More clutch hitting carries Pride baseball to series sweep over Graceland
PEOSTA, Iowa - Following an exciting conclusion to their first home games of the 2026 season, the Clarke University baseball team continued the excitement into Sunday afternoon's doubleheader finale against Graceland University at A.J. Spiegel Park in Peosta to 6-4 and 9-5 wins.
In each game, it was run production in their final two offensive innings that carried the Pride to victories, starting with game three's sixth inning where Nico Reed drove in Omari Barksdale to tie the game at 4-4 after a fifth inning rally for the Yellowjackets gave GU the lead at 4-3 after they had trailed 3-0 heading into that inning.
With the score still tied at 4-4 heading to the bottom of the seventh, a Jaxon Brooks one out walk and a wild pitch put the winning run on base for Ethan Hefel, who didn't need the luxury of the runner in scoring position as he would just send his his second home run of the season over the left field wall for a walkoff two-run homer for the second-straight final at-bat victory for CU in the series.
Reed was all over the scoring earlier in the game too as he was at the plate for the first four runs of the game with a two-run single to right in the second inning and a run-scoring grounder in the fourth as he reached on a throwing error that allowed Hefel to score and make the game 3-0 before Graceland's comeback effort.
The walkoff and prior game-tying play not only prevented starting pitcher Travis Gibson from being hung with the loss, but also giving the junior right hander the victory in his complete game seven-inning effort as he allowed seven hits and walked just one while striking out eight Yellowjacket batters.
Heading into the series finale, this time it was the visitors that would strike first as they jumped out with three runs in the top of the first, starting off with a leadoff home run by left fielder Darius Sparks then two more runs coming across as Graceland was able to get runners on base with either a walk or a hit by pitch and advance them primarily on wild pitches prior to a two-out RBI single that made it 3-0.
The Pride answered with two back in the bottom of the first on a passed ball then two-out RBI single from Hefel to make it just a one-run game after all of the action in the inning with the second inning having plenty of action as well, having GU add to their lead with another Sparks RBI in the top of the inning then Eli Kelley brough home a run with a bases loaded walk and Darin Eales tied the game at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half.
Graceland took another one-run lead in the fourth inning, but late runs from Clarke propelled them to victory, first in the fifth inning as Brooks was called upon to pinch hit with one out and runners on first and second for the senior to deliver with a game-tying double to left field before Cole Swartz broke the tie and gave CU its first lead of the game with an RBI single to center, putting the home team up 6-5.
Three more runs in the bottom of the sixth on a Bryn Vantiger RBI single, a run-scoring error, and a Daniel Mendez sacrifice fly gave relief pitcher Curtis Anderson all he would need to close out a win out of the bullpen for the righty as he pitched five strong inning of relief allowing just the one run in the fourth inning on three hits and one walk while striking out four GU hitters.
Clarke was outhit in both games, but their ability to reach base outside of the base hit was what helped secure the sweep over the two days with Sunday's game specifically producing just 10 hits in total over the 13 offensive innings, but they would also draw 11 walks and be hit by a pitch six times to reach base a total of 27 times throughout the entire day.
Pride baseball will hit the road for a quick two-game non-conference set against Central Methodist University as it will be the second time this season CU heads to Fayette, Mo. for non-conference games against the Eagles with the Tuesday, Mar. 24 set for a 12:00 p.m. CT start.