Pride comeback falls short in Heart Tournament elimination game against Baker

OZARK, Mo. - After battling through a pair of grueling games the day before, the Clarke University baseball team fell by a 5-4 final score in their first loser's bracket game of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament to Baker University on Friday afternoon.

The Wildcats were able to jump out in front early with a four-run bottom of the fourth that saw BU take advantage of a walk, a hit batter, two stolen bases, two CU errors, and a pair of extra base hits to lead 4-0 after two frames.

That would really be Pride starting pitcher Carson Possehl's only major hiccup of an inning as the senior pitched into the eighth inning where he would end up putting runners on before being removed to be credited for the fifth run allowed as well. 

The senior from Lodi, Wis. would finish with a final line of seven-plus innings pitched allowing just three hits but hitting four Baker batters and walking two, to allow five runs, just two earned, with five strikeouts in a gutsy performance in the elimination game.

Clarke would chip away at the Wildcats lead with a pair of runs in the fourth on a Ki Crowder two-out RBI triple then a Bryn Vantiger single to drive home Crowder to cut the BU lead in half.

CU would get another run in the seventh to make it a one-run game but that would be when Baker added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-3 heading to the Pride's final at bats of the game in the top of the ninth.

Darin Eales and Crowder would both reach base to start the inning and put the tying run on base as one of the bigger plays of the game would be when Baker would throw out Crowder trying to steal second with one out before Jin Hattori drove in Eales from third to make it 5-4 with two outs.

The Wildcats would get the next batter out and clinch the win, eliminating the Pride from the Heart Tournament and closing out CU's season with a final overall record of 24-28 after their 14-18 Heart record gave them the No. 8 seed in the tournament.

Possehl, Crowder, and Vantiger, Clarke baseball's longest tenured members in the starting lineup left it all out on the field on Friday with, as previously mentioned one of Possehl's best starts of the season, Crowder finishing 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, and Vantiger going 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Clarke baseball will lose a group of 11 seniors, including their three All-Heart selections of Jacob Monday, Dante Maietta, and Alex Reynozo, as well as four members of Friday's starting lineup offensively.