two 3-2 win the day before, Monday would produce a drama-free one-two-three inning, striking out the leadoff batter then forcing a ground out and fly out to pick up the win.
Game one's offensive production would come throughout the lineup as leadoff man Dean Ormonde went 2-for-4 with three RBIs as the second baseman got the scoring started with a two-RBI single in the top of the second to make it 2-0.
Alden Brown added an RBI double in the third to make it 3-0 but WPU would make it a 3-2 game heading into the sixth before Ormonde produced an RBI double and Ki Crowder drove in an extra insurance run in the top of the seventh to put the game at its eventual final score of 5-2.
Brown, Ormonde, and William Ramirez would finish with two-hit games while Jaxon Brooks scored twice, Crowder had the hit and RBI, and Darin Eales had a hit and run scored to round out the key offensive contributors in what would be the eventual postseason clinching win for CU.
Game two's pitching effort for the Pride was more collaborative but equally as effective led by starter Kurisu Ueta's four shutout innings where he allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out with as the combination of Hayden Vickroy, David Guevara, and Zach Arnold threw an inning each allowing just two hits and an earned run from Guevara while each struck out a batter in their inning of work.
Eales, Cole Swartz, and Jin Hattori each had two-hit games in the series final with Eli Kelley, Diego Guevara, and Ramirez each producing a hit and a run for Clarke to once again, get quality prodution throughout the lineup.
Swartz got the scoring started in the top of the third with a solo home run as he added an RBI with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth after David Jacobo put CU up 3-0 with a two-RBI single with the Pride adding another run in the top of the seventh to answer the William Penn run in the bottom of the sixth.
Clarke baseball will make a return trip to Ozark for the Heart Tournament for the first time since 2023 as they will open play with the first game of the tournament on Thursday, May 1 with a scheduled first pitch against Culver-Stockton College at 10:00 a.m. CT at Ozark Mountain Sports Complex.