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Road Warrior Knights baseball splits for sixth straight doubleheader at Rensselaer

Posted 4/30/18

Troy, NY – For the sixth straight doubleheader, the Clarkson University Baseball team didn't fall behind but didn't pick up ground in the league standings, gaining a twin bill split against …

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Road Warrior Knights baseball splits for sixth straight doubleheader at Rensselaer

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Troy, NY – For the sixth straight doubleheader, the Clarkson University Baseball team didn't fall behind but didn't pick up ground in the league standings, gaining a twin bill split against Rensselaer, dropping the first 1-0 and winning game two 5-4 on Sunday afternoon.

The Golden Knights moved to 13-15 overall and 8-10 in Liberty League contests, while RPI moved to 17-18 and 10-9. Still vying for a playoff spot, Clarkson takes on St. Lawrence in a four-game set next weekend.

In the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, only one run was scored as Clarkson's Will Coleman and Rensselaer's Brendan McNerney traded zeroes for much of the contest. Ethann Meister accounted for the lone run of the game, following consecutive strikeouts from his teammates by attacking the first pitch he saw from Coleman, homering to left to make it 1-0. Clarkson didn't have a runner reach first until the bottom of the sixth inning and McNerney was dealing, but Mike Messier doubled down the left field line on a 2-2 pitch with two outs to end the no-hit and perfect game bid. In the seventh, Clarkson challenged the shutout as well with runners on first and second after a Dan Pariso single and Vincent Granuzzo walk, but a strikeout and a fly out ended the contest.

Coleman allowed just five hits and a walk in his fifth complete game of the year, striking out eight along the way. McNerney gave up just two hits and a walk with five strikeouts in seven innings of work.

Game two was a slugfest (5-4) in comparison to the other three games in the series, which saw a combined 10 runs scored. Clarkson scored a run in five of the nine innings, including the bottom of the eighth, which proved to be the winning run.

The Knights scored once in the first as Will Coleman led off with a walk, moved to second on a groundout and then finished the circuit on an error. Rensselaer responded with two unearned runs in the top of the second, but a double by Mike Tito plated Nolan Duda in the bottom of the second to knot the game up at 2-2. Clarkson regained the lead in the fourth thanks to the first home run of Nate Burns's collegiate career. RPI tied the game up at 3-3 in the top of the seventh on a pinch-hit single by Michael Arboleda, but again the Knights regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Joe Stockman scored on a passed ball. An unearned run in the top of the eighth tied the game once again, but two errors allowed Clarkson to reclaim the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth. Burns reached on a dropped fly ball and then later scored on a second error by the Engineers.

Tito was the only player to record two hits in the second game for the Knights. Andrew Smith got a no-decision for his seven inning effort, allowing one earned run on five hits and a walk while striking out five, but Mark Connor gained the win by allowing just two hits over two innings, striking out three. Erich Zecha took the loss for RPI, pitching well in 7.1 innings with just two earned runs on six hits and three walks.