Rohde's near no-no carries Pride to 4-1 series opening win over Culver-Stockton

PEOSTA, Iowa - Getting out to A.J. Spiegel Park for the first time during the 2023 season, the Clarke University baseball team was able to secure a 4-1 win over Culver-Stockton College to open their series against the Wildcats on Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately the two teams were only able to play one game of the scheduled doubleheader on Sunday as snow began to fall more heavily as the day progressed but the two teams will conclude the series on Monday afternoon with games two and three.

Whether it was the conditions or a pair of starting pitchers who were on their game through the first four innings, the offense on both sides got off to slow starts with only two hits from the Pride and a walk and a hit batter from the Wildcats leading to the only base runners through four innings.

CU starter Isaac Rohde was on his game, as usual, as he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before surrendering a leadoff single up the middle to break up the no-hitter and eventually lead to CSC's lone run of the ball game.

Clarke was able to break through offensively in the fifth inning as a one-out walk drawn by Greg Bennett and a stolen base put the Pride's second runner in scoring position in the game with Maguire Fitzgerald coming up with two outs. Fitzgerald decided to drop a bunt down in an attempt to beat it out for a hit as he did that and the throw from Wildcats' catcher Collin Hall went wide and up the right field line, scoring Bennett and giving CU a 1-0 lead.

A walk to Daniel Phyle turned the lineup back to the top as Victor Lara lined a single into right field, scoring Fitzgerald and extending the lead to 2-0, which would be enough for Rohde to hold. 

The Pride would extend their lead to 4-0 on another two-out knock, this time from Johnny Blake who drove in Andrew Swartz and Brendan O'Connor to push the game to the 4-0 lead. 

Rohde threw his sixth complete game in seven starts, finishing with nine strikeouts while surrendering one walk that led off the game and three hits that all came in the seventh inning to move his season record to 5-2.

O'Connor and Thomas Brannon both reached base in the middle of the Clarke lineup as Brannon went 2-for-3 as Swartz's run in the sixth was scored as a courtesy runner for Brannon and O'Connor got CU's first hit of the game with a hustle double to center field in the second inning.