Pride open conference play 0-2 after a pair of one run loses

PARKVILLE, Mo. – After six straight wins dating back to Feb. 10th, the 20th ranked Clarke University baseball team has lost their sixth in a row after a pair of loses Sunday afternoon against MidAmerica Nazarene University.

Trailing 1-0 after the first inning in game one, Jose Perez started the second inning with a walk followed by a Paul Von Zboray single. A sac bunt put both runners in scoring position for Maguire Fitzgerald who lined out to the pitcher, but an error tied the game at 1-1. Two batters later, Victor Lara singled one through the infield to give the Pride a 2-1 edge.

The bottom half of the second inning would haunt CU as eight Pioneers would come up to bat. Two runs would come around to score on a Brysen Hamilton double to left field along with a pair of RBI singles by Sean Maple and Javier Melendez gave the Pioneers a 5-2 lead.

Rallying in the sixth for a pair of runs, The Pride would cut the lead down to just one after a Johnny Blake single scored in Zboray, with the help of a Pioneer error. The error allowed Blake to reach third base and was brought in on a groundout to the shortstop by Kainoa Torres.

Unable to take advantage of four MidAmerica errors, the Pride would leave seven men on base in route to the game one loss. One big reason for the one run loss, Zach Trevino would go all seven innings and overcoming those errors in the field by striking out 10 Pride batters and only finishing with one earned run.

Tyson Tucker got the ball for the Pride going four innings, giving up five earned runs, and striking out three Pioneers. Charlie Jaegar and Brendan Boily finished the game in relief as they each pitched one inning, allowing just one hit between both of them.

In game two it was the Pride's turn to have a complete game on the mound as Isaac Rohde went the distance with nine strikeouts and allowing two earned runs.

However, after scoring in the first inning on a Brendan O'Connor RBI single, the Pride offense would sputter only scoring once more on the day, this time in the fourth inning. Blake would get his second RBI of the day, this time bringing around O'Connor.

Similiarly to game one, Maple and Melendez would each earn an RBI, this time in the third inning. Maple hit a sac fly scoring Frank Vogel and two batters later Melendez singled home Joshua Hinojas.

Reece Helland took over on the mound for the Pioneers in the fifth inning after Noah Castillo went four innings, giving up two earned runs, and one strikeout. After allowing the first two runners on, Helland would settle down and get out unscathed.

Helland would be rewarded with his first win of the season after Dionathan Cornet brought around the game winning run in their half of the fifth inning.

Up next for Pride baseball is another doubleheader on the road against MidAmerica Nazarene tomorrow at noon and 3:30 CST.