Pride dominant in all phases to clinch sweep over Graceland
LAMONI, Iowa - Going for their second-straight Heart of America Athletic Conference series win, the Clarke University baseball team did that and some on Sunday earning 11-0 and 7-1 wins in both ends of a doubleheader to clinch a series sweep.
The pitching, defense, and offense for the Pride was on full display on the day highlighted by a school record 16 strikeouts in game two from sophomore right hander Johnny Blake to complete the sweep with a complete game allowing one run on five hits.
Blake and game three starter Jake Fiorito combined to go 13 innings on the day to strike out 21 batters and allow only eight hits and the lone run as Tayden Patterson pitched the final inning of the 11-0 game with two strikeouts and a hit allowed in the shutdown frame.
Offensively, CU mashed two home runs, one in each game, as the first and last RBIs of the day were provided by two-run home runs in their first offensive inning of the day and their last offensive inning of the day. In the bottom of the first in game one, Bryce Simon hit his second home run in as many days with a two-run shot to make it 2-0 early and in the bottom of the sixth in game two Victor Lara hit his second home run of the season with a two-run shot to push that lead to 7-1.
In game one, the Pride went through a bit of an offensive drought after the Simon home run but exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the fifth with Bubba Thompson providing two RBI hits in the inning in the form of an RBI single and a bases clearing double with the bases loaded to make it 11-0.
The Yellowjackets actually led 1-0 after the first inning against Blake and held that lead until the third inning when Simon drove in Lara with a single to tie the game. Multi-run innings in the fourth and sxith provided some extra cushion on their way to the 7-1 win as Lara added two more RBIs in the fourth on top of what would be his two-run home run in the sixth and Hayden Siebers doubled home a run in the sixths before Lara's homer.
Clarke baseball will head back to Dubuque in hopes to get their home opener in after needing to move the Graceland series to Lamoni as the Pride as set to host Viterbo University on Wednesday at AJ Spiegel Park in Peosta, Iowa for a 2:00 p.m. CT scheduled first pitch.