Pride and Vikings split day one doubleheader by taking late leads
PEOSTA, Iowa - Playing their second-straight home series to start their Heart of America Athletic Conference season, the Clarke University baseball team split their first two games against Grand View University at A.J. Spiegel Park on Saturday afternoon with a 8-3 game one win followed by an 8-4 loss in game two.
Both games were fairly back-and-forth in nature as game one started with a run apiece for each team in the first inning with Bryn Vantiger tying things up at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly to score Eli Kelley after Kelley and Brady Lord had reached base via walks to start the inning.
Vantiger got in the middle of the action again in the fifth inning as the game stayed tied at 1-1 until he tripled to right center, scoring Darin Eales from second after Eales singled with two outs and stole second to set up the RBI chance for Vantiger.
The Pride added another run when Vantiger's courtesy runner, Teddy Estudillo, scored on a wild pitch, but the Vikings were able to answer in their next offensive half inning, scoring twice including a triple of their own to make it 3-3.
Clarke answered the GVU sixth with a big sixth of their own, plating five runs to not only break the tie but provide plenty of cushion as well thanks to an error and bunt single to start the inning with runners on first and second for Nico Reed, who drove in the go-ahead run on a single to left, setting up another sacrifice bunt attempt that would turn into a single when Kelley matched Omari Barksdale's single earlier in the inning.
That set up bases loaded for CU as the went on to score four-straight runs without the benefit of a hit, starting with a bases loaded hit batter, then a balk to make it 6-3 before back-to-back sacrifice flies from Eales and Vantiger gave the Pride that 8-3 lead they would eventually win by.
On the mound in the opener, David Jacobo provided a quality start of six innings allowing three earned runs on nine hits with just one walk and striking out two batters to give way to Curtis Anderson for a clean seventh inning that took only nine pitches for Anderson to close out the win.
Game two had a similar nature of one team taking an early lead and not being able to hold it as this time it was Clarke jumping out in front 2-0 thanks to a Vantiger RBI single and an Ethan Hefel sacrifice fly but runs for the Vikings in the top of the second and fourth tied the game at 2-2.
The Pride were able to take the lead right back in the bottom of the fourth when, you guessed it, Vantiger came up clutch again with an RBI single to right as Reed was able to score from second base on the single to give CU a one-run advantage again.
Grand View took their first lead of the game in the top of the sixth when a pair of run-scoring doubles first tied the game then made it 4-3, but that lead wouldn't last long as Lord pumped a 1-0 pitch deep to left field for a solo home run, his first in a Clarke uniform, to tie the game back up at 4-4.
Hoping to maintain that momentum of the game-tying homer, the Pride were unable to get out a jam in the seventh inning as the Vikings scored four runs all after two outs to take their own multi-run lead in their final at bat, to then match CU's game one final defensive inning and have an uneventful one, two, three bottom of the seventh to win the game 8-4.
Lord and Vantiger finished game two with a pair of hits, joining the game one performances from Jaxon Brooks and Barksdale with Vantiger finishing the doubleheader with five total RBIs getting the start at catcher for each of the first two games of the series.
Clarke and Grand View will get right back out to Peosta on Sunday afternoon for the final two games of their four-game set with a game three first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. CT.