SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Clarion University baseball team was swept in a PSAC West doubleheader at Slippery Rock Tuesday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles dropped Game One 27-10 and Game Two 13-4.
Joe Holmberg and Joey Lopez had strong games at the plate in the first game with Holmberg going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored and Lopez going 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Mike Lockhart also had a double and two RBIs for the Golden Eagles while Josh Ponsoll had two RBIs and a run scored while going 1-for-5.
Clarion led 2-1 after 3 ½ with ace Kane McCall on the mound, but things fells apart for McCall and the Golden Eagles in the fourth inning when Slippery Rock platted seven runs, five against McCall, to take an 8-2 lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Clarion in the fifth, after it had cut the lead to 8-3, when Slippery Rock sent 15 men to the plate and scored 11 runs. The Rock continued to poor it on in the sixth scoring eight more to post the highest run total against the Golden Eagles since a 30-2 loss to Bloomsburg April 28 of last year.
McCall took the loss going 3 1/3 and allowing six runs, all earned, on six hits, three walks and a hit batter. Tanner Fitting allowing seven earned runs on six hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning while Ken DiBucci gave up three runs, all earned, on three hits in 1/3 of an inning. Brendon Fitzgerald (3 ER, 2/3 IP), Colton Gossett (6 R, 5 ER, 0 IP) and Jason Gerland (2 ER, 1 IP) also pitched for Clarion.
In Game Two, Lockhart hit his second home run in as many days in the top of the first to give Clarion a 2-0 lead, and the Golden Eagles led 2-1 after 4 ½ before a five-run Slippery Rock fifth gave The Rock a 6-2 lead.
Clarion fought back with a pair of runs in the sixth on an RBI infield single by Mitch Holmberg and a run-producing groundout by Joe Holmberg to cut the Slippery Rock lead to 6-4. But Slippery Rock answered with seven runs in the sixth to put the game away.
Alex Borofski took the loss going 4 1/3 innings allowing six runs, three earned, on nine hits and a walk while striking out one. Troy Kumar then gave up five runs in an 1.1 and DiBucci two in 2/3 of an inning.
