Rochester, NY – Season-highs for runs and hits were recorded by the Clarkson University Baseball team in the opener against RIT, but the bats were relatively quiet in game two as the Golden Knights endured their third straight conference split on Tuesday against the Tigers.

Clarkson won the opener 14-4 thanks to big innings in the first (three runs) and the seventh (eight runs), but dropped the nightcap 5-2. The Golden Knights moved to 11-13 overall and 6-8 in conference games while RIT stayed above .500 in both regards, seeing its record go to 12-11 overall and 8-7 in league contests.

The Knights took little time getting on the scoreboard as Will Coleman opened with a triple to right and then trotted home on a double by Brad Pearson to make it 1-0 just two batters into the game. After a fly out advanced Pearson to third, Dan Pariso singled him home and then came around the bases himself on a sacrifice fly by Ben Knauf.

Clarkson tacked on a run in the third when Nate Burns tripled in Mike Krick and one more in the fourth on a single by Vincent Granuzzo, which scored Will Coleman. RIT rallied for four runs in the bottom half of the fifth with a solo home run, a two-run homer and one more unearned run, but Clarkson responded with a run in the top of the sixth on a Mike Messier sacrifice fly. The Knights then put the game well out of reach with a huge top of the seventh, sending 14 hitters to the dish. Both Joe Stockman and Ben Knauf delivered two-run hits in the frame to highlight the offense.

Mark Connor went five innings to pick up the win for the Knights, giving up just five hits and striking out four. Will Coleman came on in the sixth and spun two scoreless frames, giving up just one and striking out two, to gain a save. Every Clarkson starter had at least one hit, led by three-hit efforts from Coleman, Knauf and Burns. Knauf drove in three runs and Coleman scored three times.

After scoring a season-high 14 runs in the first game with another season-high of 18 hits, Clarkson's offense was muted considerably as RIT cobbled together some innings from its top starters and held the Knights to just two runs on five hits. The Tigers pushed across three runs in the second, including a two-run homer to the short left-center gap at the University of Rochester, and then tallied twice in the fourth for a 5-0 lead. The Golden Knights finally broke through in the sixth when Vincent Granuzzo tripled home Brad Pearson and advanced home on a single by Dan Pariso. With runners on first and second after a Mike Krick walk, RIT wiggled out of the jam with two straight strikeouts to end the threat.

Mike Bubniak took the loss, going 3.2 innings. Glenn Stever, Andrew Smith and Ethan Kornbrek combined to give up just one hit in the final 3.1 innings for the Knights.