Pride split series opening doubleheader with Cumberland University

LEBANON, Tenn. - In their fourth doubleheader of the early part of the season, the Clarke University baseball team earned their fourth split of a doubleheader in as many tries on Saturday against Cumberland University on Saturday.

The Pride earned an 8-0 win in the day's opener and fell 4-1 in the second game to move their overall record to 4-5 through nine games in the early going.

In that 8-0 win, pitching told the story as starter Tyson Tucker and reliever Isaac Rohde combined for a one-hit shutout as that hit came in just the bottom of the first as the only other traffic in the game came on free passes. Tucker went 4.1 innings to earn the win as he struck out six and walked six as Rohde went the final 2.2 while striking out four and walking a single hitter.

At the plate Bryce Simon had the lone multi-hit game of the day as he finished 2-for-4 in the win with two runs scored and an RBI in the opener. Bubba Thompson drove in three runs with a 1-for-4 game as Darius Bradley and Brendan O'Connor combined for two hits out of the leadoff spot, and Victor Lara scored two runs from the nine-hole.

In the 4-1 win for the Phoenix, Devan Quesada threw a near quality outing in his complete game's worth of six innings on the mound to finish with seven strikeouts while allowing the four runs on 10 hits. 

The offense struggled in the second game to finish with only four total hits as Simon added another hit and scored the lone run. Taigo Sato drove in that run with an RBI single in the first inning as Lara and Bradley also finished the game with a hit apiece.

For Cumberland, Santrel Farmer and Angel Mendoza had two-hit games in their win with Nolan Mchibroda driving in a pair of runs and Farmer scoring twice in the leadoff spot.

On the mound, Trevor Muzzie went three innings in his start allowing just three hits, as the pullpen combination of Mitch Rogers and Rance Pittman combining for four innings of shutout ball and striking out five for Pittman to earn the save.

These two teams will finish off their series on Sunday with a scheduled first pitch at 12:00 p.m. CT in Lebanon.