Pride and Wildcats open series with each side taking a game
Game 1
Game 1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarke (IA) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Culver-Stockton (MO) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarke (IA) | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 2 |
| Culver-Stockton (MO) | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 12 | 15 | 2 |
Game 1
Culver-Stockton (MO)
Game 2
Culver-Stockton (MO)
CANTON, Mo. - In their first true road series in the Heart of America Athletic Conference since their first series of conference play, the Clarke University baseball team earned a 4-2 win in the series opener and dropped a 12-10 game two against Culver-Stockton College on Saturday.
The Pride victory was highlighted by a return to form from starting pitcher Dante Maietta as he bounced back from his worst start of the season last week against William Penn to earn his sixth win of the season with a complete game eight-hitter where he allowed just one earned run and struck out seven Wildcat batters.
CU would never trail in the contest, as they would jump out to an early 2-0 lead in support of their ace as Thomas Brannon and Tommy Peterson would drive in a run with a single and sacrifice fly respectively.
After CSC would cut the lead in half in the second inning, Alden Brown would hit a solo home run in the fifth and Kevin Javier would drive in a run on a single to make it 4-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Maietta had to earn that sixth victory as the Wildcats would score a run in the bottom of the seventh then load the bases with two outs before Bryan Barreto would pop a fall into foul territory on the first base side where Peterson would squeeze it for the final out of the game.
In the high scoring doubleheader finale, Culver-Stockton would answer an early Clarke lead with five runs over the first two innings but CU would then make it a 5-4 Wildcat lead with three in the third but a six-run bottom of the third for Culver-Stockton would make it 10-4 and force a pitching change.
Eventually growing their lead to 12-4, CSC would have to withstand a barrage from the Pride offense as they would score six runs over the final three innings with the tying run coming to the plate with two outs in the seventh but that's where the comeback would end as Stefan Stockwell would close out the win for the Wildcats.
These two teams will be off on Sunday due to forecasted weather in Canton on Sunday as they will complete the series on Monday, Apr. 8 with another doubleheader slated for a 2:00 p.m. CT game three first pitch.