Eales homers in each game but Pride drop pair to ranked foes

FAYETTE, Mo. - Facing off against No. 16 Concordia University Nebraska for the fifth-straight game before taking on No. 25 Central Methodist University in a non-conference matchup on Thursday, the Clarke University baseball team fell to the Bulldogs in extra innings 9-8 before falling in eight innings to the Eagles 16-6 in Fayette, Mo.

After four games against CUNE last Saturday and Sunday that totaled 28 innings, these two teams needed more than the regularly scheduled nine innings to determine a winner on Thursday with the Bulldogs taking an early lead with a single run in each the third, fourth, and fifth innings before CU got their offense rolling on a Jaiden Russin home run in the fifth made it 3-1.

An inning later, shortstop Darin Eales would hit a two-run shot to left to make it 4-3 before Eli Kelley tied the game on a sacrifice fly to drive in Russin heading into the eighth inning tied 4-4 where Concordia would take the lead again on an RBI double down the right field line.

Eales and Russin would find themselves in the middle of the scoring again in the Clarke half of the eighth inning when Eales took off from second base to trigger a double steal attempt where the ball got thrown into left field, allowing Eales to score, tying the game again before Russin drove in his second run of the game, giving the Pride their first lead of the game at 6-5 heading into the top of the ninth.

The Bulldogs got down to their final out with left fielder Jack Hirchert up to bat as he would tie the game with a solo home run to left field, making it 6-6 and forcing extra innings without the Pride able to score in the bottom of the ninth.

Both teams got runners into scoring position in the 10th inning but failed to score, sending the game to the 11th inning when CUNE got back-to-back run scoring hits with two outs, first a two-run double before an RBI single to give the Bulldogs a three-run lead, that they were forced to cling to in the bottom half when Brady Lord and Bryn Vantiger drove in runs to put it to 9-8, but that's where the game would come to a close one batter later.

Kelley, Eales, and Russin each had two hits in the game with the pitching trio for CU of starter Kevin Toala, Travis Gibson, and Hayden Vickroy all gave up three runs as Toala struck out eight in 4.1 innings, Gibson punched out a pair in 5.2 innings, and Vickroy struck out two in the 11th before taking the loss.

Turning around to have to face the home team for another scheduled nine inning game to close out their day, the Pride didn't show any wear and tear, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first when Eales hit his second home run of the day with a three-run shot to right before Hunter Flores singled home Jaxon Brooks with two outs to extend that lead to 4-0.

Clarke's lead only lasted until the bottom of the second inning when the Eagles put up a five-run inning of their own and would continue to add on in the fourth with another five-spot, making it 11-4 after four innings.

Lord drove in two CU runs in the fifth to make it 11-6, but that's as close as the Pride got the rest of the way when four more runs in the seventh inning then a solo home run in the bottom of the eight ended the game via the mercy rule at the 16-6 10-run limit.

Eales, Lord, Brooks, and Flores all had a hit in the day's finale with Christian Ayers going 1-for-3 with a walk and Jagger Rafkin subbing in to record a hit in his lone at bat late in the game for all six of the Clarke hits against CMU.

The game two trio of pitchers for the Pride included starter Curtis Anderson, who recorded 10 outs gave way to David Jacobo in the fourth inning to record 11 outs and Tommy Rimoldi entered in the eight, allowing that lead off solo home run that ended the game.

Moving these games up to Thursday for better weather, Pride baseball will have the weekend off to prep for a trip to Crete, Neb. when they are set to play Doane University for a four-game series on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1 with Saturday's doubleheader scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. CT start.