Pride slug their way to Senior Day sweep for series split with William Penn
PEOSTA, Iowa - Coming off of their first two-loss day in Heart of America play this season, the Clarke University baseball team turned the tides in a big way on Saturday afternoon to a pair of 6-3 wins over William Penn University in Peosta, Iowa at A.J. Spiegel Park to clinch a series split.
Prior to the start of the doubleheader on Saturday, the Clarke baseball recognized their 2026 senior class for Senior Day with Alex Ainsworth, David Guevara, Diego Guevara, Jovann Hamlin-Arana, Daylin LeBlanc, DJ Graham, David Jacobo, Daniel Mendez, Jaxon Brooks, Ethan Hefel, Cole Swartz, Darin Eales, Eric Hebert, Michael Jeffers, Jagger Rafkin, and Lane Tyson all being recognized pregame for their contributions to the program.
The home run ball played a vital role in each game with all six Pride runs in game three scored off of three different two-run home runs then in game four, there were a pair of solo home runs to help propel the home team to a comeback victory after trailing 2-0 after the top of the first.
Turning back to game three's victory, it was the shortstop Eales that got the scoring start with the first two-run shot in the bottom of the first to make it an early 2-0 lead for CU that held firm to the fourth inning, thanks to some clutch defense with double play balls in the top of the first and second then a quality block and recovery from Bryn Vantiger to tag out a runner attempting to score in the third.
Unfortunately after holding the Statesmen off the board for three innings, they would tie the game in the fourth inning and take the lead in the top of the fifth with three-straight runs off of Jacobo, the game three starter for Clarke, for their first lead of the day at 3-2.
Just two weeks after being in a nearly similar situation against Grand View, Jordan Breen was called on to pinch hit in the fifth inning after a two-out walk to Swartz as he took an 0-1 pitch deep to left for his second home run in the season with that other moment against Grand View also coming as a pinch hitter to take a lead in the second half of a game with this blast coming in the fifth rather than the sixth on Mar. 29.
Following a shut down inning from freshman reliever Tommy Rimoldi, the bottom of the sixth inning had Hefel reach base with a one-out double ahead of Brady Lord, who launched his own two-run homer to left to add some insurance runs for Rimoldi to shut the door in the seventh despite putting some traffic on the bases to clinch his first save of the season.
Jacobo was able to produce a strong start going five innings allowing the three earned runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out one batter to move his record on the mound to 5-2, not losing a Heart game through his four starts in conference so far this season.
Moving over to game four, WPU did take that early 2-0 lead as previously mentioned but Lord once again found a way to clear the outfield wall with his second home run of the day and third long ball of the series to cut the lead to 2-1 after an inning, but a William Penn home run put their lead right back to two runs in the next half inning.
A pair of big innings in the bottom of the third and fourth had Lord and center fielder Omari Barksdale in the middle of a majority of the action when in the third, Barksdale got the inning started after one out triple to right center right ahead of a Lord single to make it 3-2.
Eales followed up the Lord single with a ground ball down the line that was misplayed by the WPU third baseman all the way into the outfield, allowing Lord to scamper all the way home from first and tie the game at 3-3 before Vantiger singled to center field, scoring Eales and taking a 4-3 lead.
Barksdale came up again in the fourth inning with two outs as he took a 2-1 pitch and crushed it to left for a no-doubt solo home run to extend the lead to 5-3 with Lord singling again and Eales driving him in again, this time with a double to right center putting the game at its eventual final of 6-3.
All of that offense was in support of Kevin Toala's complete game victory allowing just one earned run on eight hits and a walk while striking out six batters for his fourth win of the season.
Clarke baseball is expected to make up their final two games from their earlier series against Culver-Stockton College as they will host the two games on Tuesday, Apr. 14 at A.J. Spiegel Park with a scheduled start time of 2:00 p.m. CT with the games' status dependent on the weather.