Pride offense goes nuts in home opener sweep of Peru State
PEOSTA, Iowa - Getting their first home action at A.J. Spiegel Park for the 2025 season, the Clarke University baseball team put up big offensive numbers in a pair of wins in their Friday doubleheader against Peru State College to the tune of 27-12 and 24-7 wins.
The series-opening 27-12 win tied the CU baseball program record for runs scored in a game that was set just last season almost a year to the date on Mar. 11, 2024 when they also scored 27 in a Heart of America Athletic Conference on the road at Missouri Valley College.
On what started out a 6-0 deficit for the Pride and even a 10-4 lead for the Bobcats entering the bottom of the third, the game got off to a bit of a shaky start for Clarke as the second pitch of the game was sent deep into dead center field by Antonio Benitez as the ball would go off the wall with Randy Lopez Acosta a bit shaken up on the play for Benitez to turn the hit into an inside the park home run and make it 1-0 Bobcats quickly.
Clarke would put up a 14-spot in that bottom of the third where everyone in the CU lineup had two plate appearances with junior catcher Bryn Vantiger taking the most advantage of those two at bats with a two-RBI double in his first time up that was a few feet from a grand slam then he left no doubt in his second bases loaded at bat in the inning, this time getting that grand slam as the final blow of the inning to make it 18-10 Clarke.
Vantiger would finish game one tying the school record for hits, going 5-for-5, and RBIs, driving in eight, in a game as he also drove in two more runs later in the game with RBI singles in the fourth and fifth innings as the Pride added seven more runs in that bottom of the fourth and a run each in the fifth and sixth.
Not to go unnoticed behind Vantiger's big game one, Alden Brown got the scoring started for Clarke in the bottom of the second as he blasted a three-run home run to left center, making the game 6-3 as the senior first baseman would finish the game 3-for-4 with five RBIs and four runs scored.
Other multi-RBI games for Clarke came from designated hitter Jin Hattori, who went 4-for-6 with four runs driven in, including a three-RBI double in the fourth, with Darin Eales and William Ramirez each driving in three, Eales on a two-RBI single and sacrifice fly, and Ramirez on a three-run home run earlier in the bottom of the third that actually gave the Pride their first lead of the game at 11-10.
Lost in the offensive onslaught in the opener was a strong pitching performance from Hayden Vickroy out of the bullpen with the right-hander going four innings in reilef allowing just two runs on six hits and striking out five hitters to pick up his first win in a Clarke uniform.
The beginning of the second game got off to a similar start with Benitez hitting another extra base hit to center and later being scored then Gustavo Rivera hitting his third home run of the day, after a two-homer game in the opener, to make it 2-0 after one half inning.
Once again, it would take until the bottom of the third for Clarke to get their first lead of the game but instead of 14 runs, they would score just four but without getting a hit in the inning as they used four walks, including one with the bases loaded, one error, and a passed ball to take a 5-2 lead.
CU wouild go on to score six runs in the fourth, eight in the fifth, and five in the sixth to pull away to another 20-plus run performance as the bats would come alive in the fourth with RBI doubles from Hattori and Jaxon Brooks, an RBI single from Alex Reynozo for his third RBI of the game to that point, a two-run home run from Brown, and a solo shot from Eales.
Eales would go deep for the second time in the game in his very next at bat when he launched a grand slam to left in the bottom of the fifth, as the CU shortstop would finish the game with a game-high six RBIs, before Brooks would hit a three-run bomb to left to cap off the eight-run inning and make the score 19-3.
The large lead in the day's finale allowed head coach Brian McCabe to get some action for a handful of subs as Ki Crowder, DJ Graham, David Trujillo, David Jacobo, and Nolan Pociejewski all got hits off the bench for the Pride with Eric Hebert and Cole Swartz both came across and scored runs in their action.
After giving up the two early runs, game two starter Christian Prull settled in nicely to earn his second win of the season on the mound going five innings allowing three earned runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out four Bobcat hitters as CU would also get a scoreless seventh inning of relief from Zach Arnold with the lefty striking out and walk one to finish off the game.
Clarke baseball will wrap up their four-game series against Peru State on Saturday with another scheduled 1:00 p.m. CT scheduled start to the first game of the day at A.J. Spiegel Park as the Pride look to clinch their first series win in Heart play.