Wildcats Take Three of Four in Home Conference Series Versus Clarke

BALDWIN CITY, Kan. - Coming into the matchup with a 6-2 record against conference teams at home, the Baker baseball team claimed three of the four games in its series against Clarke on Sunday and Monday at Sauder Field.

With the games being pushed to Sunday-Monday, the Wildcats came out on top of a one-run game in the series opener on Sunday, 4-3 before dropping game two, 11-0. BU took both games of yesterday's doubleheader with scores of 8-3 and 14-12 to improve to 11-13 in conference play.

The series featured a handful of action-packed moments for the Wildcats with Eli Young starting things off with a huge walk-off home run in game one and then an offensive outburst in the series finale which included the two teams combining for nine home runs in the game.

BU 4, CU 3
Down to the last out, Young's three-run walk-off homer in the opener gave the Wildcats an emphatic come-from-behind win to start off the series.

The Pride put up three runs in the top of the first to take a 3-0 lead before BU starter Caden Pogue settled in and threw six straight scoreless innings after that. Pogue finished with six strikeouts and earned his second win of the spring.

A sac fly from Brennan Johnson scored the first run of the game for the Wildcats with Young able to slide in safely to make it a two-run deficit in the bottom of the fourth.

After Javier Aguirre (single) and Camden Karlin (walk) both reached to begin the bottom of the seventh, Young took a two-out pitch and sent it over the fence in left field, just clearing the fair side of the pole, for the Wildcats' first walk-off of the season.

CU 11, BU 0
After being held in check for all but one inning of game one, the Pride came back with 11 runs in Sunday's nightcap to split the opening day with an 11-0 win.

Clarke scored in its first time at the plate for the second straight game, taking a 2-0 lead in the first before once again being silenced during the middle stretches of the contest. The Pride pushed the game out of reach with five runs in the sixth and four in the seventh.

The Wildcats had three of their five hits come in the first three innings with a hit in each frame, but were unable to string anything together. Jon Jenkins finished with a multi-hit game, reaching on a couple of singles in his first games back since dealing with an injury.

BU 8, CU 3
On Monday, Baker scored in every inning, but the first to win the first game of the doubleheader, 8-3.

Karlin provided a huge lift for the 'Cats, recording his first complete game of the season, while going 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run and two RBI to help himself out. He followed up an RBI single from Chris Bollefer in the bottom of the second with a run-scoring hit of his own to give BU a 2-0 lead.

After Clarke went ahead, 3-2, an RBI double from Tyson Wallace tied things up in the third before Karlin smacked a go-ahead homer in the fourth to reclaim the lead for BU at 4-3.

Jackson Truman drove in a run in the fifth and Bollefer tallied two more RBI with a two-run single. Jenkins capped the game with a solo shot in the sixth to seal an 8-3 win for BU.

BU 14, CU 12
The two teams provided plenty of fireworks for the final game of the series, combining for nine home runs apiece with the Wildcats coming out on top of the derby, 14-12.

Truman went a perfect 4-for-4 with six RBI and hit two of BU's four homers in the game with a three-run shot in the third and then a two-run jack in the sixth for his first long balls of the spring.

After the Wildcats tied things up at 2-2, Johnson roped a three-run homer over the big fence in right field to make it a 5-2 lead for BU in the bottom of the second.

Jenkins recorded his second home run of the series with a two-run dinger in the fourth, while Wallace came home on a balk to stretch the Wildcats' lead out to 11-6.

Truman's home run in the sixth to push BU's advantage back out to five runs before the Pride made things interesting with a three-run top of the seventh. After Gage Callaghan pitched three innings of relief, Kole Starlin came in and recorded the final out in the seventh to earn his first save of the year.

Moving to 14-20 overall, Baker will hop out of Heart action for its next four games, starting with a single-game matchup against Kansas Christian on Wednesday, April 9 at 5 p.m. in Baldwin City.

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