Pride take series in tale of two offensive games at Peru State

PERU, Neb. - Following a pair of ressounding wins on Saturday, the Clarke University baseball team was able to pull out a series win while splitting Sunday's doubleheader against Peru State College on the road.

Offensive success or lack thereof told the story of each game for the Pride as they pounded out 18 hits in their 20-4 win in game three of the series to open the day but were only able to manage two hits total in their 4-0 loss to wrap up the series.

Clarke pounded out four home runs and seven doubles for over half of their hits to be recorded as extra base hits as Daniel Phyle and Bubba Thompson were two players for the Pride to accomplish both with both of their home runs coming as two-run shots in the five-run first inning for CU as Phyle finished with a five-RBI game with two more runs scored and Thompson goint 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

That five-run first was outdone by a nine-run second that included a two-run home run from Kainoa Torres, his second-straight day with a long ball, and a three-run jack from Victor Lara to cap off that nine-run inning.

With 14 runs scored over the first two innings, Clarke went scoreless until the fifth where they finished the game with single runs in the fifth and sixth then four more runs in the seventh as subs Michael Garritano, Cole Swartz, Kevin Javier, Jose Perez, and Kieron Crowder all drove in runs in the final three innings.

Not to be overshadowed by the offensive output in the 20-4 win was the pitching performance from Tyson Tucker, who went six innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out six batters.

In the day's and series finale, the Clarke pitching trio of Nic Cortez, Brendan Boily, and Charlie Jaeger only allowed five hits and two of the four runs as earned runs while striking out 11 but the Bobcats pitching combination of Diego Oquendo and Fernando Falero only allowed a hit each in their shutout performance to salvage a win for PSC.

Clarke will now start a 10-game homestand beginning with a non-conference doubleheader this Wednesday at A.J. Spiegel Park when Judson University visits Peosta, Iowa for a 1:00 p.m. scheduled first pitch.