No. 6 Baker Fends Off Elimination with 5-4 Victory over Pride in Heart Tournament

OZARK, Mo. - After falling in its first game of the conference tournament on Thursday, No. 6 Baker avoided being eliminated with a big bounce-back win over No. 8 Clarke, 5-4, yesterday in the consolation bracket of the 2025 Heart Baseball Conference Tournament.

With the win, the Wildcats moved on to the next round and will face No. 5 Park in another elimination matchup later today in Ozark, Mo.

BU scored four of its five runs in the second inning and Dylan Roush's run in the eighth provided a crucial insurance run as the Wildcats held on for the one-run victory.

Pitchers Tyler Vigna, Kole Starlin and Gage Callaghan combined to keep the Pride lineup at bay for most of the game with Vigna posting a solid start in his six-plus innings of action, while Callaghan slammed the door shut in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.

The Wildcats capitalized on a Clarke defense that made five errors in the game with their first two miscues leading to BU's first runs of the game. After a double by Kolden Howerton, both him and Jackson Truman scored on a throwing error to make it a 2-0 lead before Javier Aguirre tacked on two more with his triple.

Aguirre went 2-for-3 at the dish with a two-run triple in the second that capped Baker's big inning and pushed the lead out to 4-0 until Clarke cut the deficit in half with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth.

With their offense cooling off and the Pride getting within a run, the Wildcats used a leadoff single from Aguirre to score what would end up being the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

After Eli Young's hit by pitch moved pinch-runner Roush into scoring position, a throwing error on a perfectly-placed sac bunt by Jon Jenkins forced an errant throw and allowed Roush to score all the way from second and make it a 5-3 lead for BU.

Clarke had its first two batters reach safely in the top of the ninth to bring in Callaghan, who got a big first out on a shallow fly ball to centerfield. Catcher Camden Karlin came through with a huge play for the next out, gunning down a would-be base stealer to send the Pride's potential game-tying runner back to the dugout. Callaghan induced a groundout to end the game and send the Wildcats onto the next round with a 5-4 win.

With game times being shifted around due to rain yesterday, first pitch for the Wildcats' matchup against the Pirates is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. this afternoon at the Ozark Mountain Sports Complex.

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