Pride drop pair in final at-bats in opening doubleheader to Grand View

PEOSTA, Iowa - Opening a big Heart of America Athletic Conference series to close out the regular season, the Clarke University baseball team was unable to pull off a win in either end of Friday's doubleheader against Grand View University at A.J. Spiegel Park.

Both games were won by the Vikings in their final at bats of the game as they scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning in the opener and two runs in the top of the ninth in game two to earn 9-8 and 6-4 wins.

Clarke forced ties late in each game as they trailed 2-1 then 5-1 in the opener before a four-run bottom of the fifth tied the game at 5-5 as the inning was powered behind home runs from Daniel Phyle and Thomas Brannon where Brannon's three-run blast tied the game.

Getting the leadoff runner on in the seventh, Grand View was able to get him to third base without any outs in the inning but Nic Cortez got two outs on a strikeout and a ground out with the infield drawn in. With Jeff Lamp at the plate for the Vikings and down in the count 0-2, Lamp was able to shoot a single into the outfield to give GVU the lead and continue the inning for Brook Heinen, who sent his own three-run home run over the left field wall to extend their lead to 9-5.

That home run was crucial for Grand View as Kainoa Torres would hit a one-out three-run home run, his second long ball of the game, to make it a 9-8 game as the Pride would have two opportunities with the tying run at the plate but couldn't get a runner to reach after the Torres homer.

In the day's finale, Grand View would take an early lead again with two runs in the second before Clarke finally got on the board in the fifth on Paul Von Zboray and Brannon RBI singles to make it 2-2 before the Vikings would take another two-run lead Connor Canny two-run home run.

Phyle would launch his second home run of the day with a solo shot in the sixth to make it 4-3 and the Pride would be down to their final two outs before Maguire Fitzgerald would hit a ball deep to left that cleared the wall to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

A scoreless eighth inning would send the game into the ninth where Nolan Drill would come up with another big hit for the Vikings and give them the eventual 6-4 lead that they would win by.

Tyson Tucker had a strong start in the day's final game, going five innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Clarke and Grand View will determine a winner of the Heart North and the Heart Tournament No. 2 seed with tomorrow afternoon's doubleheader as the Pride will clinch the North with a win and Grand View will earn a North title sweeping the whole day.

The Pride will also be celebrating Senior Day prior to the start of the day as Senior Day festivities will start close to 12:20 p.m. CT at A.J. Spiegel Park.