Pride clinch series win in exciting fashion at Mount Mercy
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Looking to bounce back from a Friday doubleheader split, the Clarke University baseball team took both ends of Sunday's doubleheader at Mount Mercy University to clinch sixth-straight Heart of America Athletic Conference series win.
The Pride gave up four runs in the bottom of the sixth in the finale to give MMU a 4-3 lead with just three outs to get a full series split as they retired the first two batters of the top of the seventh and had Maguire Fitzgerald down to his final strike before CU's third baseman lined a single to center to keep the game alive and spin the order back to the top.
Victor Lara ground a single through the hole into right, advancing pinch runner Cole Swartz to second as Brendan O'Connor came up clutch for the second time in the game, grounding his own single into left and scoring Swartz from second to tie the game at 4-4.
O'Connor went 2-for-4 in the game with three RBIs as he produced a two-RBI single in the fourth inning to get CU their first runs of the game, helping the right fielder finish with two of the team's five hits in the game.
A good piece of base running from Lara got the second baseman to third on O'Connor's single while the throw from the outfield went home as the Mustangs would allow a wild pitch during the next at bat to score Lara from third as Clarke would regain the lead at its eventual final of 5-4.
Greg Bennett would take back to the mound after allowing the four runs in the sixth, two of which came unearned, to allow only one base runner in the bottom of the seventh and shut the door for a complete game victory. Bennett finished with seven strikeouts in his seven innings pitched while only allowing two hits but walked five for his eighth win on the mound this season and second win in the series.
The day's opener had much less dramatics as the Pride took control in the third inning and earned a 12-0 victory behind Johnny Blake's shutout performance where he struck out 10 batters, allowed four hits and only walked one batter.
In the third inning of the opener, Clarke broke a scoreless tie with the middle of the order as Thomas Brannon drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, Bubba Thompson doubled home a run and Blake helped himself out with an RBI single to score Thompson and make it 3-0. Brannon would also add two more RBIs with a single in the seventh inning to finish with a three RBI game while O'Connor and Kieron Crowder also drove in runs for CU in the game.
Lara was a catalyst from the leadoff spot, going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs and Crowder went 3-for-3 in the seven-hole, scoring twice just one game after tying an NAIA record of being hit by a pitch four times in a single game.
Clarke baseball will finish their regular season at home with their final Heart series of 2023 coming against Grand View University as the Pride and Vikings will go head-to-head to determine the winner of the Heart's North Division.