Pride survive in elimination game against Central Methodist but fall to Mount Mercy by day's end

OZARK, Mo. - A day following their first elimination game win at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament since 2022, the Clarke University baseball team earned another victory in the loser's bracket over Central Methodist University by an 8-7 final score before dropping their second game of the day to Mount Mercy University 9-5 to suffer their elimination from the tournament on Saturday night.

In their first game of the day against CMU at 1:30 p.m. CT, the Pride were able to jump out to a large lead over the Eagles, starting with a four-run bottom of the first when Ethan Hefel got CU on the board with a two-RBI single to right field ahead of a Bryn Vantiger bases loaded walk and a Jaiden Russin sacrifice fly.

Hefel struck again with another single to right in the second inning to drive home another run and make it a 5-0 score that held until the bottom of the fifth when Clarke added two more runs on an Eric Hebert squeeze bunt and Cole Swartz RBI double to put the Pride up 7-0.

At the time, those seven runs felt like plenty of support for CU starting pitcher Alex Cashman, who was cruising through five innings only allowing one hit, two walks, and a hit batter to that point, but the Eagles got a run back in the top of the sixth then eventually knocked Cashman out in the top of the eighth following back-to-back hits to start the inning.

Eventually scoring those two runners in the eighth to make it 7-3, Cashman's final line finished at seven-plus innings allowing five hits and three earned runs while also having three walks and three strikeouts in his first pitching appearance of the tournament.

Getting out of the eighth with that 7-3 lead still, CMU starting the ninth similarly to the eighth by getting the first two hitter aboard as they would eventually plate four runs in the inning to tie the game at 7-7 while still having the bases loaded with two outs, but flying out to end the inning still tied.

Now needing to get up off the mat, the Pride led off the bottom of the ninth with an Eli Kelley double, immediately putting the winning run in scoring position ahead of another Hefel ball to right field, this time being caught, advancing Kelley to third base with just one out.

Central Methodist opted to intentionally walk the next two batters and create force outs at every base, but that strategy wouldn't even come into play as they got a strikeout of the next hitter then threw a wild pitch with two outs, allowing Kelley to race home from third to win the game in walkoff fashion for the Pride's 8-7 victory.

That game advanced them to a Heart North rivalry matchup against Mount Mercy in both team's third elimination game of the tournament and second game of the day at 8:30 p.m. CT as the Mustangs were able to jump out in front with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first.

The home run was the only hit allowed by starting pitcher Zach Arnold over the first six innings as the sophomore left-hander pitched was effectively wild, walking five batters over those six innings but also striking out five keeping MMU off the board over that stretch.

Arnold's zeros put up allowed the Pride to chip away in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to get a run in each, starting with a Vantiger solo home run to make it 3-1 in the fifth then a Jaxon Brooks single up the middle cut the lead to one before Swartz tied the game in the seventh with a single to left to score Russin.

Mount Mercy led off their half of the seventh inning with a single to knock Arnold out of the game, but it took Clarke two relievers to get out of the inning with the Mustangs up four runs at 7-3 as that lead would hold despite Kelley's first home run of the season with a solo shot to left and a Russin sac fly to cut that lead to just two runs.

Advancing the furthest in the Heart Tournament also since 2022, Pride baseball finishes the 2026 season with a 26-23 overall record, after clinching their first winning record in the Heart since 2023 with a third place finish at 17-7.