Pride score early and Tucker shines in Heart Tournament Opening win over Park

OZARK, Mo. - In a setting that is very demanding on pitching, the Clarke University baseball team only need a single arm to earn a 3-0 win over Park University on Friday night to open the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament.

That arm was junior Tyson Tucker as he threw a complete game four-hitter in the shutout effort as he finished with 110 pitches in his first nine-inning outing of the season.

Tucker was nearly matched by the Pirates' starter Kyler Barnett as he went eight strong innings to allow eight hits and the three Clarke runs.

Two of those three runs came in the first inning as CU jumped out early following a leadoff walk to Daniel Phyle, Victor Lara doubled him home to make it a 1-0 game before Bryce Hinton singled up the middle to score Lara and make it 2-0.

That score held and there wasnt much traffic on the bases for Tucker to deal with as he was able to get Pirate batters to roll into double plays in two separate innings to end the first and fourth.

The fifth inning had probably the key defensive play of the night for the Pride as a two out walk followed by a double into the gap could have plated a run for Park to make it a 2-1 game but a perfect relay from Phyle to Lara to Hinton at the plate cut the runner at home to keep PU off the board.

Clarke would add a run in the seventh with a little small ball following a Taiga Sato leadoff double and a pair of sacrifice bunts from Brendan O'Connor and Maguire Fitzgerald to make it 3-0 to add a little cushion onto the lead.

Tucker would end the game with his ninth strikeout of the night, catching Luis Ramos looking to end the game for Clarke's ninth shutout as a team this season.

The Pride will be back on the Field as US Ballpark Saturday night for another scheduled 8:30 p.m. CT first pitch as they will take on the No. 3 seed Central Methodist who earned their spot in the winner's bracket semifinals with a win over Peru State earlier on Friday.