Pride exit Heart Tournament with 5-1 loss to MidAmerica Nazarene

OZARK, Mo. - Looking to secure an automatic bid into the NAIA Tournament, the Clarke University baseball team came up a game short with a 5-1 loss to MidAmerica Nazarene University in Monday's loser's bracket final of the Heart Tournament.

The Pride struggled to get the offense going as four MNU pitchers combined to four-hit Clarke on their way to the Heart Championship game against Central Methodist.

CU went back to tournament opening starter Tyson Tucker as he allowed two runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts in three-plus innings. Nolan Lamere came out of the bullpen in relief in the fourth inning to pitch 4.2 innings allowing three runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout.

Clarke started up 1-0 in the third inning on a Victor Lara RBI single to score courtesy runner Andrew Swartz with two outs and the Pride had an opportunity to add more but a double steal attempt with first and second was cut down at second base to end the inning.

The Pioneers only scored in two innings as they grabbed two runs in the fourth after starting the inning with a walk and hit batter, back-to-back singles scored a run each as MNU would take a 2-1 lead.

The Pride would get runners on base in each the sixth, seventh, and ninth innings but couldn't cash in on any of those opportunities as MidAmerica Nazarene would add three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to be able to close it out with a two-inning save from Nathan Torres.

Without securing the automatic bid, Clarke baseball will now await the NAIA Tournament Selection Show to see if they will receive an At-Large spot into an Opening Round site. The Selection Show will air on the NAIA's facebook page HERE on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. CT as the Opening Rounds will take place on May 16-19 at various locations.