Johnny Blake earns Clarke's fourth Heart Pitcher of the Week of 2022

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Following the completion of the 2022 regular season on Sunday, Clarke University baseball will add one final Heart of America Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week as Heart officials announced that Johnny Blake would receive the honor on Monday.

The Dubuque Senior High School product started two games last week, shutting down Peru State on Apr. 26 for a 1-0 Pride victory over the Bobcats to clinch a series win in the series finale. In that start, Blake struck out seven batters while only allowing six hits and a walk on his way to his first career shutout.

He also started Sunday's regular season finale against Culver-Stockton while only going two innings he recorded three strikeouts and walked two in those two hitless innings.

Blake becomes the fourth pitcher for the Pride and fifth player overall for CU to earn a Heart weekly honor on the diamond after fellow pitchers Isaac Rohde, Devan Quesada, and Jake Fiorito earned Pitcher of the Week at different points during the season and catcher/first baseman Bryce Hinton earned Player of the Week honors in March.

The four pitchers is the most of any team in the Heart to earn Pitcher of the Week and the five total between Pitcher and Player of the Week is the most of any of the 14 teams in the Heart to earn a weekly honor during the season.

Blake and Clarke baseball will head to Ozark, Mo. for the Heart of America Tournament that is scheduled to start this Thursday, May 5 as the Pride will be the No. 2 seed following their Heart North Division Championship.